Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali early yesterday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow’s help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting.
Lavrov, who was in Iraq on Monday, was welcomed upon his arrival by his counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop. The two men did not make any statements to journalists.
The visit of fewer than 24 hours was his third trip to Africa since July last year, part of a bid to expand Russia’s presence on the continent amid broad international isolation after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
Since taking control of Mali in two coups since August 2020, the military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita has embraced Russian support to aid its anti-jihadist fight after evicting the forces of former colonial ruler France.
Several Malian officials have traveled to Moscow, but the visit by Lavrov is “the first of its kind” aimed at cementing “a new dynamic” for security and economic cooperation between the two countries, Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Lavrov was to hold talks yesterday with Goita, as well as with Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs Diop, with a prses conference scheduled afterwards.
Mali has already received planes and attack helicopters from Moscow, as well as several hundred Russian soldiers described by Mali’s leaders as instructors who are helping to reinforce its defense and sovereignty.
Western officials and some rights groups say the fighters are paramilitaries with the Wagner group, who have been accused of brutal tactics and rights abuses elsewhere in Africa.
Mali’s leaders have claimed successes against Islamists that have targeted the government for the past decade, a crisis that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
However, foreign observers, including the UN, have cast doubt on the claims, noting persistent attacks in the north and northeast of the country.
On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights UN Volker Turk denounced Mali’s expulsion of the agency’s top human rights representative over the weekend, saying his work was “more crucial than ever.”
Lavrov’s visit also comes amid uncertainty about whether Goita would stick to his agreement for a return to civilian rule in March next year, especially if the security crisis continues.
Last month, the Coordination of Azawad Movements, a predominantly Tuareg alliance that fought the state for years before signing a peace deal in 2015, said it was pulling out of efforts to draft a new constitution, accusing the junta of foot-dragging.
Mali’s new Russian allies are also accused by rights groups and witnesses of abuses against civilians, including by the UN’s human rights envoy, which prompted his order to leave the country.
The US and the Philippines plan to announce new sites as soon as possible for an expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which gives the Western power access to military bases in the Southeast Asian country. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last month granted the US access to four military bases, on top of five existing locations under the 2014 EDCA, amid China’s increasing assertiveness regarding the South China Sea and Taiwan. Speaking at the Basa Air Base in Manila, one of the existing EDCA sites, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said the defense agreements between the two countries
‘DUAL PURPOSE’: Upgrading the port is essential for the Solomon Islands’ economy and might not be military focused, but ‘it is not about bases, it is about access,’ an analyst said The Solomon Islands has awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, a Solomon Islands official said yesterday. China Civil Engineering Construction Co (CCECC) was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender, Solomon Islands Ministry of Infrastructure Development official Mike Qaqara said. “This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces,” Qaqara said. Responding to concerns that the port could be deepened for Chinese naval access, he said there would be “no expansion.” The Solomon
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS: The US destroyer’s routine operations in the South China Sea would have ‘serious consequences,’ the defense ministry said China yesterday threatened “serious consequences” after the US Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a breach of its sovereignty and security. The warning came amid growing tensions between China and the US in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing’s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety. On Thursday, after the US sailed the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer near the Paracel Islands, China said its navy and
Seven stories above a shop floor hawking cheap perfume and nylon underwear, Thailand’s “shopping mall gorilla” sits alone in a cage — her home for 30 years despite a reignited row over her captivity. Activists around the world have long campaigned for the primate to be moved from Pata Zoo, on top of a Bangkok mall, with singer Cher and actor Gillian Anderson adding their voices in 2020. However, the family who owns Bua Noi — whose name translates as “little lotus” — have resisted public and government pressure to relinquish the critically endangered animal. The gorilla has lived at Pata for more
RSS