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Dioura falls as Mali’s security crisis spreads south while Kati tightens its grip
Dioura falls as Mali’s security crisis spreads south while Kati tightens its grip
By: Zagazola Makama
The reported fall of the military position at Dioura in Ténenkou Circle, Mopti Region, is more than another battlefield setback for Mali. It is a warning that the country’s security crisis is increasingly spreading beyond the traditional conflict zones and putting pressure on the military’s ability to maintain a permanent presence outside major garrisons.
According to the analysis, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed control of the Dioura position through its media platform, Az-Zallaqa. No independent confirmation of the claim, casualty figures or the extent of the group’s control was immediately available. But Dioura’s strategic importance goes beyond the size of its military installation.
Dioura: a small post with a big strategic value
Dioura is positioned in a critical part of central Mali, linking areas around the Inner Niger Delta, Ténenkou and wider Mopti, with routes extending towards Niono and the Mauritanian frontier. The position therefore functions as a forward security point rather than simply another military barracks. Its repeated targeting is significant.
The post was attacked in March 2019, when dozens of soldiers were killed and military equipment seized. It was attacked again in May 2025, in another major assault that reportedly left about 40 soldiers dead and saw the military position overrun for an extended period.
If the latest reported capture is confirmed, the pattern raises a fundamental question about the ability of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) to hold isolated positions in contested territory.
The problem is not necessarily the loss of one military post. The problem is what happens when several such posts begin falling at the same time.
The JNIM strategy: weaken the network, not necessarily capture Bamako. JNIM does not need to seize Bamako to demonstrate that the state is losing control of its territory. It can achieve strategic effects by progressively attacking the network of forward military positions, disrupting roads, targeting supply convoys and forcing the army to concentrate its forces around major urban centres.
That creates a dangerous choice for FAMa.
They can reinforce remote positions and expose troops and supply convoys to ambushes, or withdraw from vulnerable locations and concentrate their forces in larger towns. Either way, the insurgents gain. If troops remain, they become isolated targets. If they withdraw, the insurgents gain greater freedom of movement.
The result is what could be described as territorial attrition a gradual erosion of effective state presence without the need for a conventional military offensive against major cities.
Mali’s security crisis is no longer confined to the north The wider concern is the geographical spread of violence. For years, Mali’s insecurity was largely associated with the northern and central regions. That picture has changed.
The JNIM threat has increasingly demonstrated the ability to operate around major transport corridors, agricultural areas and economically important zones. The southern regions are particularly important because they contain major agricultural production areas, mining operations and transport routes connecting Mali with neighbouring countries. Any sustained disruption in areas around Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Bougouni or along key commercial corridors would have consequences far beyond military security. It would affect food supplies, fuel distribution, mining revenues, commercial transport and government revenue.
When insecurity reaches the economic arteries of a country, it stops being merely a counter-insurgency problem. It becomes a state survival problem.
The developments therefore raise renewed questions about Mali’s reliance on Russian security assistance. The transition from Wagner to Africa Corps was presented as part of a broader strategic partnership intended to strengthen Mali’s sovereignty and military capacity. But the latest battlefield developments raise questions about how effectively that partnership is translating into sustained territorial security. The reported withdrawal of Russian personnel from Kidal, cited in the original analysis, has further fuelled debate about the limits of the Russian model.
The central issue is not whether Russia has military capabilities. It does. The question is whether those capabilities are being deployed as part of a coherent national strategy capable of securing Mali’s enormous territory.
A foreign force can provide specialised support, intelligence, aviation and protection for strategic locations. It cannot permanently substitute for a professional national army capable of holding territory, securing roads and maintaining relationships with local communities.
The Kati problem
The most troubling argument raised by the analysis concerns the growing distinction between protecting the regime and protecting the country. If the government’s most reliable security arrangements are concentrated around Bamako and Kati while peripheral military positions remain increasingly vulnerable, the security architecture risks becoming centred on regime protection rather than national territorial defence. That would be a serious strategic distortion.
Kati is important because it is closely associated with Mali’s military leadership and has become a major centre of political and military power.
But securing Kati does not secure Dioura.
Protecting the leadership does not secure the routes between Mali’s agricultural and commercial centres. And protecting the capital does not prevent JNIM from expanding its influence in remote communities.
A state can maintain political control over a capital while gradually losing effective control over its periphery. That is one of the most dangerous phases of an insurgency.
The government continues to function. The military continues to issue statements. The national flag continues to fly over administrative buildings. But outside major population centres, armed groups increasingly determine who moves, who trades and which roads can safely be used.
This is why Dioura matters. It is not because the position itself is large. It is because every abandoned or overrun forward position expands the space in which armed groups can operate.
Mali is also confronting several overlapping security challenges. The state is fighting JNIM and Islamic State-linked groups while dealing with the continuing northern conflict involving Tuareg-led armed movements, local militias and communal tensions. This creates a fragmented security environment in which the military cannot concentrate exclusively on one enemy.
At the same time, the reliance on civilian militias and local armed groups carries its own risks, particularly where communal tensions and allegations of abuses are involved.
