As international troops quit as violence surges and Russian influence permeates the country, we ask: Is the west burning its bridges with Bamako? Focus on Africa’s Audrey Brown is joined by a panel of guests, Dr Virginie Baudais who is based in the Malian capital Bamako and is the Stockholm International Peace Institute’s director of the Sahel programme; Dr Jean-Herve Jezequel, the International Crisis Group’s Project Director for the Sahel who is in Senegal; and Dr Niagale Bagayoko, who heads up the Africa Security Network, which is an independent think tank based in Paris. They helped to unpack what this disengagement with the West means for Mali and the wider region.