Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have petitioned the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday, August 20, to denounce the Ukrainian government’s “open and assumed support for international terrorism” particularly in Africa’s Sahel region.
The move follows recent comments by Ukrainian officials suggesting that Kyiv had played a role in attacks by Tuareg separatists that caused the deaths of many Malian soldiers and members of the Russian contract security outfit, Wagner, last month in the north-eastern village of Tinzaouaten in the volatile Kidal region, which shares borders with Algeria.
In a joint letter, the three countries’ foreign ministers said their governments were shocked by the comments of Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR), “admitting Ukraine’s role in the cowardly, barbaric and criminal attacks” between July 24 and 26.
Yusov said the rebels received “the necessary information they needed” to conduct the attacks after Malian army allies of Russia’s Wagner Group confirmed “losses” in the clashes.
The letter called on the Security Council to “take appropriate measures against these subversive actions which strengthen terrorist groups in Africa.”
It said the official’s comments go beyond the scope of foreign interference, which is condemnable itself.
“This is official and unequivocal support by the Ukrainian government for terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Sahel,” the letter says in part.
”These acts also constitute a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our States, a clear aggression and support for international terrorism, in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant international conventions,” it added.
The three countries, ruled by military juntas, signed a defence pact under their formation called the Confederation of Sahel States, which allows for mutual support against terrorist and other military attacks on any of the states.
The Tinzaouatene area has been a battleground between separatist forces and the Malian army over the past decade. By the conditions agreed to under the defence pact, Burkina Faso has recently joined forces with the Malians in fighting off Tuareg rebels and Islamist fighters in the area.
Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso earlier this month severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine, citing comments by the Ukrainian military official suggesting that Kyiv played a role in the July attacks.
Following the start of conflict between the Tuaregs and the Malian state over demands for an independent state of Azawad for the Tuaregs, the UNSC sent a peacekeeping mission to Mali in 2013 to help stabilise the country as it fought with French forces to push back the Tuaregs and other insurgents. The mission left Mali in December 2023, at the demand of the Malian military government, which has been in control since 2021.
Yet the Tuareg rebels controlled northern Mali for more than a decade before the Malian army, with the help of the Wagner group, invited by the country’s military leader, Col. Assimi Goïta in 2021, launched an offensive soon after the UN mission left. The push drove the rebels out of Kidal.
It is not certain if the UNSC would condemn the Ukrainian government for the claims made by the GUR spokesperson. However, regional security experts say the demands by the three Sahel states indicate their stance against interference by external forces in the ongoing political realignment in the region.
Your writing has a way of making even the most complex topics accessible and engaging. I’m constantly impressed by your ability to distill complicated concepts into easy-to-understand language.