Sahel military regime calls on UN to take action against Ukraine

The three military-led allies of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger called on the UN Security Council in an open letter to “take appropriate measures” against Ukraine, which they accuse of supporting rebel groups in northern Mali.

Mali and Niger severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine in early August after the Malian army and its Russian ally, the Wagner paramilitary group, which is also deployed in Ukraine, suffered heavy defeats in late July in a battle with separatists and jihadists.

Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Yusov suggested that Kiev had provided information to the insurgents to enable them to launch attacks, a comment shared by Ukraine’s ambassador to Senegal.

A Western security source confirmed to AFP that there are links between Ukrainian military authorities and Malian separatists. The source could not specify the exact nature of Kiev’s possible support for the separatists, while preliminarily ruling out a Ukrainian presence on the ground.

“We call on the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities in the face of Ukraine’s deliberate choice to support terrorism,” the foreign ministers of the three countries said in an open letter released late Tuesday.

They further called on the Security Council to “take appropriate measures to counter these subversive actions, which strengthen terrorist groups in Africa and constitute manifestations of the involvement of foreign sponsors in the expansion of terrorism in the region.”

Ukrainian diplomacy firmly rejected Mali’s accusations and pledged to “unconditionally” abide by the norms of international law, expressing regret over the “hasty” decisions of the military regimes in Mali and Nigeria to sever ties with Ukraine.

In recent years, Russia has stepped up its diplomatic efforts in Africa in an effort to compete with the West in its traditional allies.

The Malian military junta broke with its old alliance with France and its European partners in 2022, turning militarily and politically to Moscow. Together with Burkina Faso and Niger, she created the new Alliance of Sahel States (AES).