Kidal Region

Kidal Region is the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering 151,450 square kilometres in the north of the country. The area was formerly part of Gao Region and was created as a separate region by decree on 8 August 1991, after the Tamanrasset accords of January 1991. Its administrative capital is the town of Kidal. The region is bordered on the west by Taoudénit Region, to the south by Gao Region and Ménaka Region, to the east by Niger and to the north by Algeria. It has a desert climate, with daytime temperatures reaching as high as 45 degrees Celsius, and in 2009 it had a population of 67,638. It is peopled primarily by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnicity of Berber origin whose writing is the Tifinagh alphabet. The main trades are livestock breeding, craft-making and commerce, and the region is extremely isolated, with no paved highways or rivers for transport. It saw Tuareg rebellions in 1963 to 1964 and 1990 to 1991, and rebels declared the independence of Azawad in April 2012.