First sighting of Goita since rebel attacks comes as Russia seeks to dampen speculation over ally\u2019s military government.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 28 Apr 2026<\/span>28 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mali\u2019s military leader Assimi Goita has met the Russian ambassador to the East African country, according to his office.<\/p>\n Goita\u2019s office published photos of the meeting on Tuesday in what was his first public appearance since rebel attacks over the weekend that killed one of his ministers.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The news release came after Russia said earlier in the day that it was seeking stability in the West African country. , in which it has won significant influence since Goita\u2019s military government took power in a coup in 2021.<\/p>\n West Africa\u2019s al-Qaeda affiliate and the Tuareg separatist group on Saturday hit Mali\u2019s main army base and the area near Bamako\u2019s airport, while driving Russian soldiers \u2013 deployed in support of government forces \u2013 out of Kidal in the north.<\/p>\n No statement accompanied the photos of Goita\u2019s meeting with Russian Ambassador Igor Gromyko, but the image \u201cspeaks louder than words\u201d of the regime\u2019s reliance on \u201cRussian mercenaries\u201d, said Al Jazeera\u2019s Nicolas Haque, who has reported extensively from Mali.<\/p>\n The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement declaring that its paramilitary forces had \u200c\u200chelped prevent a coup during the attacks on Saturday, stopping rebel fighters from seizing key objects, including the presidential palace.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fierce battles with overwhelming enemy forces, the units of the Africa Corps inflicted irreparable losses on the enemy in personnel and hardware, forcing [them] to abandon [their] plans and preventing [them] from carrying out the coup d\u2019etat, retaining the authority of the legitimate government, and preventing mass civilian casualties,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Defence also confirmed that mercenaries from Russia\u2019s Africa Corps, controlled by Moscow and sent to back up the Malian government, had been forced to withdraw from the key northern town of Kidal.<\/p>\n The Kremlin, separately, said it urgently wanted peace and stability in Mali, which has battled more than a decade of rebellion and conflict.<\/p>\n The photos, alongside the statement from the Defence Ministry in Moscow, are clearly designed to show that the military government remains secure, Haque noted.<\/p>\n Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in the assault on Saturday, while Goita had not been seen since.<\/p>\n The military chief is now \u201ctrying to reassure the country that he is in charge and, with the help of the Russians, he will be able to garner safety for the people in Bamako\u201d, Haque said.<\/p>\n However, social media footage has been emerging showing Russian mercenaries and Malian troops surrendering to the armed groups that have united in trying to topple the military government, the reporter said.<\/p>\n Russia has warned that the Tuareg separatists who have captured Kidal are \u201cregrouping\u201d for fresh attacks.<\/p>\n The armed groups \u2013 Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) \u2013 were reported to be advancing in northern Mali on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The scale and scope of the offensive on multiple sites across the vast West African country over the weekend demonstrated an unprecedented ability to coordinate fighters from different groups with different goals and strike at the heart of the military government.<\/p>\n The attacks were the largest in nearly 15 years, and saw two former foes, the al-Qaeda fighters and Tuareg separatists, join forces against the military government and its Russian paramilitary backers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n First sighting of Goita since rebel attacks comes as Russia seeks to dampen speculation over ally\u2019s military government. Published On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026 Mali\u2019s military leader Assimi Goita has met the Russian ambassador to the East African country, according to his office. Goita\u2019s office published photos of the meeting on Tuesday in what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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