Separatists free 82 soldiers

Separatists in northern Mali have released 82 soldiers, including some captured during a nationwide attack on government forces in April, reports The Washington Post. A statement from the Malian Armed Forces said that the ‘freed soldiers are now safe and being cared for by the relevant authorities’. Mohamed Ramadane, a spokesperson for the separatist Azawad Liberation Front, confirmed the release. Mali has been plagued for over a decade by insurgencies by militants affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, including JNIM, as well as a Tuareg-led separatist rebellion in the north. Violence escalated in recent months after an alliance of JNIM and Tuareg separatists carried out co-ordinated attacks on 25 April, targeting the airport of the country’s capital, Bamako, the nearby garrison town of Kati, and several northern and central cities. Ramadane said that the soldiers were released on humanitarian grounds, and that some of them had been held captive since 2023. He said around 118 Malian soldiers are still captive. April’s attacks exposed weaknesses of Mali’s strategy to combat the rebellion, including relying on Russia, which has partnered with the military-led government after it distanced itself from former allies such as France.

Full report in The Washington Post