The Senegalese Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs has reacted strongly to a controversial publication from the Ukrainian embassy in Dakar, in connection with the recent battle of Tinzaouatène, in northern Mali.
The skirmish which took place from July 25 to 27, 2024, pitted the Malian army regulars and their Russian allies from the Wagner group against the rebels of the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-PDS) on one side and to the jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) on the other.
Several Russian military instructors were killed during the skirmish.
The subject of controversy is a propaganda video about the gunfight shared on the Ukrainian embassy’s Facebook page which the government in Dakar took serious exception to.
In the video which has since been removed from the page, the Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson claims that his country provided information to the CSP Tuareg rebels in their clashes with the Malian Armed Forces and Wagner’s Russian instructors.
The video was accompanied by a comment from the Ukrainian ambassador deemed inappropriate by the Senegalese authorities.
According to the Senegalese ministry, the ambassador would have provided “unequivocal and unqualified support for the terrorist attack perpetrated, between July 25 and 27, 2024, in northern Mali, by Tuareg rebels and members of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM) against the Armed Forces of Mali (FAMA)”.
Senegal, which maintains a position of “constructive neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict”, strongly condemned the publication.
The Senegalese authorities have declared that the country “cannot tolerate any attempt to transfer the media propaganda underway in this conflict to its territory.”
The Senegalese government stressed that “our country, which rejects terrorism in all its forms, cannot accept on its territory and in any way, comments and gestures in the direction of apologising for terrorism, especially when the latter aims to destabilise a country, a brotherly one like Mali.”
In response to this situation, Dakar claimed to have summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to the Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs.
During talks with oficials of the ministry the Ukranian envoy “was reminded of the obligations of discretion, restraint and non-interference which must accompany the seriousness and solemnity of his mission”.
Senegal took the opportunity to “reiterate its strong condemnation of the attack committed by these terrorist groups on Malian soil”.
The country also renewed “its unwavering solidarity with the government and people of Mali” and presented “its sincere condolences to the families of the victims” while wishing “a speedy recovery to the injured”.
AC/as/APA