Assimi Goïta

In the wake of April's attacks that killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara and sent junta leader General Assimi Goïta into hiding it was with Russia's ambassador in Bamako Igor Gromyko that Goïta clasped hands while the Kremlin spoke of having thwarted a coup against Goïta...

This matters more because the April meeting predated Assimi Goïta's state visit to Moscow in June 2025 during which President Vladimir Putin encouraged a rapprochement between Mali and Algeria but failed to resolve the differences between Bamako and Algiers (AC Vol 64 No 14 Did Moscow hotline end the UN mission...

The recent dramatic gains by the FLA and Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) have shifted the balance of military power opening up a possible path to inclusive talks – although having seen President Assimi Goïta's junta tear up the 2015 Algiers accord including its decentralisation pledges the separatists have little trust in the regime...

In 2020 as violent protests against the Keïta government mounted Dicko entered into an alliance of convenience with another former Traoré supporter Choguel Kokalla Maïga and used Friday prayers to mobilise massive crowds that wanted Keïta out – which duly happened when then-Colonel Assimi Goïta launched his coup on 18 August (AC Vol 61 No 17 No road back for Keïta)...

MALI: The coordinated attacks by a jihadist-Tuareg alliance have shaken the junta Three days after Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) fighters killed defence minister Sadio Camara and destroyed his home in Kati General Assimi Goïta finally resurfaced...

In just over two years Assimi Goïta and his comrades have angered the Algerian government twice...

Traoré is surrounded by a cult of personality far beyond the more routine self-promotion of Mali's President Assimi Goïta or the Nigérien leader Abdourahamane Tiani...

Amid a combined offensive by Tuareg and jihadist fighters against the Bamako junta at dawn on 25 April the killing of Defence Minister General Sadio Camara the architect of the defence partnership with Russia has struck a symbolic blow against General Assimi Goïta's regime...

‘The changes that have been introduced to the mining code since the second coup by Assimi Goïta have been incremental ' said one analyst we consulted...

The chairmanship of the G5 Sahel security alliance should have passed to Mali led by junta leader Assimi Goïta...

Mali's leader Gen Assimi Goïta sees his deal with Canada's Barrick Gold – in which the junta received CFA 244 billion (US$430 million) in back taxes and duties ahead of the reopening of Loulo-Gounkoto complex regarded as the world's biggest gold mine – as a vindication of his tough negotiating tactics including the detention of Barrick staff...

SlopagandaNone of the three AES leaders – General Assimi Goïta in Mali Captain Ibrahim Traoré in Burkina Faso and General Abdourahmane Tiani in Niger admits he is losing a war (AC Vol 66 No 12 Jihadists hit harder as junta loses focus Vol 66 No 17 General Tiani tightens grip as regional rumblings grow louder & Vol 66 No 6 Captain Traoré digs in for a long stay)...

Colonel Assimi Goïta's junta faces a blockade of the Bamako region led by Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen a group of Islamist insurgents linked to Al Qaida in the Sahel...