Mali receives new consignment of Chinese armour

A Norinco VN22B fire-support vehicle in the parade held in Côte d'Ivoire on 7 August 2025. (Forces Armées de Côte d'Ivoire)

A convoy carrying Chinese-made armoured vehicles was filmed arriving in Bamako at night on 3 September, confirming that Mali was the destination for a shipment previously seen in neighbouring Guinea.

The location where the convoy was filmed by locals matched one on Bamako's Avenue de l'Indépendance, which would mean it was heading north out of the city, possibly to Kati, where there are several military bases.

One clip showed transporters carrying six CS/VP14 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, two 6×6 armoured vehicles that were covered but could be identified by their turrets with 105 mm guns as VN22B fire-support vehicles, and three more covered 6×6s that were probably VN22 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) fitted with turrets. All these types are made in China by Norinco.

The media in neighbouring Guinea reported on 1 September that three people had been killed when a Malian tank transporter hit a civilian vehicle on National Road 1 near Kindia. The reports were accompanied by photographs showing a transporter loaded with two CS/VP14s that had driven off the road and was being towed back on to it by a recovery vehicle with the same camouflage as one previously seen in service with the Armed Forces of Mali (FAMa).

A social media video purportedly filmed in Guinea on the same day showed a convoy carrying at least five VN22Bs, two other VN22 variants, and a boat.