UN peacekeepers have departed a rebel stronghold in northern Mali early as violence increases

By BABA AHMED
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Residents say United Nations peacekeepers have withdrawn from a rebel stronghold in northern Mali weeks earlier than planned because of growing insecurity. That leaves the town in the hands of ethnic Tuareg separatists. An employee with the U.N. mission says the peacekeepers left early Tuesday. Mali’s military junta earlier this year ordered the U.N. mission of more than 15,000 people to leave the West African country, which has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. One resident of Kidal says locals have already entered the former U.N. base and are taking items.