Russian And Malian Military Surrender A "superbase" In Northern Mali
1- 2.05.2026, 21:18
- 4,744
In the near future, mercenaries from the Russian Federation may leave a number of cities.
Members of the African Corps and Mali's military have left the "super camp" of Tessalit, a key military stronghold in northern Mali, AFP news agency reported, citing representatives of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and local officials. The withdrawal was confirmed by pro-war blog Rybar. Next, the Russian and Malian military may leave Aguelhok, Anefis and Gao, "Agency" Heni Nsaybii, a senior analyst with the ACLED conflict monitoring project, told Agency.
The Russian military and Mali's army also lost control of the Tessalit base, France24 reported. According to AFP, this followed rebel attacks on Friday.
A security source in the town of Gao (south of Tessalit) told AFP that there were "no clashes" during the rebel takeover of Tessalit and that regular troops had already left when the attackers entered the area.
A local official told AFP that the Russian military had also left their positions in the area.
The Afrika Korps did not confirm this in its account. The Afrikar Project, run by the z-blog team Rybar, said the camp in Tessalit "was abandoned by Malian Armed Forces forces as part of a tactical maneuver to prevent encirclement and preserve personnel for a counterattack."
Telegram channel White Uncles in Africa, which covers the activities of PMC Wagner in Africa, published videos taken by rebels at what is claimed to be a military base in Tessalit. At the same time, there were no reports of fighting in the region, according to the channel.
Russia's position in Mali. Tessalit is a key base for the military with a long airstrip that was first used by the French and then by the Russian military, Ulf Lassing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said in a conversation with Agence France. All roads from Algeria pass through Tessalit and from there lead deep into Mali, he noted.
The withdrawal from Tessalit should be seen as part of a larger tactical exit, said Heni Nsaybia, a senior analyst at ACLED's Conflict Monitoring Project. "Yesterday's reports showed that they are also leaving Aguelhok, Anefis and Gao in addition to withdrawing from the other areas mentioned earlier. This allows forces to concentrate elsewhere and secure those areas."
Attacks on Timbuktu, Gao and Menaka - the three main cities in the north - could be the next challenge for the Malian and Russian militaries, Lassing said. Tessalit is already the fourth base lost by the Russian military, the expert said. He did not specify which bases he was referring to. Earlier, the withdrawal from Kidal was reported. According to Nsaybia, the Malian and Russian military have also withdrawn from Ber, Tessit and Labbezanga. "The north of the country is slipping out of control," Lassing said.
The latest developments in Mali point to an intelligence failure, a crisis of authority and a partial collapse of the army in key strongholds and strategic installations, Nsaybia said.
The retreat allows the Malian army and the African Corps to concentrate forces around Bamako and its environs. This may help stabilize the situation in the short term, Nsaybia said.
But stabilization comes at the cost of a serious strategic defeat, including the loss of much of the territory previously conquered, the expert said. In his view, even if the military junta regime in Mali holds on, the latest developments will still be a serious strategic and reputational blow to the Kremlin, especially given the scale of the territorial losses and the inability to prevent major coordinated attacks.
Russian paramilitary support has been positioned as one of the key pillars of the junta's security strategy, Daniel Eizenga, a researcher at the African Center for Strategic Studies, said in a conversation with Agence France. "However, the unrelenting and expanding militant activity calls into question the effectiveness of this approach," the expert said.
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