An armored vehicle escorting a MINUSMA logistic convoy from Gao to Kidal, is parked as trucks pass by, Mali February 16, 2017.
Shortly after the last U.N. convoy rolled out, the ethnic Tuareg rebels announced they had taken over the base.
The Tuareg rebels signed a 2015 peace agreement brokered by MINUSMA but maintained control of much of the north from Kidal.
The first sign of trouble came in early August, when fighting broke out between Mali's army and Tuareg rebels around the U.N.'s camp in Ber in the north.
As in Kidal, peacekeepers destroyed equipment before leaving that could have been transported in trucks earlier, if the government had allowed.
Persons:
MINUSMA, Sylvain Liechti, jeopardising U.N, couldn't, Fatoumata Sinkoun Kaba, Yvan Guichaoua, Edward McAllister, David Lewis, Michelle Nichols, Mahamat, Alexandra Zavis, Daniel Flynn
Organizations:
UN, DAKAR, United Nations, U.N, Reuters, Authorities, Security, Islamic State, Department of Peace Operations, Department of Operational, Wagner Group, MINUSMA, University of Kent's Brussels School of International Studies, Thomson
Locations:
Gao, Mali, Kidal, West Africa, Malian, al Qaeda, Algeria, Mauritania, Ber, Tessalit, Algerian, Bamako, Dakar, Nairobi, New York, N'Djamena