Tessalit is a

rural commune In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are des ...

and village in the

Kidal Region Kidal Region ( Bambara: ߞߌߘߊߟ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Kidal Dineja) the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering . This area was formerly part of Gao Region, but was created as a separate region in 1991. It is located in the north of the cou ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

. The village is the administrative centre of

Tessalit Cercle Tessalit Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Kidal Region of Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهوري ...

(district). The village lies north of Adjelhoc and about from the Algerian border. The ''commune'' extends over an area of that is almost entirely desert. In the 2009 census the ''commune'' had a population of 5,739. It is served by

Tessalit Airport Tessalit Airport is a desert airport serving Tessalit, a village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The airport is at the village of Amachach, northwest of Tessalit. A third, unpaved runway runs parallel to the primary runway. The Tessalit non-direct ...

. Tessalit is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

desert and a stop for trans-Saharan travellers. A

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and dr ...

deposit and a

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "r ...

factory also contribute to the local economy, though these activities have been disrupted in recent decades by the Tuareg Rebellions and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

in neighboring

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

. The Malian government have a military base at the village of Tessalit. Tessalit is situated in the mountain range of ''

Adrar des Ifoghas The Adrar des Ifoghas (also Adrar des Iforas; Tamasheq: ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ ⵏ ⵉⴼⵓⵖⴰⵙ in Tifinagh; Adrar n Ifoghas; ar, أدرار إيفوغاس Ifoghas' Mountains) is a massif located in the Kidal Region of Mali, reaching into Alger ...

''. It is primarily populated by

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...

s and is the home of the musical group

Tinariwen Tinariwen (Tamasheq: , with vowels , pronounced ''tinariwen'' "deserts", plural of ''ténéré'' "desert") is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. Considered a pioneer of desert blues, the group's guita ...

as well as the poet

Souéloum Diagho Souéloum Diagho, the contemporary Tuareg poet, comes from Tessalit in the North of Mali. His father is a Tuareg and his mother a Fula.In french: Peul; in ff, Fulɓe. He is married and lived for a time in Belgium. He is author and editor of t ...

. The village is twinned with Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France. The cercle of Tessalit contains the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

of Tessalit, Adjelhoc, and Timtaghene.

Battle of Tessalit

Tuareg rebels defeated Malian government forces to take the village in 2012. Attempts by the Malian Air Force, using Ukrainian mercenaries, were unable to prevent the defeat. French paratroopers took the local airport and then were joined by French and African Forces landing at the airport. They recaptured Tessalit on Feb. 8, 2013, according to General Staff spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard.

2020

French forces killed the head of

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to ...

(AQIM),

Abdelmalek Droukdel Abdelmalek Droukdel ( ar, عبد المالك درودكال; 20 April 1970 – 3 June 2020), also known by his alias as Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud ( ar, أبو مصعب عبد الودود), was the emir, or leader, of the Algerian Islamic milita ...

on June 5,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, near Tessalit. While France is concentrating its anti-terrorist efforts on the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), a spokesperson indicated that does not preclude other activities. Droukdel was buried at the scene.

References

{{Communes of the Kidal Region Tuareg Communes of Kidal Region Oases of Mali