Mali’s army has recaptured the strategic northern town of Kidal, a stronghold of Tuareg-dominated separatist groups that has long posed a major sovereignty issue for the ruling junta. Advertising Read moreThe capture of Kidal is a significant symbolic success for Mali’s military leaders, who seized power in 2020. “The (Malian Armed Forces) took up position in the town of Kidal this Tuesday,” the general staff said earlier in a statement on social media. More recently, as the army advanced towards Kidal, many of the town’s tens of thousands of residents fled, according to social networks. Since July, the UN mission has withdrawn nearly 6,000 civilian and uniformed personnel, after the ruling junta demanded the mission depart from Mali.
