Mali: Polisario Front allegedly involved in recent attacks

Amid Mali’s security crisis following attacks by Tuareg separatists and Islamists, concerns about Polisario Front involvement have been raised, according to the pro-Moroccan Yabiladi and agencies on May 16th.

Coordinated attacks by the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al-Qaeda-linked JNIM targeted cities and garrison towns in northern Mali on April 25th.

Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in the violence; the FLA recaptured Kidal on April 25th, a Tuareg stronghold that Malian authorities regained control of in 2023.

According to Sidi El Mahdi Ag El Beka, the director of Mali’s national broadcaster in Kidal, foreign militias were also involved in the attacks.

He claimed that around 12,000 fighters from countries including Chad, Sudan and Algeria were mobilised; the Algerian-backed Polisario Front was among those implicated.

On April 29th, Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Foreign Minister, said that Morocco “has observed what is now an obvious collusion between separatism and terrorism.”

Bourita warned that “this objective alliance represents a threat to regional stability and to Mali.”

Algeria and the Polisario Front reject the Moroccan Autonomy Plan to grant the Western Sahara limited self-governance under Moroccan sovereignty.

The plan is perceived as a realistic solution to a territorial dispute that has persisted since Spanish colonial rule ended in 1975.

Mali joined 130 nations in supporting Moroccan sovereignty in April; this alliance has led Morocco and Mali to confront their shared struggles against separatists near the Algerian border.

Polisario militants control the Tindouf camps near the Mauritanian border; Tuareg separatists have allegedly been hosted at the camps.

Tuareg rebels allegedly fought against Morocco before the 1991 ceasefire ended the armed conflict between Morocco and the Western Sahara; the ceasefire broke down in 2020.

Concerns about the camps being an extremist hub led Morocco to join an EU aid monitoring mechanism in January.

Both the Polisario Front and the FLA claim to fight for self-determination on behalf of the Sahrawi and Tuareg people, respectively.

Additionally, Algeria-Mali ties have been strained since Algeria shot down a Malian drone over a border town in April 2025; Mali has also accused Algeria of funding Tuareg rebels.

Mali and its allies, Burkina Faso and Niger, withdrew their ambassadors from Algiers following the drone incident.

Niger has sought to normalise Algerian ties, while Mali has remained reluctant to re-establish ties.

Reports of Polisario’s involvement in the recent violence will likely further strain relations between Algeria and Mali.

Maghrebi contacted the Malian Prime Minister’s Office for comment regarding claims of Polisario involvement in the attacks, but has not received a response at the time of publication.

Yabiladi and agencies, Maghrebi.org