Armed groups from northern Mali on Tuesday declared that they had seized control of the strategic town of Bourem, located between Gao and Timbuktu, after engaging in clashes with the Malian army.
The Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), a coalition of armed factions that had previously signed a peace agreement with the state in 2015, released a statement asserting that it had conducted an operation in Bourem, successfully securing control of the camp and various advanced posts previously held by the Malian army and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.
CSP spokesman Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadane stated in the release that “intense fighting” had preceded the town’s capture.
The coalition of primarily Tuareg armed groups had been in rebellion against the state since 2012 but signed a peace agreement with the Malian government in 2015.
The deal — known as the Algiers agreement — had begun to show cracks in recent months as tensions escalated.
One of its signatories, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), on Monday said it considered itself to be at “war” with Mali’s ruling junta, which seized power in 2020.