Mali and Niger have asked the UN Security Council to investigate claims that Ukraine provided intelligence to Tuareg rebels, who killed Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner Group contractors in a recent ambush, according to RIA Novosti.
Fousseinou Ouattara, deputy chairman of Bamako’s parliamentary committee on security and defense, announced the move in an interview, the Russian news agency reported on Wednesday.
“It must have been [intelligence] that was mainly transmitted through the Americans, because they are capable of obtaining such information,” Ouattara said, casting doubt on Ukraine’s ability to independently assist armed groups in Africa.
Bamako and Niamey have severed diplomatic relations with Kiev, accusing it of supporting “terrorist groups” after a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence called the attack in northern Mali in late July a “successful military operation.” Andrey Yusov claimed that the Malian rebels received “necessary” information to launch the assault in Tinzaouaten, and warned that more would follow.
On Sunday, the Malian government expressed shock at the remarks, calling it Kiev’s support for terrorism in the Sahel and a violation of Mali’s sovereignty. Niamey also denounced the “indecent” and “unacceptable” comments made by Ukrainian officials as “acts of aggression,” and decided on Tuesday to cut ties with Kiev with “immediate effect” in “total solidarity with the government and people of Mali.”
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has condemned the attacks in Mali and warned against “any foreign interference” that threatens the region’s peace and security.
On Saturday, the Sahel state’s neighbour, Senegal, issued a statement, saying it “cannot accept... comments and gestures aimed at apologizing for terrorism, especially when the latter aims to destabilize a country, a brotherly one like Mali.”
Burkina Faso also called on the global community to hold Ukraine to account for its “subversive actions that threaten” Africa’s stability. “Ukraine must not fight the wrong battle and should refrain from any support of any kind for these terrorists,” the Burkinabe Foreign Ministry said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has since denied Kiev’s involvement in the incident, labeling Mali’s decision to break off ties “shortsighted and hasty.”
“The accusations against Ukraine mentioned in the statement of the representative of the government of this country do not withstand any criticism, are groundless and untrue,” the ministry said on Thursday in response to Niger.
Mali has been embroiled in a jihadist insurgency since 2012, which has claimed thousands of lives. A decade-long French military mission failed to quell the violence, causing it to spill over to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. All three former French colonies, under military rule, have severed defense ties with Paris and formed the Alliance of Sahel States to combat terrorism.
Russia, which Bamako, Niamey, and Ouagadougou consider a strategic security ally, has agreed to help the troubled Sahel states tackle the long-standing terrorist threats.
In an interview with RIA Novosti on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Kiev of launching a “second front” in the conflict with Moscow in African states that support Russia.