Mali army launches offensive against separatist northern town
21 May 2014, 19:24 -- Mali has launched a military offensive on Wednesday to retake control of a northern Tuareg separatist stronghold, the government said, and witnesses reported intense fighting with machine gun and heavy weapons fire. The clashes threaten efforts to find a peaceful solution to the long cycle of Tuareg rebellions in the desert north. It also upsets plans by France and several West African countries to combat Islamist militants operating elsewhere in the region.
Malian soldiers and Tuareg separatists clashed on Saturday while Prime Minister Moussa Marawas visiting the town of Kidal. At least eight soldiers and eight civilians were killed.
The army had been reinforcing its positions since then, in preparation for an expected campaign to retake Kidal.
'At around 10 am, the Malian armed forces launched operations to secure and take control ofKidal. The operations are ongoing,' a government statement read on state radio said.
A Defence Ministry source said the army had begun an assault on the regional governor's officein Kidal after it was seized at the weekend by Tuaregs from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).
'The combat will continue until we achieve the total liberation of the town,' the source said.
Spokesmen for the ministry and Mali's UN peacekeeping mission confirmed fighting had restarted but declined to give further details. 'These aren't just shots, it's fighting. There's been shooting for an hour without interruption,' Kidal resident Assikadaye Ag Warzagane told Reuters by telephone.
A Kidal trader told Reuters that the town's main market had been destroyed in the fighting.
Attaye Ag Mohamed, an MNLA official in Kidal, accused the Malian army of starting the clashes and called on the UN mission and international community to press for a ceasefire.
'The Malian army launched an offensive, opening up with heavy weapons at 10 o'clock (1000 GMT) this morning ... Right now intense heavy weapons and machine gun fire is continuing,' Mohamed said by telephone. Blasts were heard in the background.
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