Dozens killed as Malian army fights rebels near northern town

Mali’s military reported violent confrontations with northern Tuareg rebels on Tuesday. The rebels claimed they briefly took control of a military barracks in the town of Bourem as further indicator that a 2015 peace agreement was breaking down. Since August, an alliance known as the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) has been engaged in combat with the army. This conflict was partly brought on by the departure of a United Nations peacekeeping operation that had helped maintain a tenuous quiet for years. Bourem is only 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of the important city of Gao, where fighting appears to be getting worse as both sides fight for control of land in areas that the U.N. recently left vacant. Ten warriors on its side, according to the general staff of the Malian armed forces, were killed. CMA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane earlier said there had been casualties as a result of the CMA’s battle to seize a military camp in Bourem, but did not give a death toll. “I confirm the CMA took control of the camp around 10 a.m. after very violent fighting,” he said. He later told Reuters that the CMA had retreated and that the army held the town of Bourem, saying the rebel group’s objective had not been to stay. In the past, the CMA has attacked military installations to steal equipment, trucks, and ammunition, however Ramadane could not specify whether this had actually happened. The general staff declared that the situation in and around Bourem was under control without mentioning the base or the CMA by name. According to a late-Tuesday statement, the rebels who were still alive fled towards the north. The semi-nomadic Tuareg people of northern Mali, who have long complained of government neglect and demanded autonomy for the desert region they refer to as Azawad, founded CMA. Islamist gangs took control of a Tuareg revolt in 2012, and they are still attacking civilians and the army. In 2015, CMA agreed to a peace agreement with the government and a pro-government militia. However, tensions have returned. Peace has never been simple; since 2015, tensions between the army and armed groups in the north have frequently erupted, and last year a coalition of organisations withdrew from negotiations. Conflict between the army and the rebels might exacerbate an Islamist insurgency in Mali, where organisations affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State hold significant territory. (With agency inputs)