Mali's military leader Assimi Goita reappears in Bamako after weekend attacks

Mali's military leader Assimi Goita, who had not appeared in public since large-scale jihadist-separatist attacks during the weekend, has met the Russian ambassador to his country, his office said on Tuesday.

Goita's office published photos of the meeting, after Russia said earlier in the day it wanted stability in the west African country and Russia's defence ministry warned that Tuareg separatists, who captured the key northern town of Kidal at the weekend, were "regrouping" for fresh attacks.

The attacks were the largest in nearly 15 years and saw two former foes, Islamist insurgents and Tuareg separatists, join forces against the military junta and its Russian paramilitary backers, analysts say.

Defence Minister Sadio Camara — seen as the mastermind behind the junta's pivot to Russia — was killed in two days of fierce fighting between the army and Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) allied with the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that the rebels, who have captured a key town in the mostly desert north, were "regrouping" and the situation "remains difficult."

The fighting saw "attempts made to seize key facilities in the capital, Bamako — first and foremost, the presidential palace," the ministry said.

It confirmed that mercenaries from Russia's Africa Corps, controlled by the government in Moscow and sent to back up the Malian junta, had been forced to withdraw from the northern town of Kidal, now under the armed groups' control.

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