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Tuareg separatists announced – yesterday, Wednesday – that they had imposed a siege on the main roads in northern Mali, where the country’s army had retaken some areas in recent weeks.
The “Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development” coalition – which includes armed groups – announced in a statement “the imposition of a complete blockade on the axes extending from the Algerian border to Menaka, Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu and Toudni,” which are the main cities in the north, which extends over a vast area between Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
The coalition statement explained that this blockade “includes all products and all types of transportation.”
The Tuareg-dominated groups lost control of a number of regions in recent weeks, in an attack by the Malian army – which reached its peak in mid-November – by taking control of Kidal, which is a stronghold for the independence parties and constitutes an important sovereign stake for the central state.
Hostilities resumed in August, after eight years of calm between the belligerents vying for control of territory and camps left by UN forces expelled by Bamako.
The military – who seized power by force in 2020 – achieved a symbolic success that received wide support in Mali, but the militants did not lay down their weapons and dispersed in this desert and mountainous region.
Kidnapping soldiers
After the government army took control of Kidal, the Permanent Strategic Framework said that “the struggle continues” and confirmed that its withdrawal from it was “for strategic reasons.”
The Malian army’s aerial means, including planes and drones, allowed it to advance against militants who do not have equipment of this type.
Malian forces also received support Wagner Group Russian, according to militants and local officials, although the military council denies the presence of the Russian private security group in the country.
The attack – in northern Mali – accused the Malian forces and their Russian allies of committing violations against civilians, which the Malian authorities systematically deny.
On the other hand, the Malian army said in a statement yesterday evening that it “learned with dismay that some of its members had been kidnapped” during an attack by armed groups last week in the town of Farabogo (central), condemning this “cowardly act” that was committed to “weaken the morale” of the soldiers.
He stressed that “all efforts will be made to allow the hostages to regain their freedom,” without revealing the identities of the detained soldiers or their number.
On December 14, the government army announced that it had repelled a “terrorist” attack on December 12 on this camp without casualties. But local sources told Agence France-Presse that dozens of Malian soldiers and civilians were killed.
