France urges citizens to leave amid Tuareg advance

With Tuareg-led rebels saying the ruling junta in Mali will fall "sooner or later" and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops, the French Foreign Ministry has called on French nationals to leave the country.

France has urged its nationals in Mali to leave the country "as soon as possible" amid continuing attacks by Tuareg-led rebel forces who have claimed that the ruling junta will "fall sooner or later" and demanded that Russian forces also withdraw from "all of Mali."
The French Foreign Ministry said the security situation in the former French colony remains "volatile" following a coordinated assault by Tuareg-dominated separatists allied with the al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

In the largest attacks in Mali in nearly 15 years , the rebel alliance, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), has captured the strategic northern desert town of Kidal and killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara, seen as the mastermind behind the military government's pivot away from the West and towards Russia in recent years.

Mali: Russian Africa Corps admits losses
Russian troops from Moscow's Africa Corps , who have provided security for the junta, admitted they have "sustained losses" but provided no further details.

"Our objective is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Azawad and beyond," said FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, referring to the northern part of Mali in which the rebels would like to declare an independent state.

"We have no particular problem with Russia, nor with any other country," he said.

"Our problem is with the regime that governs [in the capital] Bamako."
Nevertheless, he said the Russian troops were still viewed negatively for their role in "supporting people who committed serious crimes and massacres."
In Moscow , the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Africa Corps fighters had been forced to withdraw from Kidal, with Ramadane saying they had been escorted out of town.

"The Russians found themselves in danger; there was no way out," he said.

"When they realized they could not hold out against our forces and our firepower, they requested this withdrawal."
Mali turns to Russia as jihadists choke fuel supply
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Mali junta 'will fall sooner or later,' say rebels
"Even if they are a powerful force, they will not be able to stand up to the Azawadians, the masters of the terrain," he said.

The ​leader of Mali's military government vowed on Tuesday to "neutralize" those responsible for the attacks, but Ramadane said that the FLA also intends to "liberate" the towns of Gao and Timbuktu along the River Niger.

"To achieve peace, to find stability in Azawad, in Mali and beyond in the Sahel , the first thing is to get rid of this junta," he said.

"The regime will fall, sooner or later."