VIGIL CONSILIUMSearch
Context. Not headlines.
Conflict coverage · Central Sahel

Autonomous Special Forces Battalion (BAFS)

Force Atlas

Autonomous Special Forces Battalion (BAFS)

Bataillon autonome des forces spéciales et des centres d'aguerrissement

MALI · MALIAN ARMY (ARMÉE DE TERRE) · SPECIAL UNIT

Part of Malian Army (Armée de Terre)

AES states & allied forcesActiveSubordination reported
Assessed as of
2026-06
Confidence
low
  • State affiliation · Mali
  • Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance

State affiliation: Mali.

Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.

In brief

Mali's special-forces battalion, created in 2018 with its own training centres and recruited across the services — the state's one special- operations formation, whose role in the 2023–2026 campaigns is reported rather than documented.

Scope
Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
Subordination
Subordination reported
Record state
Stub

About this record

Stub — a structured placeholder meeting the public-stub threshold: name, place in the force tree, broad role, and a dated status. A full profile follows source review.

Lineage & institutional history

Formed 2018-05-16

Formal parent institution: Created by decree on 16 May 2018 under the armed forces' general staff; filed under the army because its personnel and its operations are the army's, and the general staff has no record in this atlas.

Confidence: LowMethodologyCorrections

Assessed as of2026-06

See this force in the structure Interactive: select this record and follow what connects to it.