Rebels take key military camp in Mali's north

Mali's army and its Russian mercenary allies surrendered a strategic northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, as Tuareg separatists and jihadists waged a unified front to bring down the country's junta.

Forces at Mali's Tessalit military base, a "super-camp" near the Algerian border, surrendered and were scattering southward, an official from the Tuareg-dominated FLA separatist group told AFP.

The FLA's allies, jihadists from the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), are calling for cooperation to bring down the junta that has run Mali since 2020.

Friday's assault follows large-scale, fatal attacks at the weekend by the separatist and jihadist rebels on key junta strongholds across Mali.

And it comes just one day after JNIM began a road blockade on the capital, Bamako. Only people already in the city were allowed to leave.

A security source in Gao, south of Tessalit, told AFP that "no clashes took place" during the rebel forces' capture of Tessalit, and that regular troops had already evacuated when the assailants entered.

A local elected official confirmed to AFP that the Russians had also abandoned their position there.

Tessalit serves as a strategic base due to its geographical location and features a well-maintained airstrip capable of accommodating helicopters and other large military aircraft.

It had hosted a significant number of Malian troops and their Russian allies, in addition to a substantial quantity of military equipment.

"Tessalit is the oldest base built by the colonial power (France)", a military officer told AFP, adding that its position in the far north offered "a panoramic view of the entire Sahara".

The coordinated weekend attacks marked the largest assault in the west African country in nearly 15 years.

The fierce fighting at various locations, including around Bamako, resulted in the death of at least 23 people and killed defence minister Sadio Camara, a key junta figure.

A government tribute was held for the 47-year-old minister on Thursday, who died as a result of a car bomb at his residence in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako.

During the series of attacks, the militants took the northern city of Kidal.

The Tuareg rebels later predicted they would conquer the country's north and the junta would "fall".

In recent years, Mali, like neighbouring junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger, has cut ties with colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.

Russia has sent in mercenaries to help fight a long-running jihadist insurgency.

The three west African neighbours banded together to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which created a joint force it says numbers some 15,000 men.

The government of Niger said late on Thursday that the three countries had "conducted intense air campaigns" following the attacks in Mali on Saturday.

While that assault marked a turning point in JNIM's fight against the Malian junta, it was far from the jihadists' only campaign in recent times.

Late last year, JNIM attempted to cripple the Malian economy by imposing blockades on the supply of petrol and diesel being trucked in from abroad, particularly from Ivory Coast and Senegal.