UN peacekeepers in Mali, according to UN and military sources, departed from their Tessalit camp in the volatile Kidal region on Saturday, in compliance with a withdrawal directive issued by the nation’s embattled military authorities.
The UN stabilisation mission, referred to as MINUSMA, pulling out of the region has raised concerns that the conflict between military forces and armed groups vying for control of the territory will escalate.
“Our last convoy left our base in Tessalit on Saturday afternoon,” an official from MINUSUMA, as the UN force is known, in the town told media.
This information was corroborated by a military source from Chad serving within the mission.
The Tessalit camp, situated in proximity to the airport, had predominantly been manned by Chadian soldiers operating under the UN flag.
The ruling junta in Mali, which took control in 2020, had, in June, requested the mission’s departure despite the ongoing jihadist threat and severe crises. The mission, present since 2013, had been demanded to exit the country.
That followed months of deteriorating relations.
The ongoing withdrawal of approximately 11,600 soldiers and 1,500 police officers is slated to continue until December 31, intensifying rivalries among the various armed groups operating in the northern region.
The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), an alliance primarily composed of Tuareg groups aiming for autonomy or independence from the Malian state, has executed a string of assaults on military positions.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) has likewise escalated its assaults on the military.
Preceding Tessalit, MINUSMA had handed over four camps to the Malian authorities starting in August.
However, the evacuation of the camps in the Kidal region, particularly the one in Kidal, a stronghold town of the separatists, remains a significant challenge.
