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1 [1] (May 23, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehkv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressiana Rfle informing the legisIative deba Updated May 23, 2022 Crisis in Mali Once seen as a regional democratic leader, Mali has become an epicenter of conflict and instability over the past decade. A military junta ousted an elected president in 2020, then overthrew civilian transitional leaders the following year. Colonel Assimi Goita now serves as Transition President and populist politician Choguel Maiga as prime minister. The junta has engaged in an increasingly bitter confrontation with former colonial power France-which has led counterterrorism operations in Mali since 2013-and with other leaders in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), who have imposed sanctions in response to Mali's failure to adhere to a previously agreed election timeline. Local insurgent groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active across central and northern Mali. Other rebel groups, communal militias, and criminal bands are also active, some with apparent state backing. A 2015 peace deal between Bamako and northern separatist rebels has not been fully implemented. Insurgents, state security forces, allied militias, and private military contractors (PMCs) have been implicated in massacres and other abuses. Conflict-affected areas are experiencing crisis-level food insecurity in 2022; overall, Mali has one of the world's highest rates of acute malnutrition, while global food and fuel price spikes pose additional burdens. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded hardships. While these challenges endure, international stabilization efforts in Mali appear to be at an inflexion point. In late 2021, the Malian junta reportedly contracted with the Wagner group, a U.S.-sanctioned Russian private military company (PMC), to aid counterinsurgency operations. In early 2022, amid rising friction over the scope of French operations, Wagner's role, and other issues, France and the European Union (EU) announced they would withdraw their military forces from Mali, including over 2,000 French troops and hundreds of EU advisors and trainers. Some are expected to relocate to neighboring countries. Mali then announced it was withdrawing from defense accords with France that have underpinned France's operations in Mali and cooperation with its military. In alleged violation of Mali's status-of-forces agreement with the United Nations, the junta has also increasingly restricted access and flights by the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Mali (MINUSMA), raising questions about the mission's future. The United States and other donors have supported efforts by a joint force of the G5 Sahel (Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad) to tackle regional threats, but the force has struggled with gaps in capacity and commitment, and the recent coups in Mali and Burkina Faso (in 2022) have sapped its cohesion. In May 2022, Mali stated it would withdraw from the G5 Sahel. The U.N. Secretary-General has proposed replacing MINUSMA with an African Union force, but prospects for such a force to materialize and overcome the problems facing the G5 are uncertain. Figure I. Mali at a Glance Source: CRS graphic. Data from CIA World Factbook, IMF. Background. Mali has been in crisis since 2012, when a northern separatist rebellion sparked a military coup and an Islamist insurgent advance. The military collapsed in the north, where rebels-bolstered by arms from Libya and by fighters with ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM, an Algerian-led regional network)-declared an independent state. By mid-2012, AQIM and two allied local groups had outmaneuvered the separatists to assert control over much of the north. At Bamako's request, France intervened in early 2013 to oust Islamist armed groups from major towns in the north. State personnel returned to some areas, while separatist rebels and other factions reasserted control in others. The U.N. Security Council established MINUSMA in mid-2013 to help stabilize the country. Veteran politician Ibrahim Boubacar Kdita was elected president later that year, and donors, including the United States, normalized relations with Bamako. French forces transitioned into Operation Barkhane, a regional counterterrorism mission, in 2014. Under international pressure to reach a peace deal in the north, President Keita's government signed an accord in 2015 with two armed coalitions: one led by ex-separatists, and the other by pro-unity groups with ties to Bamako. Mediated by Algeria with international backing, the accord aimed to address northern political grievances, reestablish state authority, demobilize rebel fighters, promote development in the north, and isolate designated terrorist groups, which were not party to the talks. Implementation lagged, however, while conflicts multiplied and spread to new areas-notably central Mali. New armed factions have emerged. State officials remain absent from much of the north and center, while signatory armed groups maintain parallel administrations in some areas. Keita's administration reportedly obstructed the peace process,

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