09-05-2026: On April 25 in the Sahelian state of Mali, a reported force of between 10 and 12 thousand Al Qaeda and Islamic State ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) or ISSP (Islamic State in Sahel Province) terrorists launched a brazen regime change coup, targeting several cities including the capital Bamako. The two main Western backed terror groups were JNIM (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin) who claimed that the city of Kidal had been “captured” in coordination with the Taureg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). Some reports say that 1000 IS/Al Qaeda armed fighters perished during the attacks on multiple Malian cities after being eliminated by Malian and Russian Africa Corp forces.[1] During the JNIM/FLA onslaught, Malian defence minister Sadio Camara was killed by a car bomb blast at his residence. The leader of Mali’s popularly supported military government, Assimi Goita, will now also assume the post of defence minister after the slaying.[2]
Washington and Paris behind violence
Though they would cover their tracks, it is strongly suspected that US and French imperialism was behind the violent regime change coup attempt. After Mali’s popular military coup in 2020, the new military government had effectively expelled French troops from the African state by 2022.[3] The Malian coup in 2020 laid the groundwork for similar popularly supported military coups in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in subsequent years. These three states then formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) first as a security bloc, and then as more of a political pact. Paris is struggling to deal with the end of its colonial “Francafique” or French Africa, while Washington is aghast at African states breaking free of imperialism after 500 years of exploitation – by forming fraternal ties with Moscow and Beijing. An FLA spokesperson called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta” in Mali, outrageously claiming that its actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population. In reality, the Russian Africa Corps (previously the Wagner Private Military Company) have been assisting the Malian government in combatting the attacks of the Western backed Al Qaeda militia such as FLA, JNIM and ISSP.
The FLA have claimed they are not terrorists despite working in close contact with JNIM, which is openly an affiliate of Al Qaeda. Taureg separatists with the Movement for the National Liberation of Azawad declared “independence” in April 2012. Yet this is hardly credible and was likely made with the backing of Western states bent on destabilising Africa to stymie Russian and Chinese assistance. Ahmadou Touré, the director of the Bamako based Centre for Research on Governance, Mediation and Security in the Sahel, said that the hybridisation of separatism and international jihadism goes beyond a rebellion and directly undermines Mali’s stability.[4] Violent attacks cause population displacement and threatens Mali’s territorial integrity. A political cause does not justify working hand in glove with forces designated as terrorist by the United Nations (UN), nor does it rationalise using force against a sovereign state.
AES strikes back
The AES, in the few short years of its existence, has managed to expel French and US troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. They have welcomed Russian security support, which now takes the form of the Africa Corp. Many analysts have recognised that the AES is effectively the African leg of the rising multipolar world.[5] Imperialism is reeling and is pulling out all stops to curb the growth of multipolarity, and their Al Qaeda orchestrated coup attempt in Mali is a graphic demonstration of the extent to which it will go. If it can sacrifice 1000 terror militia in an effort to take down Mali, there will be more violence unless it is driven out. Nigerian commentator David Hundeyin explained that the attack on Mali was not just terrorism, but a coordinated Western backed coup to break apart the AES.[6] He draws the parallels of the West’s nefarious acts in the Sahel to the US led “dirty war” on Syria, where imperialism armed and funded ISIS and Al Qaeda facilitating their extreme violence, which after 13 years, resulted in the overthrow of the Syrian Arab Republic.
