Mali

Mali's army has recaptured the strategically important northern town of Kidal from an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed groups known as the Cadre Strategique Permanent, or permanent strategic framework. … The rebel groups, who have controlled Kidal since driving out the army in 2014, admitted they withdrew for tactical reasons after having fought an army advance for several days. 

Mali’s army said Tuesday it has retaken the northern city of Kidal from rebels, after a raid that left many insurgents dead. The reported capture, not confirmed by independent observers, would mark a symbolic victory for Mali’s army as they have been virtually absent from the city, with ethnic Tuareg rebels controlling much of the northern part of the country.

The 19 interpreters wrote to the German government on 7 August asking for protection as the jihadist groups that operate in northern Mali regard those who work with the UN as traitors.

UN says it is the sixth incident since the peacekeepers left their base in northern Kidal on October 31.

U.N. soldiers Tuesday left a camp in the strategic town of Kidal in Mali's volatile north, which has been wracked by jihadist and separatist violence, several sources in the peacekeeping mission told AFP.

[…] “The UN underscores the responsibility of the Malian Transitional Government for the safety and security of peacekeepers and calls on it to extend all necessary cooperation to facilitate MINUSMA’s withdrawal,” the global body said in a note to correspondents issued on Sunday.

Heightened tensions and the increasingly hostile presence of armed groups in northern Mali are likely to impede the departure of the UN Stabilization Mission there (MINUSMA), the UN said in a note to correspondents issued on Saturday.

Tuareg rebels in northern Mali claim to have seized another Malian army base, the fourth since August. The escalation of violence coincides with the ongoing withdrawal of the UN stabilization force from the country.

Mali’s ruling junta on Monday announced a delay to a presidential election scheduled for February that was aimed at returning civilian leaders to power in the jihadist-hit West African nation.

Fresh fighting broke out between Mali's army and northern Tuareg rebels on Sunday, with the rebels claiming to have taken control of two army bases in the central town of Lere.