Mali sends troops to northern town ahead of UN retreat

AFP :
Several dozen Malian soldiers and Russian paramilitary fighters have arrived in the northern town of Tessalit, where the UN mission will soon leave its camp, security and local officials told AFP on Friday.

“As part of the takeover of the UN mission’s camps in Mali, our troops arrived in Tessalit on Thursday,” a military official in the north of the Sahel country told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two local officials said dozens of soldiers and fighters from the Russian paramilitary company Wagner had been flown in by a Malian army plane.

They joined the existing UN camp where the soldiers had previously maintained a small unit, said one of the local officials.