http://youtu.be/KxLPJRMVuNc

Mali’s prime minister said on Sunday his country was at war with Tuareg separatists after the rebels attacked a northern town he was visiting, killing eight soldiers and abducting around 30 civil servants.

Reuters reported that some shooting had already broken out before Prime Minister Moussa Mara’s arrival in Kidal early on Saturday, for his first visit to the town since his appointment last month. He was forced to take shelter in an army base as rebel fighters attacked and seized the regional governor’s office.

Mali, a former French colony, was thrown into turmoil in 2012 when al Qaeda-linked Islamists took advantage of a Tuareg-led rebellion and seized control of the country’s north. A French-led military operation drove back the Islamists last year but now the Mali government’s focus has turned back to the Tuareg rebels.

“In light of this declaration of war, the Republic of Mali is henceforth at war,” Mara told a Reuters, and pointed an accussing finger to the UN forces in the country for laxity. “You were witnesses today to the more than passiveness of these (UN) forces. The very least we’d expected from MINUSMA and Serval was that they’d ensure the governor’s office wasn’t attacked.”