French imperialists desperate to take back control of the alliance of Sahel states (AES) have launched a media and military offensive against one of the alliance’s members, Mali.
After numerous failed assassination attempts against the popular Burkina Faso president Ibrahim Traoré, imperialism is now attempting to take down neighbouring Mali instead.
Driven out of the country in 2022 after a military occupation of nearly ten years that only exacerbated the country’s security and terrorism problems, France is doing everything it can to regain control of the country’s abundant resources via the proxy army it created and trained during its military occupation.
In early October, France’s local terrorist proxy (and al-Qaeda offshoot) Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (Jnim), intensified its attacks on fuel convoys from Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. This tactic caused severe shortages in the capital city Bamako and certain regions, paralysing transport, public services and economic activity. Endless queues of vehicles blocked petrol stations, while thousands of workers found themselves without transport or income.
Sahel alliance stands firm
The Malian government, which enjoys strong popular support, responded quickly to these attacks by calling on other AES members for fuel supplies and security.
“A total of 20 tanker lorries loaded with fuel from Labizanga in Niger completed a high-risk journey to Gao, escorted by the unified force of the Alliance of Sahel States.
“This operation marks a new stage in security and logistical cooperation between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Other operations of this kind have taken place since then, illustrating the strengthening of joint actions within the AES.” (Mali: The Unified AES Force escorts a fuel convoy from Niger to Gao, AES Alerte, Telegram, 4 November 2025)
With the help of its AES allies and Russia, Mali is resiliently and courageously waging a continuous fight against terrorist forces to protect its sovereignty and territory.
At the beginning of November, an imperialist propaganda offensive announced via corporate and social media networks the imminent fall of the Malian government and the takeover of Bamako by Jnim terrorists. To create maximum panic and lend credibility to their lies, the French, US, Italian and German governments all called on their nationals to leave the country.
The aim of this psychological operation was clearly to spread confusion and cause unrest amongst the population, but it failed completely. According to journalist and Franco-African relations specialist Antoine Glaser: “This method reveals the group’s operational limitations.
“A direct offensive on Bamako would require complex military coordination, heavy logistics and a capacity to hold the ground that Jnim does not possess. Instead, the group seeks to exert economic and social pressure by targeting vital flows to provoke internal collapse or popular revolt against the authorities (ie, the usual imperialist attempt to starve people into demanding regime change – Ed).
“The fuel blockade highlights the structural vulnerabilities of the Malian state, but does not necessarily mean that its collapse is imminent …
“Jnim has neither the means nor the strategic interest to govern Bamako. Its objective is to maintain constant pressure, exhaust the state and destabilise the regime without ever seeking to replace it.’’ (Antoine Glaser, specialist in Franco-African relations: ‘Jnim cannot seize Bamako’, Maliweb, 12 November 2025)
These attempts at destabilisation have been strongly condemned by Russia. In a statement published on 14 November 2025, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned of intensified activity by islamist terrorist groups in the Sahel states. She also denounced what she described as a coordinated information campaign from abroad aimed at destabilising the Sahel countries that have adopted an “independent” foreign policy. Such pointed out that such activities, motivated by “geopolitical and economic” interests, deliberately harm civilian populations.
A few weeks ago, Russia went so far as to officially accuse France, Ukraine, Algeria and Mauritania of supporting terrorism in Mali in the United Nations security council, and has joined Mali in calling for an international investigation into evidence of French and Ukrainian support for terrorists via Mauritania and Algeria.
Building self-reliance
Far from letting those imperialist attacks set them back, Mali went ahead with holding the Bamako Defence and Security exhibition (Bamex 2025) on 11 November, an unprecedented event on the African continent. For the first time in the country’s history, African delegates gathered in its capital Bamako, sending a strong message to its enemies that the region is preparing to defend itself.
“Dismissing [the west’s hysterical headlines] as a scenario ‘concocted in the office of foreign intelligence services’, foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop insisted that ‘the fate of Mali, and the destiny of the people in the west African region, will not be decided’ by the media.
“He made these remarks on 12 November, addressing a press conference on the sidelines of Bamex 25, Mali’s first international defence expo, aimed at building ‘an autonomous security architecture’ for Africa in the face of ‘unprecedented security and geopolitical challenges’.
“This expo, he said, is yet another indication of the Malian government’s priority to strengthen its defence and security to combat the threat of terror groups that were spawned across the Sahel by Nato’s destruction of Libya in 2011 …
“‘There have been disruptions in the supply system,’ he said, but ‘the state organised itself, put in place a strategic plan to resume supplies, to ensure the security of convoys … And gradually, you see that hundreds of trucks are arriving every day to resume supplies to Bamako and other localities,’ Diop added in his press conference. ‘As I speak, Mali is able to ensure the supply of hydrocarbons and petroleum products to its population.’ …
“Mali’s first-ever national electronic payments exhibition was also organised in the capital by the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions of Mali (APBEF-Mali) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union’s interbank electronic payment group (GIM-UEMOA).
“Schools reopened on schedule on 10 November. That day, President Assimi Goïta inaugurated the Presidential Emergency Hospital project to upgrade six existing health centres in Bamako to district hospitals by the end of 2026, for which a health budget of $349.2mn has been allocated. The inauguration also marked the start of construction of nine new hospitals, including in Bougouni, Bandiagara and Nioro, where attacks had been reported in the recent past.” (Mali defends sovereignty against a western-backed ‘proxy war’ by terror groups by Pavan Kulkarni, People’s Dispatch, 19 November 2025)
The defence event also provided an opportunity for the Russian deputy defence minister to pay a courtesy visit to his Malian counterpart, Lieutenant General Sadio Camara. Their meeting focused on strengthening military cooperation between Mali and Russia as well as wider bilateral relations.
While imperialism is using all its networks and dirty tricks to try to take them down, Mali and the other countries of the Sahel alliance are advancing and developing at an incredible rate, leaving the bitter imperialists to bite the dust.
