Fighters from Mali’s former rebel alliance, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), took control of the northeastern town of Anefis Friday after loyalist fighters who seized it last month withdrew, officials said.
“CMA rebels have retaken control of the locality of Anefis today,” a security official in MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission the west African country, told AFP. “But without a fight. Several of their vehicles arrived in the city.”
The news was confirmed by Almou Ag Mohamed, a CMA spokesman.
“Anefis is under our control,” he said. “In violation of the ceasefire, militias took the town. Under pressure, they left.”