Kidal (
Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and
commune in the desert region of northern
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
. The town lies northeast of
Gao and is the capital of the
Kidal Cercle and the
Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and includes the town of Kidal and 31 other settlements.
History
On 30 March 2012, Kidal and its military base were captured by the
National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad as part of the
Tuareg rebellion for the independence of
Azawad. A spokesman for the
Malian military junta said "To preserve the life of the people of Kidal, the military command decided not to prolong the battle". Gao and
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census.
...
were captured within the next 48 hours, and on 6 April, the
National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad declared the independence of Azawad from
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
. In the course of the conflict the MNLA lost their control to Islamist militias. On 30 January 2013
French and
Malian forces moved into the town to bring it back under government control.
On 14 December 2013, a
car bombing in Kidal killed two
United Nations peacekeepers.
On 21 May 2014, MNLA forced government troops in Kidal to retreat after heavy fighting, capturing the military base.
On 13 February 2020
Mali government forces were sent to Kidal for the first time in six years. In late 2023, the ruling
junta carried out
an offensive along with
Wagner Group
The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...
fighters. They managed to bring the city back under government control in the
Battle of Kidal in November 2023.
Demographics
Historical population
The population of the city of Kidal has grown from 11,159 in 1998 to 25,969 in 2009, raising its percentage in the
Kidal Region from 26.3% to 38.3%.
Languages
Kidal city is mainly
Tamasheq speaking with 79.13% of the city speaking it in 2009. The second most spoken language in Kidal city is
Songhai with 7.18% of the city speaking it. Other minority languages include
Bambara spoken by 5.51% of the city,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
spoken by 3.78% of the city, and other minority languages spoken by 4.4%.
Notable inhabitants
*
Ahmed Ag Kaedy (born 1979) - musician
*
Nina Wallet Intalou (born 1963) - businesswoman and politician
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies it climate as
hot desert (BWh), with extremely hot weather most of the year.
Gallery
File:Kidal.jpg, Entry to the town
File:Kidal Colonial Fortress 2005.jpg, French colonial fortress at Kidal
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Populated places in Kidal Region
Regional capitals in Mali
Tuareg
Azawad
Berber populated places