The destruction of Syria by imperialism was a prerequisite for the regime change war on the then Syria’s ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran. The US led proxy war in Ukraine against Russia also played a large role, as Russia was unable to maintain a defence of Syria while staving off NATO armed “UkroNazi” battalions on their border. In fact, the CIA directed Ukrainian state in 2024 boasted that it was behind the FLA ambush of Wagner PMC in Mali that killed several dozen Russian fighters. This led to Mali and Niger cutting all diplomatic ties with Ukraine.[7] Africans in the AES are well aware that they are under attack from imperialism, who they see as being behind the multiple terrorist groups committing violence across the Sahel. In response to the April 25 coup attempt, the AES carried out joint air strikes in Mali against IS and JNIM militia. At the same time, a crowd gathered in the Nigerien capital of Niamey in solidarity with Mali. The crowd chanted slogans such as “down with the imperialists”, “down with the terrorists and their sponsors” and “long live the AES”.[8]
Arguably, the AES may not have come about if it was not for the Special Military Operation (SMO) of the Russian Federation in Ukraine combatting a NATO backed war. Russia has militarily secured four regions which have rejoined – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – while Crimea voted to rejoin in 2014. Despite taking casualties, Russia has blunted US imperialism and exposed it as not having the capacity to defend Ukraine, let alone degrade Moscow. Millions of people in the Global South, but especially in Africa, view Russia in Ukraine as defying the US empire and finally exposing it as a faltering former hegemon. This is why there has been the acts of African protestors flying the Russian Federation flag not only in the Sahelian states, but also in Nigeria.[9] The demonisation of Russia in the West has little effect in Africa.
Multi-continental war
Imperialism is willing to fund armies of Al Qaeda type death squads across Africa in an effort to prevent African states from escaping from dependence on the West, and not only in security terms via Russia. The socialistic People’s Republic of China (PRC) is providing vitally needed economic assistance for almost all African states, in the form of trade and infrastructure development. The PRC is able to provide economic options for Global South states due to its nationalised and planned economy, based on public ownership of the major means of production. These advantages have propelled it to become the world’s largest manufacturer and the leading industrial power, while dominating scientific and technological breakthroughs. It is a natural partner for African states, given its shared history of colonisation, from which it broke free from 1949 onwards. At the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in September 2024, the AES was represented for the first time, rather than as individual states.[10]
It is crucial that workers see the larger picture of what is happening to the globe. Imperialism is waging a no holes barred war on the rising multipolar world, come what may. The capitalist system is dying but is willing to drag the entire planet down with it rather than lose the power that it once had in the 20th Century. It is willing to use mass terrorism, massacres, regime change wars, coups, colour revolutions and more, directed at any state which sees the writing on the wall. It is waging war on several continents, primarily against the pillars of the multipolar world – Iran, Russia and China. Yet it is not winning overall – far from it. It is in the material interests of workers the world over to defend the AES, Iran, Russia, China and the Global South. Within this defence, a political class struggle must be waged for real socialism, not just a much needed anti-imperialism. Marxist vanguard parties animated by Permanent Revolution need to be constructed, to build on, and extend, the objective conditions favouring the forward march of history.
Workers League
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@protonmail.com
[1] www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/africa/mali-army-bases-hit-in-large-scale-attacks-claimed-by-al-qaeda-linked-militants-5436720 (06-05-2026)
[2] www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/4/mali-leader-goita-takes-defence-post-after-minister-killed (06-05-2026)
[3] www.france24.com/en/africa/20220218-mali-asks-france-to-withdraw-troops-without-delay (06-05-2026)
[4] www.modernghana.com/news/1490593/are-malis-tuareg-led-fla-fighters-terrorists-or.html (06-05-2026)
[5] www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/shifting-alliances-sahels-geostrategic-evolution-multipolar-era (06-05-2026)
[6] www.x.com/BTnewsroom/status/2051325819780288620 (06-05-2026)
[7] www.korybko.substack.com/p/ukraines-boast-about-being-behind (06-05-2026)
[8] www.islamabadpost.com.pk/alliance-of-sahel-states-confirms-joint-airstrikes-in-mali/ (06-05-2026)
[9] https://rpublc.com/story/2024/11/10/international-affairs/russian-flag-in-african-protests (06-05-2026)
[10] www.sahellibertynews.com/2024/09/04/aes-china-a-strategic-alliance-for-the-development-and-security-of-the-sahel-at-focac-2024/ (06-05-2026)
Image: Malian leader Assimi Goita assumes the post of defence minister after the assassination of Sadio Camara during the Western backed regime change coup attempt in Mali on April 25. http://www.jeuneafrique.com
Red Fire 