Mali held a state funeral on Thursday for former defense minister Gen. Sadio Camara, a key architect of the military government's security partnership with Russia, who was killed in last weekend's coordinated militant attack, the largest in over a decade.
Funeral Ceremony
After two days of national mourning, a ceremony attended by junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita was broadcast live on national television. Camara's coffin was draped in the green, yellow, and red of the Malian flag, while large portraits of the former defense minister lined the hall.
Background of Camara
Born in 1979 in Kati, the same garrison town near Bamako where he died when a car bomb exploded outside his home on Saturday, Camara served as a field officer in northern Mali in the late 2000s during a rise in rebellions by armed groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda. After graduating from a military academy, he trained abroad, including at a military academy in Russia.
Malians first saw Camara as a colonel in August 2020 when he appeared on national television among five officers who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, accusing him of being propped up by France and failing to contain militant attacks. The junta then turned to Russia, expelling French troops and UN peacekeepers.
Role in Russia Partnership
Camara played a central role in establishing Russia as Mali's main security partner, serving as defense minister under both military governments after the 2020 coup and the second coup in May 2021 that brought Goita to power.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, described Camara as the "architect of cooperation with Russia," proposing the deployment of Russian mercenaries in 2021 and the expulsion of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA. Camara made frequent trips to Moscow and was indispensable for the junta despite a deteriorating security situation.
Impact of His Death
His death and the major setback suffered by the Malian army and Russian mercenaries risk creating divisions within the junta and could lead it to reconsider its partnership with Moscow, analysts say.
On Monday, the Africa Corps, a Russian military unit with about 2,000 troops in Mali, said its fighters had withdrawn from Kidal after separatists claimed control of the key northern city.
Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, said Camara's death and growing frustration over Russian mercenaries' inability to curb insurgencies could prompt the junta to reconsider its partnership with Russia. Goita, who met the Russian ambassador on Tuesday, "seems open to collaboration with some Western countries, such as the United States," said Laessing.
