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Separatist Tuaregs Announce Blockade in Northern Mali

by Agence France-Presse

   Bamako, Mali --

   Separatist Tuareg forces on Wednesday announced they had set up a
   blockade on the major roads in northern Mali, where the army has made
   inroads in recent weeks.

   The Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), an alliance of rebel forces,
   said it had decided to set up roadblocks across all roads leading to
   northern borders with Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.

   It would cover roads leading out of the cities of Menaka, Kidal, Gao,
   Timbuktu and Taoudeni, the CSP statement said, and it would cover all
   products and all means of transport.

   The mainly Tuareg rebel forces have in recent weeks lost ground to a
   Malian army offensive that in mid-November led to the recapture of the
   northeast city of Kidal.

   Fighting between the separatists and government troops broke out again
   in August after eight years of calm, as both sides scrambled to fill
   the vacuum left by the withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers.

   The MINUSMA force left at the behest of Mali's military rulers in
   Bamako, where the colonels seized power in 2020.

   It was the army's air power, including planes and drones, that helped
   make its recent gains against the rebel forces.

   Mali's army was also backed by mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group,
   according to the rebels and local elected officials, but the regime
   denies the presence of the controversial private security force.

   There have been accusations of atrocities committed against civilians
   during the recent offensive by Mali's army and the Russian force, which
   authorities have repeatedly denied.

   Getting reliable information from the vast, northern part of Mali is
   extremely difficult because of its inaccessibility, lack of security
   and the muzzling of dissident voices there.