The Wagner Group has announced it is withdrawing from Mali following what it called “the completion of its main mission” in the West African country.
The Russian mercenary group has been operating there since 2021, working with the military to challenge Islamist militants.
In a message on its Telegram channel, Wagner said it had “fought terrorism side-by-side with the people of Mali”, killing “thousands of militants and their commanders, who terrorised civilians for years”.
The withdrawal announcement comes the same day as reports that Malian soldiers had pulled out from a major base in the centre of the country, after it came under a second deadly attack in less than a week.
Mali has been grappling with a militant Islamist insurgency for more than a decade.
Following accusations that the government had been failing to deal with this insecurity, the military seized power a few years ago.
French troops, which were originally deployed to help the civilian government, left the country in 2022. By then, the junta in charge of Mali had already begun working with the Russian mercenaries to combat the insurgents.
There has been a resurgence in jihadist attacks on military bases in the Sahel state in recent weeks.
Last Sunday, an al-Qaeda linked group said it had carried out a major attack on the town of Boulikessi and the army base there.
More than 30 soldiers were killed, according to sources quoted by the news agency Reuters.
Then on Monday, the same group – Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) – said it targeted the military in the historic city of Timbuktu, with residents reporting hearing gunfire and explosions.
Insurgents also attacked an army post in the village of Mahou in the southeastern Sikasso region, killing five.
Locals told the news agency AFP that soldiers withdrew from the Boulkessi base on after a new assault on Thursday led to multiple deaths.
A military source said the departure was “strategic” and “at the request of the hierarchy”, the news agency reported.
The increased assaults in the Sahel region have raised concerns about the efficacy of Wagner in the region.
Although the paramilitary group has announced its exit from Mali, Russian forces will still play an active role in the country’s security landscape.
Fighters from Africa Corps – a rival Russian mercenary force intended to absorb Wagner’s activities on the continent – will remain in Mali.
Russia has an increasing military, political and economic influence in West and Central Africa.
Friday’s announcement did not state whether Wagner would be leaving the Central African Republic, where its African headquarters are located.
