Mali: the Air Force acquires many Russian military planes and helicopters

Mali received on August 9 new military equipment delivered by its Russian partner. In his speech, the Malian Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, one of the strong men of the regime, praised the “win-win partnership with the Russian Federation” during an official ceremony in the presence of Russian diplomats and Colonel Assimi Goïta, the Malian transitional president.

The colonels who took power by force in August 2020 in this country in the midst of security turmoil have decided to separate from the old French ally, engaged militarily against the jihadists since 2013, and to vigorously relaunch cooperation with Russia.

“The Air Force satisfied”

Russia had already delivered several combat helicopters and weapons in March. Mali has thus welcomed, in large numbers, what the junta presents as Russian instructors. “The Air Force filled this Tuesday, August 9, 2022 with one of the largest acquisitions that will allow them to deploy wide in the sky to fully ensure the surveillance of 1,241,238 km²”rejoices the Malian army in a statement.

“”We are consolidating our reconnaissance and attack capability with L39 and Sukhoi 25 fighter jets, which are added to the Super Tucano and other aircraft already in use. As well as the Mi24P type attack helicopters, which are added to the Mi35 and the Mi24 already delivered””

Sadio Camara, Minister of Defense

Western partners denounce for their part the use of the junta to the services of the private Russian security company Wagner, the decried actions. The junta denies and speaks of a former partnership with the Russian army. Russia had admitted in May a presence of Wagner in Mali “on a commercial basis”. No information has been made public regarding the conditions for acquiring the equipment.

Jihadist threat

Mali has been in turmoil since 2012. The jihadist spread, initially confined to the north of the country, has spread to central and southern Mali, as well as to Burkina Faso and Niger. Bamako was sanctioned for six months by its West African neighbors for not having respected its electoral commitments.

These economic and financial sanctions, which had a considerable effect on the economy, were lifted at the beginning of July after the presentation of an electoral calendar fixing the next presidential election in 2024. Bamako announced that it had raised 277 billion CFA francs (approximately 420 million euros) from investors in the sub-regional market of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

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