MALI has arrested some current and former soldiers it accuses of complicity in recent jihadist advances.

Authorities say they are investigating collusion in a wave of attacks launched on April 25 that saw defence minister General Sadio Camara killed in the garrison town of Kati, just nine miles from the capital Bamako. 

The al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg rebel Azawad Liberation Front have united to attack Malian forces, and say they plan to besiege Bamako.

Mali has been plagued by jihadist insurgency since Nato’s destruction of the Libyan state in 2010. An anti-colonial coup in 2020 forced out the longstanding French military presence, but Russian forces have not proven more effective at suppressing the revolt, themselves being forced out of the northern town of Kidal last week.

Mali forms part of the Alliance of Sahel States with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.