In the northern hamlet of Tessalit, where the UN mission will shortly break camp, several dozen Malian soldiers and Russian paramilitary fighters have arrived, security and local officials said AFP on Friday.
On condition of anonymity, a military official in the north of the Sahel nation told AFP that “our troops arrived in Tessalit on Thursday as part of the takeover of the UN mission’s camps in Mali.”
A Malian army plane, according to two local officials, brought in scores of soldiers and fighters from the Russian paramilitary outfit Wagner. According to one of the local officials, they joined the already-existing UN camp where the soldiers had previously maintained a small force.
The moves are part of an ongoing security reconfiguration that began after the junta, which seized power in 2020, ordered the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave by the end of 2023.
Armed actors are fighting for control of the territory, and the handover of the UN camps is emerging as a major issue.
Predominantly Tuareg separatist groups, which made peace with the government in 2015, have recently taken up arms again, while the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) has also stepped up attacks on army positions.
MINUSMA has since August handed over several of its camps to Malian authorities.
It will transfer others in the following weeks, including those in the north, including Tessalit, Aguelhok, and Kidal.
The army sent a sizable convoy in the direction of Kidal earlier this month.
At this time, the convoy is being attacked roughly 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Kidal.
