The commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Dagvin Anderson, met Mali’s transitional president, Gen. Assimi Goïta, in Bamako on 10 November to discuss countering JNIM and Islamic State Sahel. On the same day, AFRICOM’s deputy commander warned Madagascar against copying the security partnership Russia has built with the Sahel juntas.
The two messages came within hours of each other. Taken together, they show Washington trying to reopen security talks with the Sahel’s military governments while warning other states not to follow the same path towards Moscow.
Anderson and Goïta meet at Koulouba during BAMEX 2026
Goïta received Anderson at Koulouba Palace on Tuesday, 10 November, on the sidelines of the second Bamako International Defence and Security Exhibition (BAMEX 2026), which opened the day before. Mali’s presidency said Anderson was leading the U.S. delegation at the fair. The talks covered the security situation in Mali and the wider Sahel. Maj. Gen. Oumar Diarra, the minister delegate to the defence minister, attended.
AFRICOM said on X that Anderson attended BAMEX and met Goïta “to discuss options for countering shared threats, specifically JNIM & IS-Sahel”. JNIM is the al-Qaeda-linked coalition that has carried out most militant violence in central Sahel. IS-Sahel is the Islamic State affiliate active in the Mali–Niger border areas.
Speaking after the meeting, Anderson called it “very good”, according to Mali’s state daily L’Essor. He said Washington shared Bamako’s reading of the terrorist threat and wanted to “put our means together” to face it. He also said the United States respected Mali’s sovereignty. Anderson said Goïta was the first head of state in the Sahel his team had met as part of this effort.
Neither side announced an agreement. APA news agency noted that no details were given on what form U.S. support could take, or on any new military cooperation deal. That matters because Mali has leaned heavily on Russia for equipment and operational support since the 2020 and 2021 coups. Those coups also led to the suspension of several U.S. security assistance programmes. Defence Mena’s guide to Mali’s military equipment covers the shift in Mali’s suppliers.
Mali is also seeing interest from other countries. The same day, Goïta received Iran’s deputy defence minister for industrial affairs and research, Abass Mohamadi, who was also in Bamako for BAMEX. Earlier in the week, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told Anadolu that Mali wanted technology transfer from Türkiye, not just equipment purchases.
Brennan: “We don’t want to see those models” in Madagascar and Mozambique
Also on 10 November, AFRICOM deputy commander Lt. Gen. John Brennan used an online press briefing to warn Madagascar against deepening security ties with Russia. The State Department’s Africa Regional Media Hub hosted the briefing.
“What we are concerned with is the model that Russia has used in the Sahel, and how they want to proliferate that elsewhere across the continent,” Brennan said, as quoted by AFP. “Madagascar sits in a location that is extremely important, as is Mozambique, and we don’t want to see those models be applied in those two locations.”
Brennan said U.S. partners were “free to partner with whom they wish” but should understand the risks. He called Russia’s approach “largely ineffective” in the Sahel. He also accused Moscow of seeking to “control their natural resources, predate on their population, and then infringe on their sovereignty”. These are Brennan’s own claims. Russia did not respond to them in the reports reviewed by Defence Mena.
Brennan linked the warning to the Mozambique Channel, a busy shipping route between Mozambique and Madagascar. He said Islamic State-linked militants in northern Mozambique were developing maritime capabilities, and he pointed to recent piracy-related incidents along that coast. Analysts are not unanimous on that point. A June assessment by the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria found no sustained piracy threat in the channel for more than a decade.
Russia’s growing role in Madagascar
Madagascar has moved closer to Moscow since Col. Michaël Randrianirina took power in a military takeover in October 2025. According to AFP, Russia has since supplied the island with drones, assault rifles and handguns, as well as instructors from its Africa Corps paramilitary force. Randrianirina visited Moscow in February. Madagascar and Russia signed several cooperation agreements, including on defence, at the Russia–Africa summit in Moscow last month, the BBC reported. Defence Mena covered the build-up earlier in Russia Deepens Military Footprint in Madagascar’s Junta-Led Government. Western partners are also competing for influence there: France has given Madagascar a long-range drone.
Madagascar’s government had not publicly responded to Brennan’s remarks at the time of writing.
What to watch
- Whether the Bamako meeting leads to any concrete U.S.–Mali step, such as intelligence sharing or a resumption of suspended programmes. So far, none has been announced.
- Whether Anderson’s team meets the leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger, the other members of the Alliance of Sahel States.
- Any official reply from Antananarivo, and what the defence agreements Madagascar signed with Russia in October actually contain.
Sources
- U.S. Africa Command (@USAfricaCommand), post on X, 11 November 2026
- Presidency of Mali, via Bamada.net; L’Essor via Maliweb; Malijet; aBamako; APA news agency – reports on the Goïta–Anderson audience, 10 November 2026
- AFP (via NAMPA and 24 News HD) and BBC News – Lt. Gen. John Brennan’s briefing remarks, 10–11 November 2026
- Channel Africa; Streamline Feed (Kenya), including the Institute for Security Studies piracy assessment cited there