Malian army uses Wagner and drone power to defeat separatists
In the 19th century, Hilaire Belloc distilled the scramble for Africa into one phrase: “Whatever happens, we have got the Maxim gun, and they have not.” It spoke of technical domination, which allowed a few hundred Europeans to take on thousands of Africans with minimal casualties. The latest iteration seems to have played out earlier this month in a Mad Max-style battle in the far reaches of northeastern Mali. A column of about 100 vehicles carrying Russian Wagner mercenaries and the Malian army used tactics and technology from Ukraine to push back heavily armed local defenders around the desert town of Kidal. Several sources indicate that Tuareg separatist fighters were overwhelmed by day and night bombardment by low-cost suicide drones as well as Turkish Bayraktar drones flying high above. Exhausted, the rebels fell back into the desert. Soon afterwards, a Wagner flag flew above an old colonial French fort in Kidal. The separatist region has been a thorn in the side of the Malian government for more than a decade and it’s a thundering victory for the young military junta that seized power in the southern capital, Bamako, in May.