Mali postpones handover of MNLA prisoners amid tensions

The Malian government has decided to postpone the handover of prisoners of the separatist Tuareg group MNLA to the UN mission and the Red Cross agency in the West African country, where security has been deteriorating for days. The prime minister's office said the handover ceremony set to take place in the capital Bamako was delayed to a later date. The government planned to transfer prisoners of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) to the UN Mission for Stabilization of Mali (MINUSMA) and the Red Cross agency. The prime minister's office did not give any reason for the postponement, only telling journalists who had come to cover the event that "they will be notified later." Last Thursday, the special representative of the UN secretary general in Mali and head of MINUSMA, Bert Koenders, hailed the move by MNLA to set free 30 people who until then had been imprisoned in the northern town Kidal, the stronghold of the MNLA. He also praised the Malian government for freeing 12 detainees who had been involved in northern Mali conflicts. Since the weekend, fighting has resumed between the Malian army and the MNLA in the center of Kidal. The two sides signed a truce in June.