Russia’s Africa Corps is shifting fighters out of Mali’s northern regions to protect the capital and the ruling junta while providing air support and intelligence to Malian soldiers in the field.
“By and large they are taking more of a backseat role,” Benedict Manzin, lead Middle East and Africa analyst for U.K.-based intelligence firm Sybiline, told ADF.
“They’re doing everything they can to avoid having to feed more bodies into the meat grinder,” he added. “They’re trying to minimize personnel exposure and maximize the damage they can do.”
Africa Corps replaced notorious Wagner Group mercenaries in mid-2024. The switch came after Wagner lost dozens of its fighters when the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) ambushed them and Malian soldiers outside Tinzouatin near the Algerian border.
As an arm of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Africa Corps has about 2,000 personnel on the ground, many of whom are former Wagner mercenaries. The contingent is significantly smaller than the Wagner force and about half the size of France’s Operation Barkhane counterterrorism force, which the Malian junta forced out of the country in 2022.
The loss of Kidal in northern Mali in late April to the FLA and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) appears to have played a crucial role in Africa Corps’ decision to stay closer to its main base in Bamako.
Africa Corps launched follow-up airstrikes on Kidal that destroyed infrastructure and forced residents to flee. The strikes were conducted to support the Malian military (FAMa), which has become the primary ground force in the north.
“What we’re seeing is them leaning into aerial resources,” Manzin said. That recently included launching Russian-made cluster bombs against Kidal region communities. That violates Mali’s commitment under the international convention banning cluster munitions.
“They have fewer resources to waste,” Manzin said of Africa Corps. “They don’t want to spread them out into small communities in the north where they can be picked off.”
An analysis of recent Africa Corps social media statements shows how the group has shifted its focus to central and southern Mali, conducting most of its operations near Bamako, according to BBC analyst Jacob Boswall.
After pulling back from Kidal, Africa Corps accelerated its propaganda campaign with more than 500 posts to Telegram and other channels in the weeks after the defeat, Boswall noted in an X post.
Aside from launching airstrikes, Africa Corps also has tried to overcome economic blockades JNIM has imposed on Mali. Africa Corps fighters and air support have begun escorting truck convoys entering the landlocked country from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Senegal to protect them from JNIM attacks.
Even as Africa Corps has sought to reduce its battlefield exposure, JNIM has used drones to bomb Russian fighters on their bases.
JNIM videos recently posted to social media show drone footage of Russian fighters being killed and Russian aircraft being damaged by bombs dropped from drones hovering over their Sévaré base.
Africa Corps has launched its own armed drone strikes against JNIM positions in recent weeks, including a JNIM fuel depot in the Timbuktu region, according to analysts with Africa Terrorism Tracker.
Mali has spent nearly $1 billion on Wagner Group and Africa Corps fighters since late 2021. In that time, the government and its Russian allies have lost control of the north and have seen JNIM expand its reach across the Sahel, thanks in part to the brutal tactics employed by Russians and FAMa against northern civilians, Manzin noted.
“The strategy the Malian state is adopting is unhelpful, and in the long term the stability of the state is at risk,” Manzin said. “The outcome has been that, unfortunately, they have empowered JNIM by forcing communities into their arms.”