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Niger has become the second West African country in a week to sever diplomatic ties with Ukraine, amid a growing controversy over whether Kiev has supported rebels behind last month’s attack that killed dozens of Malian soldiers and mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group.
Niger’s military junta said Tuesday night it would follow neighboring Mali’s example with “immediate effect” in severing relations with Ukraine, accusing Kiev of supporting “terrorist” groups.
Mali severed ties with Ukraine over the weekend aVsceker reports in the Eastern European country that Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, GUR, admitted that Kiev had supported Tuareg rebels who had claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the Malian-Algerian border.
“The rebels received all the necessary information they needed,” Yusov was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian press.
Niger government spokesman Amadou Abdramane said in a televised statement that the country’s ruling junta had severed relations with Ukraine “with immediate effect… in total solidarity with the government and people of Mali.”
Niger learned “with great astonishment and deep indignation of the subversive and unacceptable statements of Mr Andriy Yusov,” he continued.
However, Yusov told the Financial Times this week that he had made “no statement” about the involvement of the Ukrainian GUR in the attack.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry also called Mali’s decision to sever ties “short-sighted and hasty” and denied its country had any role in the attack by Tuareg rebels. The ministry did not immediately comment on Niger’s decision to sever ties on Wednesday.
The severance of diplomatic relations is a symbolic defeat for Ukraine, which has sought to rally support in Africa as it fights Russia’s full-scale invasion. Many African countries have been neutral in the war, or like Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have supported Russia’s position. Ukraine has launched a charm offensive in hopes of bringing more African countries to its side.
The diplomatic spat, which erupts during Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s three-country tour of Africa, threatens to overshadow Kiev’s efforts to expand ties in the Global South and secure broader support for the fight against Russia’s ongoing military invasion.
Kuleba will visit Malawi, Zambia and Mauritius this week, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A Tuareg rebel coalition called the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 47 Malian soldiers and 84 Russian mercenaries near the remote town of Tinzaouaten.
It was the most significant setback for Wagner forces, who are fighting alongside the Malian army as the country struggles to contain a decade-old insurgency fueled by ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates as well as Tuaregs seeking greater independence.
Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin also claimed responsibility for the attack. CSP-PSD and JNIM have a rocky relationship, sometimes working together and sometimes clashing, but they have a common enemy in the Malian state and its Russian backers.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all ruled by military regimes that have come to power in recent years promising to address growing insecurity that predominantly democratic administrations have failed to quell.
All three countries also withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States, which they consider a puppet of the West, and formed the tri-state confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States.
The military regimes have sought closer relations with Moscow and shunned traditional Western allies, including the United States and former colonial ruler France. French forces have been kicked out of all three nations, and the United States completed its troop withdrawal from Niger this week.
