Tuareg rebels urge Russian forces to leave Mali
Russian forces must withdraw from "all of Mali" and the ruling junta will "fall sooner or later", a spokesman for Tuareg rebels told AFP, after Islamist insurgents and separatists launched attacks destabilising the west African country.
Mali, France's former colony, has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis after a Tuareg-dominated rebel alliance and jihadists at the weekend carried out coordinated attacks against the west African country's military leadership and its Russian paramilitary backers.
By joining forces, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition made up of Tuareg, Fulani, and Arab rebels and the al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) hope to drive out the ruling junta that came to power in a coup in 2020.
As a result of the largest attacks in nearly 15 years, the rebels captured the key town of Kidal in the desert north, and Defence Minister Sadio Camara, seen as the mastermind behind the junta's pivot to Russia, was killed.
Russian fighters from the Africa Corps, controlled by Moscow, said they also "sustained losses", but provided no details.
After the coup Mali -- along with Burkina Faso and Niger -- has cultivated close relations with Russia and cut ties with the West.
'Withdraw from all of Mali'
Speaking in an interview with AFP in Paris, the spokesman for Tuareg rebels, who want to carve out an independent state in northern Mali called Azawad, urged support from France and the United States and said Russians must leave the country for good.
"Our objective is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Azawad and beyond, from all of Mali," said the FLA spokesman, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, who was set to meet French security and defence officials in Paris.
"We have no particular problem with Russia, nor with any other country. Our problem is with the regime that governs Bamako."
He said the rebels viewed Russia's intervention negatively because they "supported people who committed serious crimes and massacres."
Russia's defence ministry confirmed Africa Corps fighters had been forced to withdraw from Kidal.
Ramadane said the Russians asked for a secure corridor to withdraw and were escorted to Anefis southwest of Kidal.
"The Russians found themselves in danger. There was no way out," he said.
"When they realised they could not hold out against our forces and our firepower, they requested these withdrawals," he added.
"In all the confrontations we had with the Russians, we won them all," he claimed.
He said Russian fighters were no match for Tuaregs who are defending their homeland.
"Even if they are a powerful force, they will not be able to stand up to the Azawadians -- the masters of the terrain."
'No choice'
Ramadane said that the junta would eventually be driven from power.
"The regime will fall, sooner or later," he said, adding that the rebels now intend to take control of Gao, Timbuktu and Menaka following the capture of Kidal.
"To achieve peace, to find stability in Azawad, in Mali and beyond in the Sahel, I think the first thing is to get rid of this junta," Ramadane said.
"The situation is far from being under the junta's control", he added, despite claims from Assimi Goita, the leader of the military government.
On Tuesday, the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM released a video saying the militants were imposing a blockade "on all roads into Bamako".
"We are locked in an existential war," said Ramadane, adding that the rebels' main objective was "the self-determination of the people of Azawad".
He said that the FLA was ready to govern major cities in the north by applying a "moderate form of Sharia law" similar to that in Mauritania and relying on qadis, Muslim judges who render decisions based on Islamic law.
Ramadane described the rebels' union with jihadists as an "alliance of convenience" in the face of a common enemy.
"We have no choice," he added, pointing to the influence of JNIM leader Iyad Ag Ghali.
"We have learnt lessons from the past, from the incidents we have had with JNIM, and we really want to create mechanisms that allow us to coexist."