Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said on Sunday that they had reached an agreement allowing Russian Africa Corps forces to leave Kidal, after fresh fighting in the strategic town and a wider wave of coordinated attacks across the country. The announcement came as Mali’s army and its Russian allies faced pressure on multiple fronts, with residents reporting that armed movements had taken control of streets in Kidal.
The claim, reported by France 24, centres on an accord said to permit the Malian army and Africa Corps to leave Camp 2, where they had been holed up since the previous day. A Tuareg official told AFP that a deal had been reached for the withdrawal, while a local resident said a military convoy was seen leaving but that the details were unclear. France 24 said the rebel faction, the Azawad Liberation Front, also asserted that Kidal was now totally under its control.
Kidal has long held symbolic weight in the conflict. France 24 noted that the town was retaken by the Malian army, backed by Russia’s Wagner group, in November 2023 after more than a decade of rebel control. The Africa Corps, which the report described as operating under direct control of the Russian defence ministry, has since taken over much of Moscow’s Africa work from Wagner following the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in 2023.
The Kidal fighting unfolded alongside broader violence in Mali on Saturday and Sunday. France 24 reported that jihadist and rebel groups launched coordinated attacks in several locations, including the junta stronghold of Kati near Bamako and the airport district of Senou. Residents in Kati said fighting resumed on Sunday and described heavy insecurity in the garrison town. In Bamako, soldiers were stationed around a clinic where Defence Minister Sadio Camara had been admitted, and access to military facilities was blocked by barriers and tyres, according to AFP and an AFP journalist.
The government confirmed on Sunday that Camara was killed in one of the attacks, after earlier reports from media and relatives. A government spokesperson said insurgents targeted the minister’s house, while a relative told AFP that Camara and at least three family members were killed by a car bomb linked to an al Qaeda-affiliated group. France 24 said Saturday’s assault was the worst since the junta took power in 2020, leaving 16 civilians and soldiers wounded and causing limited material damage, according to the government.
The United Nations also responded to the violence. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the acts and urged coordinated international support to address violent extremism and urgent humanitarian needs in the Sahel, according to a statement from his spokesman. For Mali’s rulers, the latest clashes underscore how the conflict has continued to broaden beyond isolated flashpoints and into key military and political centres.
The reported withdrawal from Kidal, if completed, would mark another turn in a contest that has repeatedly shifted between state forces, Russian-linked fighters, Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups. For now, the clearest confirmed detail is that rebels say they struck an agreement for Africa Corps to leave the town, while fighting elsewhere in Mali continued to challenge the junta’s claim that the situation was under control.
