Wave of arrests, abductions after attacks on Mali junta

Strategic towns, including Kidal in the desert north, and Kati, a garrison town near the capital Bamako, were targeted in the April 25 and 26 offensive.

Kidal and other towns and villages in the north were captured and are now under the control of the FLA and the jihadists, who have since imposed a blockade on Bamako that continued to disrupt transport on Wednesday. 

Defence Minister Sadio Camara, the 47-year-old architect of Mali's military alliance with Russia, was killed by a car bomb at his residence, with junta chief Assimi Goita taking over the slain officer's brief.

In the latest reshuffle since the attacks, Mali replaced army chief General Oumar Diarra on Wednesday with his former deputy, General Elise Jean Dao, without giving a reason.

At least 23 people were killed in the fighting, according to a hospital source.

Verifying the number or identity of those detained or kidnapped is difficult in the vast Sahel country, which has been under military leadership since a 2020 coup and plagued by unrest for more than a decade.

- 'Solid evidence' -

Opposition figures Mountaga Tall, Youssouf Daba Diawara and Moussa Djire are among those "abducted", security sources and their allies told AFP.

Tall, a lawyer, was taken on May 2 in Bamako by hooded men, his family said.

He is accused of plotting with opposition figures in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, to overthrow the military government, a security source said.

An intelligence services source confirmed the information.

Since his arrest, Tall has been questioned at least once for "attempted destabilisation", sources close to the matter said.

Meanwhile, security sources said that Diawara and Djire were suspected of links with, respectively, the influential imam Mahmoud Dicko and Oumar Mariko, two opposition figures in exile.

At least two other civilians who are close to Mariko were also arrested following the attacks, a judicial source told AFP, without giving further details.

The military prosecutor's office said on May 1 that it had "solid evidence" of the "complicity" of certain military personnel, accusing them of helping with the "planning, coordination and execution" of the attacks. 

"Everything suggests that these events are being used as an opportunity to carry out a purge within the political opposition and the army," a political official told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

- Blockade chaos -

Imposed since April 30, the jihadist blockade was on Wednesday still causing chaos on essential roads towards Bamako, the capital of a landlocked country dependent on imports by trucks. 

While vehicles were able to leave the city on Wednesday afternoon, those attempting to enter Bamako from the rest of the country were blocked by jihadists, road users told AFP. 

Drivers are refusing to travel between the western Kayes region near Senegal and Bamako without security escorts, with passengers and goods stuck at the border, officials and passengers told AFP on Wednesday. 

The customs office in Kita, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, was almost deserted on Wednesday due to the blockades, an officer told AFP. 

Leading Danish freight carrier Maersk has suspended transport to Bamako and other parts of Mali from the Senegalese capital Dakar and Ivory Coast's economic powerhouse Abidjan due to the current situation, according to a statement on Monday. 

On the day the blockade came into force, the JNIM jihadists called for a "common front" to "put an end to the junta". 

str-sd-atr-mrb/sbk-kjm/ach