The jihadists, allied with the Tuaregs, have taken responsibility for the attacks that targeted the Malian president’s headquarters last Saturday.
The Tuareg rebels announced on Sunday that they had reached an “agreement” allowing Russian Africa Corps soldiers to withdraw from the city of Kidal in northern Mali, which they now claim to “completely” control.
“A deal was made to allow the army and its Africa Corps allies to leave camp 2, where they had been holed up since yesterday,” said a Tuareg rebel official to AFP, adding that the city of Kidal is now “completely” under their control. “We saw a military convoy leave, but we do not know the details of the situation… The streets are now occupied by armed fighters,” said a Kidal resident.
Kidal, the Tuareg rebellion stronghold, was retaken in November 2023 by the Malian army supported by Russian paramilitary group Wagner, ending over a decade of control by rebel groups. The FLA also claims to have seized control of several positions in the Gao region.
Fighting also resumed on Sunday between jihadists and the army in Kati, near the Malian capital Bamako, the stronghold of the junta leading this Sahelian country. These clashes come after coordinated attacks by jihadists allied with Tuareg rebels on several locations against the government, according to residents.
Kati, a garrison town, was one of the locations attacked on Saturday by the jihadists of JNIM, allied with Al-Qaeda, and the Tuareg rebels of FLA. “The fighting resumed (in the morning) everywhere. The jihadists are towards the hill above the city,” said a resident to AFP. “The airstrikes have also begun,” added another.
In a statement released on Saturday evening, JNIM took “responsibility” for the attacks on the Malian president Assimi Goïta’s headquarters, the Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara’s office, the Bamako international airport, and military sites in the neighboring city of Kati.
In Bamako, soldiers were stationed on Sunday morning around a clinic where the Defense Minister Sadio Camara was admitted the previous day, according to a medical source and witnesses. Mali has been facing a severe security crisis since 2012, fueled by jihadist violence linked to groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as community criminal groups and separatists.
