Mali military leader Goita emerges as Russia declares it halted coup

Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita has met the Russian ambassador to the East African country, according to his office.

Goita’s office published photos of the meeting on Tuesday in what was his first public appearance since rebel attacks over the weekend that killed one of his ministers.

The news release came after Russia said earlier in the day that it was seeking stability in the West African country. , in which it has won significant influence since Goita’s military government took power in a coup in 2021.

West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and the Tuareg separatist group on Saturday hit Mali’s main army base and the area near Bamako’s airport, while driving Russian soldiers – deployed in support of government forces – out of Kidal in the north.

No statement accompanied the photos of Goita’s meeting with Russian Ambassador Igor Gromyko, but the image “speaks louder than words” of the regime’s reliance on “Russian mercenaries”, said Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, who has reported extensively from Mali.

Read more: Al Jazeera