Mali: At Least 11 Killed, Dozens Injured in Bus Blast

Facts

• On Thursday, at least 11 people were killed and 53 injured after a bus traveling on the road between Bandiagara and Goundaka in the Mopti area of Mali — a region known as a hotbed for violence by roaming armed groups — hit an explosive device.
• For over a decade, the West African country has struggled with an armed conflict between the Malian government and insurgent groups, that has reportedly claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.
• The insurgent groups are known to use mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that can be detonated remotely or explode on impact. Last year, IEDs and mines reportedly killed 103 people and injured 297.
• The UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, recently issued a report saying that as of Aug. 31 this year, mines and IEDs had killed 72 people in 2022. The report said most victims were soldiers, but more than a quarter were civilians.
• This comes amid rising tension between Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in a 2020 coup, and Western powers that have condemned alleged security cooperation between the West African nation and the Kremlin-linked private military company Wagner group — the main reason behind France's decision to withdraw its troops from its former colony.

Sources: Al Jazeera, The New Arab, and Alarabiya.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Atlantic Council. The fallout from the Malian government's hostility towards France and its European partners is becoming increasingly apparent. Now that the shadowy Russian Wagner group is active in the country, the security situation is rapidly deteriorating. Wagner isn't focused on the people's security but rather on the pursuit of its own and Moscow's interests. The West is now well-advised to offer its anti-terror support to countries in West Africa.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by WSWS. The West's moves in resource-rich Mali, and in the entirety of the Sahel, aren't motivated by the fight against jihadist insurgents, to promote democracy, or to secure a "rule-based order." Western members of the UN are only concerned with defending their own geostrategic interests - including against Russia. The so-called stabilization mission MINUSMA serves only as a tool for power projection, after the end of French neo-colonialism in Mali.