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.
The capture of Kidal is a significant symbolic success for Mali’s military leaders, who seized power in 2020.
Violence has escalated in the north of Mali since August, with the military, rebels and jihadists vying for control as the UN stabilisation mission, MINUSMA, withdraws from the country and evacuates its camps, triggering a race to seize territory.
“Today our armed and security forces have seized Kidal,” the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goita said in a statement read by a presenter during a special news flash on state television.