Russia and African state discuss combating terrorism
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held talks with Niger’s ambassador to Moscow, Abdou Sidikou Isa, on Thursday about resolving the longstanding conflicts in the Sahel region of Africa driven by Islamic militant groups.
The two diplomats exchanged views on the “African agenda,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
“Particular attention was paid to the task of progressively promoting Russian-Nigerien multifaceted cooperation in the context of preparations for holding the ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Sochi in November of this year,” it stated.
The discussions in Moscow came just two days after an Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for an attack on a military training school in Mali’s capital of Bamako.
At least some 70 people were killed in the incident, Reuters reported on Friday, citing anonymous diplomatic and security sources. Following the assault on Tuesday, the Sahel nation’s military government acknowledged some losses but did not provide casualty figures.
The lethal jihadist insurgency in the Sahel region erupted in Mali’s north in 2012 and has since spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. More than 12,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in 2023, and at least 2.8 million people are internally displaced in the region due to escalating attacks, according to the non-profit organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
The military rulers of the three West African states have severed defense ties with some previous partners, including France and the US, accusing them of failing to quell the decade-long violence. Last year, the former French colonies formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and have turned to Moscow for security cooperation in combating terrorism.
On Thursday, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who became Niger’s interim president after leading a coup in July last year, expressed solidarity with his Malian counterpart, Colonel Assimi Goita, in response to the “malicious terrorist attack” on Bamako.
Tchiani said in a statement published by the Nigerien Press Services that the incident exposes the “sinister design of the terrorists and their foreign sponsors to impede the process of operationalization of the AES Confederation and the reestablishment of the Malian State.”
Bamako, Ouagadougou, and Niamey have accused Ukraine of supporting terrorism after Kiev officials allegedly provided intelligence to rebels for an ambush in late July that killed scores of Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner Group contractors. Last month, the Sahel allies wrote to the UN Security Council, demanding action against Ukraine after Mali and Niger earlier severed diplomatic ties with Kiev.
