Mali's military government is proving its staying power by pressing forward with major development projects — including a $70.5 million electricity deal — even while repelling coordinated terror attacks backed by foreign powers. The April 25 offensive wasn't just jihadists acting alone; Ukraine admitted to supplying Tuareg armed groups with intelligence and drones, exposing this as a proxy war against Malian sovereignty. Sovereignty is being consolidated, not surrendered.
Mali's junta has spent years promising security while JNIM grows stronger, surrounds Bamako with blockades and kills the defense minister in his own home. Brutal Russian-backed campaigns against civilians have driven recruitment for the very groups the government claims to be fighting. Africa Corps has retreated to protecting the junta itself — that's not a counterterrorism strategy, that's a regime clinging to survival.
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