Mali

Republic of Mali

The present day Republic of Mali (République du Mali) was once part of the Ghana Empire, one of the Sahelian kingdoms that controlled trans-Saharan trade routes from the 8th to 11th centuries. The Mali Empire (1230s to 1600) spread from the West African coast to present day Mali, with its center of trade and learning at Timbuktu. Mali fell under French control in the 19th century, when it was considered a part of French Sudan. After joining briefly with Senegal (which withdrew shortly thereafter) to form the Mali Federation, the nation achieved its independence from France on 20 June 1960. After Mali's first president was overthrown in a bloodless coup, Mali was governed as a military regime until 1991 when a brief coup and transitional government brought about a new constitution and a democratically elected government.

In January 2012 the Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad (MNLA), consisting mostly of ethnic Tuareg dissidents, launched an armed conflict in northern Mali, hoping to gain autonomy for a Tuareg Berber region it called Azawad (ⴰⵣⴰⵓⴰⴷ). Two months later, President Amadou Toumani Touré was removed from office in a coup d'etat by mutinous officers of the armed forces, who set up the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR). During this period of instability, key northern cities fell to the MNLA, including Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal, effectively establishing the unrecognized state of Azawad in the north, which was announced on 12 April 2012. Initially supported by jihadist groups like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي), the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (جماعة التوحيد والجهاد في غرب أفريقيا), and the Ansar Dine (أنصار الدين), the MNLA soon found itself at odds with the Islamist militants in addition to the armed forces of the Malian military junta. Reaching out for assistance to the international community, the interim government of Mali regained the majority of its territory in the north thanks to French, African, and international military assistance. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was subsequently established on 25 April 2013 to assist with maintaining peace in the region. Presidential elections held in 2013 established Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta as the new president of Mali, and led to a brief cease fire with the MNLA lasting from June to September of that year.

The Mali War has continued to rage in the north, off and on, since September 2013, and conflict has spilled over into neighboring states of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Benin on occasion. A regional counterinsurgency campaign, Operation Barkhane (2014-2022), by the French government, has provided some military assistance to the entire Sahel region against the Islamist elements in the war. In May/June 2015, a peace agreement was signed between the government of Mali and the Coordination of Azawad Movements (ⵜⴰⵙⵈ ⵏ ⵜⵏⴰⴾⵔⵢⵓⵏ ⵜⵢⵏ ⴰⵣⴰⵓⴰⴷ), a larger coalition of Tuareg separatists and Arab nationalists which included the MNLA, in which the two sides agreed to bring and end to conflict and merge the former insurgents into the national armed forces. Meanwhile, Islamist elements in the Sahel region continued to mount offensives the armed forces of Mali; in May 2015, the Islamic State - Sahel Province was established near Gao, which has maintained a rudimentary independence into the present day. Since that time the northern part of Mali has slipped in and out of control of the government, and in 2018 jihadist control had even moved into the central part of the country. However, by 2019, jihadist forces split between forces supporting Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (جماعة نصرة الإسلام والمسلمين) and those supporting the ISSP (Islamic State - Sahel Province), effectively ending the Islamist progression.

The government of Mali was shaken up again in August 2020, when a coup d'etat against president Keïta established retired Air Force officer Bah Ndaw as new interim president. Ndaw was removed from office by the same military junta in May 2021, due to disagreements over whether the government of Mali should seek military assistance from France or Russia. Subsequently, mercenary forces from the Wagner Group began operating on behalf of the junta, resulting in a number of civilian deaths and the withdrawal of French, Canadian, and other European partner forces in February 2022. MINUSMA was officially dissolved on 30 June 2023. The government of Mali remains under control of a military junta led by General Assimi Goïta, which has dissolved all political parties and effectively established him as president for life. The Algiers Accords were terminated by the government in January 2024, after open conflict was renewed by elements of the CMA and the Platform of Self-Defense Movements (Plateforme des mouvements du 14 juin 2014 d'Alger) over atrocities committed by the Wagner Group and the Malian junta. Since November 2024, the anti-government forces still waging war against the Malian government consist of the Azawad Liberation Front (ⵜⴰⴶⴰⵉⵜ ⵢⵏ ⵢⵙⵢⵍⵢⵍⵓ ⴰⵣⴰⵓⴰⴷ), the Coordination of Inclusivity Movements (Coordination des mouvements de l'inclusivité), and the Arab Movement of Azawad (الحركة العربية الأزوادية); Islamist elements effectively stopped operating on a major scale in the region in 2019.

The Malian Army (Armées Maliennes) was created on 1 October 1960 and initially relied very heavily on training and support from the USSR. Today is it known as the Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMa) or Armed Forces of Mali, and consists of the Land Forces (Armée de terre), Air Force (Armée de l'air), the National Guard (Garde nationale, known as the Garde républicaine from 1971 until 1994), and the Gendarmerie nationale Conventional law enforcement is the responsibility of the Police Nationale du Mali, which is administered by the Ministry of Internal Security and Civil Protection; the Police also share responsibility for internal security with the Gendarmerie.

