Mali: Fighting continues as Tuareg separatists claim Kidal

Fighting continued between rebels and Mali's military junta on Sunday, with UN chief Antonio Guetterres calling for more security coordination across the Sahel region.

The attacks began on Saturday when Tuareg rebels teamed up with al-Qaeda-linked jihadis to launch attacks against Mali's ruling military junta, which is supported by Russian mercenaries.

"Fighting resumed in Kidal this morning," a spokesman for the Tuareg rebels said on social media on Sunday. "We want to drive out the last Russian fighters who have taken refuge in a camp."

Heaviest fighting in years

Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. They claimed to have captured Kidal on Saturday. This claim could not be independently verified.

The attacks on Saturday and Sunday were coordinated with the al-Qaida-linked jihadi group JNIM, which claimed responsibility for explosions at Mali's main airport in Bamako.

"This looks like the biggest coordinated attack for years," said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Germany.

"It's especially concerning that JNIM apparently has been coordinating [...] attacks with Tuareg rebels," adding that the two camps previously joined forces back in 2012, "sparking the region's security crisis."

Sucessive Malian governments have struggled to contain the threat across the Sahel region since then.

In 2020, General Assimi Goita seized power in a coup. He quickly severed ties with Mali's former colonizer, France, and replaced French forces stationed in the north with Russian troops.

Mali defense minister killed

Mali's defense minister Sadio Camara was killed by a car bomb left outside his residence on Saturday, his family said on Sunday.

The general was a senior member of the ruling military junta and seen by some as a potential future leader.

A relative, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency that at least three other family members were also killed by the explosion. 

The bomb was believed to have been planted by al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM.

UN chief decries Sahel crises

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the resumption of fighting in a region that already faces terror threats and humanitarian issues.

"The secretary‑general is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali," Guterres' office said in a statement. "He strongly condemns these acts of violence, expresses solidarity with the Malian people and stresses the need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure."

Guterres also called for "coordinated international support to address the evolving threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Sahel [region] and to meet urgent humanitarian needs."

Regional bloc ECOWAS — which Mali withdrew from in 2025 — also condemned the attacks and called on "all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge."

Edited by: Sean Sinico