Mali’s Tuareg rebels claim takeover of abandoned UN camp near strategic town of Kidal

Separatist rebels in northern Mali have claimed to have taken over a camp in the strategic town of Kidal immediately after it was evacuated by the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA, a significant development in an ongoing battle for territory.
The Tuareg-dominated alliance of armed groups, known as the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), which had agreed to a ceasefire and a peace deal with authorities in 2014 and 2015, but recently relaunched a rebellion against the state, said in a statement Tuesday (1 November) that it was “now taking control of the areas abandoned by MINUSMA in Kidal.” A MINUSMA convoy made up of more than a hundred vehicles had earlier left the camp, heading for the town of Gao, but it had reportedly suffered two improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on the way, causing material damage. The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali had thus completed its accelerated withdrawal from three camps in the eastern Kidal region of northern Mali, a UN spokesman has said.
MINUSMA’s withdrawal has exacerbated tensions in the Kidal region between the Tuareg rebel groups and the military. The question now remains about whether the Malian army will try to regain control of the region – the stronghold of the Tuareg rebellion and a major challenge to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Mali, which has been a leading source of concern for its junta-led government. The Kidal region bordering Algeria has long been centre of insubordination and a launching point for independence rebellions, which have shaken Mali since independence. The Malian army suffered humiliating defeats between 2012 and 2014 in the region.