A security strategy built around multiple armed actors can produce short-term tactical gains while creating longer-term problems of accountability and command cohesion.
The growing restrictions on independent reporting add another layer to the crisis.
When governments restrict journalists and control the flow of information, they may temporarily reduce politically damaging narratives. But censorship does not restore lost territory. In fact, prolonged information restrictions can make strategic decision-making harder by preventing uncomfortable realities from reaching policymakers and the public.
A government fighting an insurgency needs accurate information more than it needs flattering information.
The reported fall of Dioura should therefore be viewed as part of a wider strategic trend rather than an isolated tactical incident. If the Malian military continues to lose forward positions while concentrating increasingly around major urban centres, the country risks developing a security structure in which the state controls the cities while armed groups dominate the spaces between them. That is precisely the environment in which insurgencies thrive.
The real test for Bamako is not whether it can defend Kati. It is whether it can keep Dioura, secure the roads to it, protect the communities around it and maintain a credible military presence across the territory. If it cannot, then the question facing Mali is no longer simply how to defeat JNIM. It is how to prevent the gradual disappearance of effective state authority beyond the major cities.
Dioura may be a small military post. But strategically, it is a warning light. And if the warning is ignored, the next battlefield may not be another remote barracks. It may be the economic corridors, supply routes and southern regions that Mali depends on to keep the state functioning.
Dioura falls as Mali’s security crisis spreads south while Kati tightens its grip
Zulum Targets End to Medical Tourism as Shettima Commissions 400-Bed Teaching Hospital
By: Michael Mike
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has intensified efforts to curb medical tourism with the establishment of a 400-bed teaching hospital equipped with advanced diagnostic technology and specialist healthcare facilities in Maiduguri.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima on Friday commissioned the Kashim Ibrahim University Teaching Hospital alongside other key projects delivered by the Zulum administration, in a move aimed at expanding access to quality healthcare and strengthening medical training in the North-east.
The hospital, which combines specialist medical services with the training of healthcare professionals, is expected to reduce the need for patients in Borno and neighbouring communities to travel elsewhere for advanced diagnosis and treatment.
Equipped with a 1.5-tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, a 160-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner, three conventional and two mobile X-ray machines, three 4D ultrasound machines, a fluoroscopy system and digital mammography equipment, the facility is designed to expand access to specialised medical services.
Its infrastructure also includes 13 specialist departments covering diagnostic, medical, surgical, emergency, paediatric, internal medicine and physiotherapy services, among others.
The project comprises a medical college complex, a students’ hostel, a 200-unit staff estate and an oxygen plant complex, providing supporting infrastructure for patient care, medical education and healthcare delivery.
Beyond reducing the burden of seeking treatment outside the state, the hospital is expected to serve residents of neighbouring communities and people across the Lake Chad region, while improving access to specialist care for underserved populations.
It is also expected to strengthen healthcare manpower development by providing training opportunities for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, helping to address shortages that have constrained healthcare delivery in Borno and the wider North-east.
Speaking at the commissioning, Shettima commended Zulum for investing in institutions capable of delivering lasting benefits to the state, particularly in healthcare and education.
He said the value of public office should ultimately be measured by the institutions established, infrastructure delivered and lives improved, rather than the privileges associated with political positions.
“We shall be judged by what survives our time in office, the offices we held, the aides who surrounded us, and the length of our convoys will have surrendered their importance. What will endure are the institutions we built, the roads we built and the lives we improved through service. That is the meaning of our gathering here in Maiduguri. That is why this occasion brings me such joy,” the Vice-President said.
Shettima said the hospital and the schools established by the state government reflected Zulum’s commitment to rebuilding Borno through investments that directly affect people’s lives.
“According to Carl Sagan’s law of insignificance, 100 years from now, everyone you know or who knows you will be out of this world. This is why I do not doubt the vision of His Excellency Professor Babagana Umara Zulum; his passion for healthcare and education is expressed in the institution before us,” he said.
He added that the teaching hospital and schools being established across Maiduguri and other parts of the state demonstrated the governor’s conviction that recovery must translate into tangible improvements in healthcare and access to education.
“The ultra-modern Kashim Ibrahim University Teaching Hospital and the school that dotted our landscape in Maiduguri and across the state give substance to his belief that Borno recovery must reach the patient awaiting treatment and the child sitting in a place in the classroom,” Shettima said.
In the education sector, the Vice-President also commissioned Yerwa Practice Mega Primary School, built by the Zulum administration, and another mega primary school delivered under the Kashim Shettima Free Education Programme.
The programme, regarded as one of the Vice-President’s key education initiatives, provides free education for orphans and vulnerable children.
The projects underscore the Borno government’s strategy of linking post-conflict recovery with investments in essential public services, particularly healthcare and education.
For a state grappling with the long-term effects of insurgency, expanding access to specialist medical services and strengthening the institutions responsible for training health workers remain critical to improving living conditions and rebuilding public infrastructure.
The new teaching hospital is expected to provide a major boost to those efforts by bringing advanced diagnostic services, specialist treatment and medical training together in one institution.
