Though I must confess myself less interested by the siege at Léré than by the staggering drainage to its east.
Well, at least you've addressed my immediate first concern, which is that (amusingly) the map in the article doesn't include Léré. Via Wikipedia, it apparently got some military attention last year too.
1: That would be the Inland Niger Delta.
This is the usual "governments that depend on Russia for security are fucked" story, right? See Armenia and Syria.
Yeah, some googling about Wagner and Mali turns up this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/01/world/africa/russia-wagner-mercenaries-mali.html