March 16, 2026: Recently about a dozen members of the Russian Africa Corps operating in Mali and local soldiers were killed and injured while guarding a convoy. Russian and local soldiers inflict far more casualties on local civilians. This usually occurs during efforts to deal with Islamic terrorists, who remain a major threat to the economy and national government.

Last year the JNIM Islamic terrorists were winning with a siege of the capital Bamako that lasted into 2026 with no end in sight. JNIM has blocked fuel imports by preventing fuel trucks from reaching their destinations. Foreigners have been urged, by their embassies, to leave the country. The Mali government and military were uncertain how to handle this crisis.

Mali’s army went on the offensive in October 2024. There was some success but not enough t0 make a significant change in the overall situation. Since 2012, when separatist rebellion in the north was defeated, continued high levels of corruption, ethnic rivalries and Islamic terrorism kept Mali from achieving a lasting peace and much prosperity. In 2021 the situation got worse when there was another military coup. The Mali military has staged three government takeovers since 2012. The last one, in May 2021, was an internal dispute within the military. Since that coup foreign donors have warned that most of the foreign aid will stop coming if Mali does not carry out a significant reduction in corruption, government ineffectiveness and overall instability. None of these three military takeovers were about corruption but rather anger at the corrupt politicians stealing money meant to finance operations against Islamic terrorist and separatist minorities in the north. The colonels running the military government are unwilling to step down and are trying to make it on their own, despite the large number of UN peacekeepers and French troops dealing with the Islamic terrorist problem up north.

Islamic terrorists continue to ravage the north while in the south the capital is the scene of corruption, double dealing and frustrated, and sometimes arrested, foreign investors. Mali is rich in gold and other minerals but the people never seem to benefit. Chaos is the norm, along with poverty and desperation.