The Malian authorities announced on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, the dismissal of several high-ranking officials in the defense and security forces, presented as disciplinary measures related to accusations of undermining state security.
These decisions are part of separate legal proceedings.
Among those dismissed are Colonel-Major Kassoum Goïta, former director of intelligence services; Colonel Fode Malick Sissoko, former presidential aide-de-camp and former governor of the Kidal region; and Chief Superintendent of Police Moustapha Diakite. All were dismissed by presidential decrees signed on that date.
Kassoum Goita and Moustapha Diakite were arrested in November 2021 along with other security officials in a case described by the authorities as an attempted coup and a conspiracy against the transitional government. They have been detained ever since.
Their lawyers indicate that the legal proceedings against them remain pending before the Malian courts, without a final judgment being made public.
Colonel Fode Malick Sissoko, for his part, was arrested in November 2023 and placed in pretrial detention on charges of high treason. The authorities relied in particular on a telephone recording made public at the end of 2023, in which he allegedly spoke with Algabass AgIntalla, presented by Bamako as an influential rebel leader in northern Mali.
He is one of the main leaders of the Azawad Liberation Front (ALF). While the content of this exchange has circulated publicly, no publicly available forensic analysis has formally established the authenticity of the recording.
These dismissals come on top of other similar decisions made in 2025. Generals Abass Dembele and Nema Sagara were arrested in August 2025, then dismissed by presidential decrees dated October 7, 2025, before being charged in November 2025 with acts described by the authorities as attempts to destabilize the institutions. The legal proceedings against them are still ongoing.
Colonel Alpha Yaya Sangare, an officer in the National Gendarmerie and author of a book critical of the security situation in Mali, was arrested on March 2, 2024, after the publication of his book.
He was dismissed from the force by presidential decree on December 12, 2025, as a disciplinary measure.
In a legal update published at the end of December, his lawyer, Mountaga Tall, indicated that he had filed an emergency appeal, asserting that his client had been detained for more than 20 months without a valid warrant.
The Malian authorities have not publicly detailed all the grievances retained in these different cases, describing the dismissals as disciplinary measures, distinct from the judicial proceedings, which remain ongoing before the competent courts.
MD/ac/fss/gik/APA