Rebel attacks in Mali: an end to peace deal?
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00:00 Now fresh fighting has broken out between Mali's army and Northern Tuareg rebels.
00:05 Two army bases have reportedly been taken over by the rebels.
00:09 Both sides have been seeking to take control of territory as UN peacekeepers withdraw.
00:14 For more on this story, we can bring in France 24's Wassim Nasser.
00:17 Wassim, great to see you.
00:18 Talk us through what's happening on the ground.
00:19 Well, actually, the problems began when the MINUSMA forces evacuated Bair next to Tomboktu
00:27 Island prior to the scheduled retreat.
00:31 So the base was given to Malian forces who had with them Wagner operatives.
00:37 And that was the first time there was a confrontation between Northern factions, rebel factions
00:42 and the army.
00:43 What we see here is the attack on Leray we saw yesterday.
00:46 So this is footage from inside of the base.
00:49 We got also to geolocalize even the tank, which didn't move since 2019.
00:55 And here we see that they were inside the base.
00:57 They took it yesterday.
00:59 They kept it for a while.
01:00 They took out many equipment out of the base, but they retreated this morning, as I was
01:04 told.
01:05 So we are talking about the rebels.
01:06 And they were even hit this morning by an airplane.
01:09 And so yesterday they succeeded also in downing an airplane.
01:13 We'll see it later.
01:15 It's an L-39 support jet.
01:20 So it's significant to see it down.
01:23 And this comes after this is the Western Front in Northern Mali.
01:28 We have also the Eastern Front where they attacked Buram, where the Malian army was
01:33 massing forces in order to attack Kidal, as I was told.
01:36 So this footage is something else.
01:38 This is a helicopter of the Malian army with Wagner operatives that was downed by al-Qaeda
01:43 this time.
01:44 So those two things are different.
01:46 Speaking about al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda is also present in the region.
01:49 What do they want?
01:50 Well, actually, al-Qaeda is present on the same territory that we are talking about.
01:54 So they are still attacking the Malian army and Wagner operatives in a very intense way.
02:01 And even they attacked the Minusma where it was retreating from there to another, to Tomboktu.
02:07 This is the Bomba attack in the Gawo area.
02:10 This is al-Qaeda who is responsible of this attack.
02:14 So it's going like at the same time.
02:18 All factions are attacking the Malian army, and al-Qaeda is still attacking, as usual,
02:22 the Malian army and Wagner operatives.
02:24 We also have footage of Wagner soldiers that were killed by al-Qaeda.
02:31 It was a trap between the town of Gosi and the town of Gawo.
02:35 We'll stop here.
02:37 We have footage of two white corpses.
02:42 It's graphic, so we won't show it, of course.
02:45 But it is the proof that they got to kill Wagner operatives in this area.
02:49 And what's important to say, that al-Qaeda attacking Malian forces in this area prevents
02:55 also the buildup to go further north.
02:57 So what I was told by Tuareg people on the ground, they told me that al-Qaeda is saturating
03:06 the area.
03:07 So if they don't go on the offensive, it's al-Qaeda who's going to have all the political
03:11 gains in the eyes of the local populations regarding this fight between Bamako and the
03:17 northern areas.
03:18 So in a way, they were forced to act because they had no other choice knowing the military
03:24 buildup of the Malian army regarding those areas.
03:27 Now, Waseem, we've seen coups take place in Mali, in Burkina Faso, recently in Niger.
03:32 Is this alliance forming amongst all those junta leaders?
03:36 Well, yes, but it's more symbolic, you see.
03:40 So of course, there was an agreement on the 15th that was declared on the 15th of September,
03:44 but you have to know that with Russian patronage, of course, because delegations from Mali,
03:49 from Burkina Faso and Niger met Russian representative officials in Bamako.
03:54 And the announcement of the agreement came on the 15th of September, the same day, the
03:58 same day where the US administration declared or announced the resuming of operations in
04:03 Niger.
04:04 So it's a big blow for American policy, which is making the same mistakes as France did
04:09 in Mali and Burkina Faso, meaning trying to be open to the new juntas in order to keep
04:15 counterterrorism efforts ongoing in those areas.
04:19 But we see that today juntas have other agendas.
04:23 And what's interesting in this agreement is the fifth and the sixth clauses in it, where
04:27 they say that if any of those countries is attacked by another country, all three will
04:32 mobilize.
04:33 We think, of course, of the CDO who might go militarily to put back President Bassem
04:38 in power.
04:39 But also the sixth clause talks about if there's any rebellion in one of the countries, all
04:44 three countries can intervene.
04:45 So it makes us think of the Tuareg, mostly Tuareg rebellion today in Mali, where other
04:49 countries could intervene.
04:51 But one more time, it's more symbolic because all three countries have so many problems.
04:55 They don't control their borders.
04:57 They don't control big stretches of their territory.
05:00 So it's more symbolic.
05:01 And we'll see how it will fall out in the upcoming days.