In Mali, rebels announced blocking roads to the main population centers in the north of the country, reports Agence France-Presse. The Permanent Strategic Structure (CSP), an alliance of armed rebel groups, announced a road blockade from Mali's border with Algeria to the cities of Menaka, Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu and Taoudenni. The blockade affects all types of products and vehicles.

“The Permanent Strategic Structure (CSP), an alliance of armed rebel groups, announced in a communiqué its decision to “impose a total blockade of roads leading from Mali’s border with Algeria to the cities of Menaka, Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu and Taoudenni,” the main population centers of the north.”, writes the France Press agency.

According to the agency, Mali's rebel groups have lost control of a number of settlements in recent weeks as part of an offensive by the Malian army. The CSP, formed in May 2021, brings together political and military movements in northern Mali, including the Tuareg rebel alliance Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), which seeks to create an independent state of Azawad in the north of the country.

Since 2012, Mali has experienced a political and security crisis due to jihadist and separatist insurgencies in the north of the country.