Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]
“Tuareg rebels in northern Mali have claimed to have seized control of a military camp and posts in the town of Bourem after weeks of fighting against the national army and Wagner mercenaries, threatening to unravel a 2015 peace deal. Tuesday’s capture of Bourem, situated between the ancient cities of Gao and Timbuktu, by the Tuareg rebel alliance called the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) comes as the military consolidated power in two coups in 2020 and 2021 and kicked out French forces and United Nations peacekeeping mission MINUSMA. … The CMA was formed by seminomadic Tuareg people in Mali’s north, who have long complained of government neglect and sought autonomy for the desert region they call Azawad.” (09/12/23)