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 Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...

and is the capital of the

Kidal Cercle Kidal Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Kidal Region of Mali. The administrative center ''(chef-lieu)'' is the town of Kidal. The cercle is divided into rural and urban communes, and below this, quarters/villages. In 2009 the cercle ...

and 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 ...

. 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 National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

as part of the Tuareg rebellion for the independence of

Azawad Azawad, or Azawagh (Tuareg languages, Tuareg: Azawaɣ, or Azawad; ), was a short-lived diplomatic recognition, unrecognised state lasting between 2012 and 2013. Azawagh (''Azawaɣ'') is the generic Tuareg, Tuareg Berber name for all Tuareg Ber ...

. 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

declared the independence of Azawad from

. 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 bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

ing 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

from 26.3% to 38.3%.

Languages

Kidal city is mainly

Tamasheq Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North and West Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others bei ...

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 Ahmed Ag Kaedy (born 1979) is a Malian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the leader of the group Amanar de Kidal. Originally from Kidal Region, Kidal, he is a member of the nomadic Tuareg people, whose distinct style of rhythm and use of the ...

(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

*. *. {{Authority control Populated places in Kidal Region Regional capitals in Mali Tuareg Azawad Berber populated places