News
Mali’s military-led government wants partners that will share technology and help it build its own defence capacity, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, as Bamako hosted an arms exhibition attended by delegations including Russia, China, Türkiye and the United States.
Abdoulaye Diop spoke to Anadolu, the Turkish state news agency, on the sidelines of the Bamako International Defence and Security Exhibition (BAMEX), organised by Mali’s Defence Ministry and a Turkish company, Peak Defense. “We want to acquire advanced technology and equipment, but we also want technology transfer,” he said. “We want to work with partners like Türkiye to develop our own capabilities.” Mali wants to move gradually away from partnerships that leave it dependent on others, he said.
Diop also said Mali wants to go beyond military cooperation, inviting Turkish companies into energy, agriculture and health, and he regretted Turkish Airlines’ suspension of flights to Bamako. He listed Russia, China, Türkiye, African countries and the United States among the exhibition’s participants and said their presence sent a message to those seeking to impose sanctions: “Threats, pressure, sanctions and even disinformation have no effect.” The statements set out his aims; the interview announces no completed technology transfer.
A reported meeting with the US military
The same day the Malian daily L’Essor reported that President Assimi Goïta received Gen. Dagvin Anderson, whom it describes as commander of US military operations for Africa, at the Koulouba presidential palace. The talks covered the security situation in Mali and the Sahel and prospects for security cooperation, the paper wrote.
It quotes Anderson as saying: “We also have a good understanding of the overall situation and we want to pool our resources to face this threat.” He also said the United States understands the weight of independence and sovereignty and that the two sides “discussed this together”. L’Essor reports that he reaffirmed US support to help Mali confront terrorism, said Washington wants to help other Sahel states in the same direction, and described Goïta as the first Sahel head of state his team had met on the threat.
Afterwards, L’Essor reports, Goïta received Iran’s deputy defence minister for industrial affairs and research, Abass Mohamadi, in the presence of Mali’s minister-delegate to the defence minister, Maj. Gen. Oumar Diarra. Maliweb republished the report.
L’Essor describes no agreement, equipment, training or deployment, and we found no US account of the meeting, so the meeting rests on this one report. Together with Diop’s interview, it documents the contacts Bamako is publicly pursuing and its stated aim of building its own capacity, which depends on partners willing to supply the technology.