Tuareg Rebels in Mali Reject Ukraine Assistance Claims

Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Tuareg rebel alliance in Mali that claimed responsibility for the July clashes with Russian Wagner mercenaries and Malian government forces, rejected claims that it received assistance from Ukraine or other foreign powers.

Between July 25 and July 27, armed clashes took place between the Tuareg rebels and Malian government forces, the latter augmented by Russian mercenaries, at the border town of Tinzaouaten in northern Mali, near the Algerian border.

“We can clearly say that we received no outside help for the fighting at Tinzaouaten,” Ramadane told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that it received no support from Kyiv, financially or otherwise.

Ramadane represents the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA), an alliance of predominantly Tuareg separatists that calls for the independence of the Tuareg-oriented state Azawad.

Kyiv Post explained the clashes and the factions involved in detail in a recent article.

Following the clashes, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) hinted that Kyiv provided “necessary information” to the Tuaregs that “enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.”

At the time, HUR also provided Kyiv Post with an exclusive photo of the Tuareg rebels posing with a Ukrainian flag. Some publications later established that it was taken a month before the Tuaregs’ clashes with Wagner forces.

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The announcement comes with the promise of further support and follows criticism within Australia of the government’s slowness to act.

The Malian military junta, which took power over the country by coups a few years prior, broke off diplomatic ties with Ukraine in early August, a decision Ukraine’s foreign ministry called “short-sighted and hasty.”

Niger, another West African nation ruled by a pro-Russian military junta, also broke off diplomatic ties with Ukraine following Mali’s decision.

While HUR has engaged Wagner fighters in Africa in the past, whether HUR is involved in the Malian clashes remains unclear.