LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Mali is facing its most serious security crisis in years as al-Qaida-linked militants and separatist rebels join forces to intensify attacks against its military.The partnership between the JNIM jihadi rebels and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) is the latest twist in a decades-long conflict in what is already the world’s most terrorized region.It has resulted in some of the largest attacks Malian security forces and their partners have seen in years, analysts say. The rebels and separatists launched massive simultaneous attacks across the country in April for the first time in a decade. Earlier this month, they partnered to ambush a Malian military convoy, capturing or killing dozens of soldiers, and mounting pressure on the ruling junta.Fatalities from militant attacks increased by 35% to 3,435 in the first seven months of this year, compared with 2,546 in the same period in 2024, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor.
“The JNIM and FLA see the benefit of working with each other because they function as force multipliers for each other,” said Heni Nsaibia, a senior analyst for West Africa at ACLED.Both groups, Nsaibia said, have the same goal of “finishing the common enemy,” which they see as being the Malian armed forces and its partner, Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary group.
