Tuareg-JNIM offensive captures Kidal and kills Mali defense minister Sadio Camara as France urges nationals to leave

The coordinated offensive launched Saturday by Mali's rebel alliance -- Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) fighters working with al-Qaeda-linked JNIM militants -- captured the strategic northern desert city of Kidal and killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara in what the Malian government described as a "car bomb driven by a suicide bomber" at his Kati residence, a garrison town near Bamako that houses several senior officials. Camara's funeral is scheduled for Thursday at 10am (09:00 GMT). The assault is the largest in Mali in nearly 15 years and the most serious challenge to the rule of General Assimi Goita, who took power in the 2020 coup; reporting noted Camara was widely seen as the architect of the junta's pivot away from the West toward Moscow.

France urged its nationals to leave Mali "as soon as possible" on Wednesday and warned against all travel, calling the security situation "extremely volatile". The United Kingdom issued a similar advisory. Speaking from Paris, where he was meeting French security and defence officials, FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told AFP the rebels' "objective" is for Russia's Africa Corps to "withdraw permanently" from Mali. "We have no particular problem with Russia, nor with any other country," he said. "Our problem is with the regime that governs Bamako." Ramadane said the rebels viewed Russia's intervention negatively because Moscow's contractors had "supported people who committed serious crimes and massacres".

Russian forces withdrew from Kidal in trucks under what Ramadane described as Algerian-mediated safe passage, with the convoy escorted to Anefis southwest of the city after the contractors realised they could not hold out. "The Russians found themselves in danger. There was no way out," he said. Russia's Defence Ministry described the withdrawal as a Malian government decision, said Russian units had "fought for more than 24 hours" in Kidal and "repelled four massive attacks" before pulling back, and acknowledged that Africa Corps fighters had "sustained losses".

Goita addressed the country in public for the first time on Tuesday evening, saying the army had dealt the attackers "a violent blow" and that operations would continue until "armed groups" were "neutralised". Reuters reported on Wednesday that Malian forces had since retaken the town of Menaka near the Niger border after Islamic State-Sahel Province (ISSP) fighters retreated. Tensions remained high in Sevare and the central Mopti region, while the army reported a continued presence in Gao, the largest northern city. Ramadane said the FLA now intends to take Gao, Timbuktu and Menaka, and described the rebels' governance vision as a "moderate form of Sharia law" similar to Mauritania, administered through qadis -- Islamic judges who rule on the basis of Islamic law. The rebel goal, he said, is independence for Azawad in northern Mali.