Mali on the Brink: Militants Surge as Foreign Forces Exit and the State Struggles to Hold
The latest wave of coordinated militant attacks across Mali has laid bare the depth of a crisis that has been building for more than a decade — one shaped not only by insurgency but also by shifting geopolitical alliances, economic collapse and the retreat of international security forces. In late April, armed groups launched near-simultaneous assaults on military and strategic targets in multiple locations, including near Bamako’s international airport and the major military base at Kati, as well as in the northern cities of Gao and Kidal and the central town of Sévaré. The attacks, described by analysts as among…