After a flareup of violence in Kidal, the separatist Tuareg Azawad group, consisting of the MNLA, MAA, and HCUA, ended its ceasefire with the government. The International Red Cross said conflict in the north is depriving most Malians in the area of access to health services. Cheibani Ould Hama, a Malian member of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb linked to the murder of an American official in Niger in 2000, was arrested along with three other persons in northern Mali by French forces.
