AES states & allied forces
Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
The state military establishment — army, air force, national guard and gendarmerie — under the transitional military government.
Coverage · Central Sahel
Context, not targeting. This atlas describes structure and history. It deliberately excludes current locations, live strength, unit movements and anything operationally sensitive — the content model has no fields for them. Branch depth reflects what can be established from public sources, not the size, capability or importance of a force: a thin branch means a state publishes little, and record counts are never a measure of strength.
Force StructureThe full command tree for each side — who sits under whom, with the subordination of every record stated and graded.FormationsEvery formation as a searchable list, when you know the unit you are looking for rather than where it sits.
Current state
What this atlas holds
Records assessed as of 2026-09
How the forces on each side are organised — formations, lineage and subordination, never locations or strength.
- Published records54As of 2026-09Formations index
- Reviewed profiles50As of 2026-09Formations indexFull or partial profiles that have passed source review.
- Formations21As of 2026-09Formations indexRecords typed as a formation or a special unit; services, commands and groupings are counted above.
- Documented equipment edges24As of 2026-09Formations indexTyped equipment associations graded documented — never quantities.
- Newest status date2026-09As of 2026-09Formations indexThe most recent status-as-of date any record in this module carries.
The trees The 11 trees this module publishes across 6 sides, as selectable objects. Each plate opens the structure beneath that record; the count on a record is a count of published records, never a measure of strength.Interrogate Sahel in Explore
AES states & allied forces
Burkina Faso Armed Forces
The national armed forces of Burkina Faso — the institution that has produced two coups and governs through the second, fighting an insurgency across most of the country with a mass civilian auxiliary alongside it.
AES states & allied forces
Nigerien Armed Forces
The national armed forces of Niger — the institution that took power in 2023, expelled two Western partners, and in August 2026 fought a mutiny drawn from its own western garrisons.
AES states & allied forces
AES Unified Force
The confederation's joint military command — inaugurated in December 2025 with a named commander and a stated strength, and not yet observed operating.
AES states & allied forces
Pro-government movements & communal self-defence forces
A navigation grouping, not a command: armed movements and communal self-defence forces that have fought alongside or in parallel with the state. Each member’s real relationship to the government differs and is stated on its record — a historical northern coalition beside communal militias that published research describes as a fragmented ensemble rather than an actor.
External security partners
Russian security presence in the Sahel
A navigation grouping, not a command: the Russian deployments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger differ in scale, posture and evidence, and are recorded separately for that reason. What they share since 2025 is an institution — the Ministry of Defence's Africa Corps, successor to the Wagner deployment — and a sustainment chain that runs through the Russian state.
Azawad movements
Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
A navigation grouping, not a command: the separatist and allied movements of northern Mali, from the 2012 rebellion through the CMA and CSP coalitions to the unified FLA of 2024 — one lineage with several coalition names, plus the Ménaka movement that took a different path. Lineage relationships are stated on each record.
JNIM & lineage
JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
The al-Qaeda-aligned insurgent coalition formed in 2017 under Iyad Ag Ghaly — the strongest non-state force in the war.
JNIM & lineage
MUJAO — Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa
AQIM offshoot that ruled Gao during the 2012 occupation; both of today’s rival jihadist lineages trace through its remnants.
Islamic State Sahel
Islamic State Sahel Province
The Islamic State’s Sahel province — a separate project from JNIM and at war with it; strongest in the tri-border zone.
Regional & international (historical)
International & regional missions (historical)
A navigation grouping, not a command: the French, UN, European and regional forces of the intervention era, 2013–2024 — Serval and Barkhane, MINUSMA, Takuba, EUTM Mali and the G5 Sahel joint force. Each ran under its own mandate and institution, and each has ended or withdrawn from Mali; the grouping exists so the sequence of departures can be read as one story.
How to read this atlasRecord states, subordination grades and lineage — and the dated structural changes this module's records and corrections carry
How to read this atlas
Structure. Each side is a set of trees: state military, interior forces, and browsing groups. A record marked “Grouping · not a command” exists only so related organisations can be found together — its members do not share a command, and each states its real parent institution.
Record states. A full profile has passed source review. A stub is an honest structural placeholder — name, place in the tree, broad role, and a dated status — awaiting research. Records that cannot yet meet even that threshold are held internally and do not appear on the site at all.
Subordination grades. Parent links are graded:confirmed, reported, disputed,historical, or unknown. Where a current parent cannot be verified — as with brigades amid Ukraine's rolling corps reform — the record says unknown rather than inventing precision.
Lineage, not amnesia. Reorganised, merged or disbanded organisations keep their records, marked with dated predecessor and successor links — Wagner's absorption after 2023 and the Donetsk and Luhansk corps are carried this way, never as if unchanged.
Every record carries a status as of date for its claims and a separate reviewed date for editorial checks — a review never silently refreshes a status date.
Recent structural changes
Dated changes the records in this module state about themselves, and the corrections the public log records against this atlas — newest first.
Took over the Wagner deployment's role in Mali after Wagner posted "mission accomplished" on 6 June 2025; the defence-ministry-run successor had been building up from late 2024.
Full history on the corrections log.
Evidence and grading
- Subordination
- Every parent link is graded by the record itself: confirmed, reported, disputed, historical or unknown. Where a current parent cannot be verified the record says unknown rather than inventing precision.
- Record state
- A full profile has passed source review; a partial profile is under review; a stub is a structural placeholder — name, place in the tree, broad role and a dated status — awaiting research. Records below that threshold are not published at all.
- Confidence
- How well established Vigil considers this assessment to be. It is not a measure of how severe the situation is.