Camouflage Patterns of Mali Armed Forces

• The oldest documented camouflage pattern in use with Mali's armed forces is a copy of the French tenue de leópard or lizard pattern, generally printed on heavy cotton sateen or HBT fabric, which can be traced by to at least the mid-1970s. These earlier designs are fairly accurate copies of the "F1" French pattern, although they appear to have been replaced by less accurate designs in the 1990s. Uniforms were largely of French design, both copies of the TAP 47/56 and the Mle 64 F1.

• This Asian-produced "lizard" design, loosedly based on the original French pattern, has also been worn extensively by Malian military forces, continuing into the present era. Again, uniforms have emulated older French designs.

• In service since at least 1990, military personnel in Mali are known to wear a number of different Asian-made copies of the US m81 woodland camouflage pattern, some with slightly different color palettes. This design has also been documented in use with units of the Police Nationale.

• A copy of the US tricolor desert camouflage pattern has also been worn by Malian forces since the early 2000s. At least some of these uniforms were likely provided by American Military Training Teams from US Army Special Forces, a common practice when visiting foreign countries. Additionally, French-style uniforms in tricolor desert camouflage have been worn by personnel of the ground forces and the gendarmerie nationale since at least 2018, and well into the present era.

• A three-color desert DPM derivative camouflage pattern, having dark brown and dark green disruptive shapes on a sandy background is one of the more commonly worn patterns seen today. This design, also seen in Lebanon, has been in use since around 2010.

• A copy of the French military Centre Europe "woodland" pattern is also worn by personnel of the armed forces since 2010 or so. Use of this design, in both older sateen and contemporary ripstop NYCO, has continued into the present era. In fact, this seems to be the standard issue camouflage uniform of both the Ground Forces and the Gendarmerie.

• Circa 2010, Air Force personnel began appearing in a blue DPM pattern similar to that worn by many National Police organizations in the Middle East. Use of this pattern seems to have continued only for a few years.

• Tracing its history to the French colonial corps des gardes indigènes à pied (Corps of Native Foot Guards), established in 1894, the unit later became the Garde Autonome du Mali, and the Garde Républicaine et goum (Republican Guard) upon independence in 1971. Today known as the Garde Nationale du Mali, this unit has worn a copy of the six-color chocolate chip camouflage pattern originally designed by the USA since around 2010. Not surprisingly, it appears more than one version of the pattern has been fielded, having a slightly darker or lighter color palette, depending on the origins of the fabric.

• Members of the Gendarmerie have worn a variation of the six-color "chocolate chip" pattern desert camouflage with blue colorway, somewhat similar to that worn by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This version has black & white "chip" elements, printed over larger swaths of dark blue-grey, medium grey, light blue-grey, and pale blue. Some variability has been observed in print production of the pattern over the years, including earlier prints where the medium grey is more of a tan or even pinkish color. Use of this pattern dates back to at least 2012, possibly earlier.

• Members of the 33rd Para-Commando Regiment were first observed in 2013 wearing a woodland-style camouflage design with a brown/tan colorway, seen here.

• Some Malian Armed Forces personnel have been documented wearing a copy of the Italian vegetato camouflage design since at least 2016, although it may have been adopted earlier.

• Limited use of Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) has been documented with personnel from the armed forces, including both officers and enlisted men of the 33rd Para-Commando Regiment.

• In service with the Army's Bataillon Autonome des Forces Spéciales or BAFS, a copy of ATACS-AU camouflage pattern has been worn by that unit since at least 2022.

• Some units of the Gendarmerie, particularly those with the Groupes d’Action Rapide – Surveillance et Intervention (GARSI) designation, wear the old Chinese Army (PLA) Type 07 Gobi desert camouflage pattern.

Camouflage Patterns of the National Police and other Government Agencies

• First documented in 2014, this brightly colored, woodland-based camouflage design has been in use with some elements of the Police Nationale well into the present era.

• Mali's Custom Agents (La Douane) now wear a pixelated urban pattern, seen below.

• The Federal Forest & Wildlife Service (Eaux et Forets) wear a variation of the old USMC "standard" camouflage design, with the addition of animal symbols like, paw prints and buffalo and lion heads.

Camouflage Patterns of Insurgent Groups

As with many insurgencies, the anti-government forces fighting in Mali were supplied by a multitude of sources, including stolen/looted materiel from the government of Mali itself, friendly governments such as Libya, and friendly political/religious movements like that of Al-Queda. The vast majority of MNLA fighters wore whatever could be scrounged from sources at hand. Many wore discarded or looted Malian military uniforms, but some were supplied with camouflage patterns not found among the Malian government forces.

• The vast majority of camouflage worn by MNLA (and the later CMA) was looted from military or police warehouses, and included Malian copies of chocolate chip desert, tricolor desert, the arid DPM pattern, and (occasionally) police blue chocolate chip. Less common were woodland copies, and other regional camouflage.

• A commonly seen pattern among the MNLA and CMA in later years were copies of the USMC MARPAT in both the temperate and desert color palettes. These may have been supplied by Libya, but it is more likely they were sourced (fairly cheaply) through Chinese manufacturers. Use of digital patterns like these did not seem to become widespread until around 2020.