Mali’s Junta Is the Architect of Its Own Disasters

Blaming foreign intervention is easy—but mistaken.

Senegalese soldiers prepare to go on a mission to dismantle artisanal gold mining sites near the Malian border in Senegal's Kedougou region on May 11. December 3, 2025, 5:10 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

Just three years ago, and even after consecutive military coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali hosted a major United Nations peacekeeping operation , a European Union military training operation, a five-nation West African regional military alliance, a French combat deployment , and Western militaries, to include the United States, providing support. Mali was also a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc whose soldiers had intervened

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