Zulum Targets End to Medical Tourism as Shettima Commissions 400-Bed Teaching Hospital
Two Worlds, Two Leaders, One Lesson
By Abiodun Adigun
In London, the Mayor Sadiq Khan just announced: “Due to high cost of living, Londoners will receive £15.45 per hour to reflect the current economic realities.”
15 pounds 45 pence per hour. That is the new London Living Wage.
Not because election is coming. Not because people protested. But because the price of fuel went up, rent went up, food went up, and government said, we must adjust wages to reflect reality. That is what responsible countries do when fuel becomes expensive, they increase what workers earn so workers can survive.
In other countries, when fuel price shocks hit, they give energy support, they cap electricity bills, they give transport palliatives, they reduce taxes for the poor. They understand that high fuel cost without higher income is equal to death for the masses.
Now come to Nigeria.
In Nigeria, the President Bola Tinubu says: “I understand the pains Nigerians are going through, but there is no other way out of the sufferings.”
No other way? There is always another way.
London found another way. America found another way. Even Ghana found another way.
But in Nigeria, there is no other way except for the people to suffer.
How can you say there is no other way when you and other politicians are spending billions every day to campaign for re-election in 2027?
Billboards everywhere, jingles everywhere, defection ceremonies everywhere, billions that could have been used to pay workers or subsidise food.
How can you say there is no other way when you travel abroad for holidays with a large entourage, when you buy a new presidential jet worth over N150 billion, when National Assembly members buy N160 million SUVs each?
You understand the pains, but you don’t feel the pains.
If you felt the pains, you would not increase your own comfort while telling people to be patient in suffering.
In London, when cost of living goes up, wages go up.
In Nigeria, when cost of living goes up, taxes go up. Fuel up, electricity tariff up, VAT up, gas price up.
Everything up except salary and compassion.
London’s Mayor is not more intelligent than Nigerian leaders. He is just more humane.
He knows that leadership is not about telling people to endure hardship you created.
Leadership is about cushioning hardship.
The painful part is this: Nigerians are working harder than Londoners.
A Lagos bus driver wakes by 4am and closes by 11pm.
A market woman sits in sun from morning till night.
But their work can no longer feed them because government removed subsidy without any living wage adjustment.
Minimum wage is N70,000, that is less than 30 pounds a month. London’s hourly wage is almost half of Nigeria’s monthly minimum.
May Nigerians not remain foolish indeed.
Stupid to clap for politicians who tell us to be patient while they live in luxury.
Stupid to vote again for people who said “If we reduce the purchasing power of the people, we can further slow down the economy, let’s widen the tax net” and they actually did it.
Stupid to think there is no other way when other countries have shown us the other way.
There is always another way: cut cost of governance, stop profligacy, increase wages to reflect realities, and stop punishing the people for your reforms.
Two Worlds, Two Leaders, One Lesson
Gombe, UNICEF train 104 health workers to curb newborn deaths
By Elizabeth Ogunjobi
The Gombe government and UNICEF have trained 104 frontline health workers to improve newborn survival amid persistently high neonatal mortality across northern Nigeria.
The two-day training covered 48 workers from secondary healthcare facilities, following a separate programme for 56 primary healthcare workers.
Dr Abdulrahman Shuaibu, Executive Secretary of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, said strengthening newborn care was critical to reducing preventable deaths.
Speaking in Gombe on Thursday, Shuaibu said many babies were born in communities before being referred to secondary facilities for specialised care.
“Therefore, it is important to strengthen the capacity of healthcare workers at these facilities to provide appropriate care for newborns,” he said.
He said neonatal and infant mortality remained high in the state, requiring coordinated efforts by government, healthcare providers and development partners.
“It is our hope and prayer that this training will contribute to a significant decline in neonatal mortality across our communities,” he said.
Shuaibu urged participants to share their knowledge with colleagues who did not attend, ensuring that more facilities could deliver effective newborn care.
He said the programme complemented government efforts to upgrade primary and secondary healthcare facilities, while commending UNICEF and other development partners for their support.
Mr Oluseyi Olosunde, a UNICEF health officer at its Bauchi Field Office, said the training was organised to commemorate the 2026 World Prematurity Day.
Olosunde said the initiative focused on improving the quality of care provided to newborns, particularly premature babies and those requiring specialised attention.
“Every child deserves to live, and to make every child enjoy this right to life, the quality of care is important,” he said.
He said the training targeted nurses, midwives and doctors involved in caring for women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
“We are training them to ensure that the mother survives, every woman survives, and every child survives,” he said.
Olosunde described newborn deaths as unacceptably high in many northern states, stressing the importance of strengthening healthcare workers’ skills.
He urged participants to apply their knowledge to improve services and protect the lives of mothers and babies under their care.
Dr Raymond Mercy, a consultant paediatrician at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, also urged healthcare workers to prioritise proper newborn care.
Mercy, a member of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine, said Nigeria’s neonatal mortality rate stood between 34 and 41 deaths per 1,000 live births.
She said Nigeria had the world’s second-highest burden of neonatal mortality, underscoring the urgency of improving newborn healthcare nationwide.
Gombe, UNICEF train 104 health workers to curb newborn deaths
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