Why Mali’s northern conflict has entered a dangerous new phase

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Mali’s northern conflict has moved into a more dangerous phase after the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a separatist movement, began coordinating militarily with Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked group. The outlet says the two launched a joint offensive on April 25, 2026, with operations spanning areas including Kidal, Anefis, Tilemsi, Gao and Sevare, creating one of the most serious recent challenges to Mali’s army and Russia’s Africa Corps.

The partnership is notable because the groups have different political goals. The FLA seeks independence for Azawad, the name separatists use for northern Mali, while JNIM aims to overthrow the Malian government and impose its interpretation of Islamic law. Officials from both groups told Al Jazeera their cooperation is based on shared battlefield interests against Bamako and Russian-backed forces. Mali’s government describes the arrangement as a terrorist alliance and says it is trying to restore state authority.

Al Jazeera links the current escalation to the breakdown of the 2015 Algiers Peace Agreement, repeated instability after coups from 2020, and Mali’s turn toward Russian security support after ECOWAS sanctions and the deployment of Wagner forces in 2021. The report says the fighting now involves coordinated assaults, ambushes, drone use, attacks on convoys and claims of battlefield gains by all sides.

The conflict appears far from resolution. The Malian army retains air-power advantages with Russia’s Africa Corps, while the FLA and JNIM continue coordinated operations. Al Jazeera says financing networks, donations, illicit economies and captured weapons are sustaining the war, while incompatible political objectives leave little sign of a negotiated settlement.