U.S. warns of risk of renewed conflict after Mali clashes

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By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - The United States warned on Monday that northern Mali risked sliding back into war and called for the government and Tuareg separatists to return to talks after deadly clashes in a traditional rebel stronghold at the weekend. The Malian army was preparing to launch an assault on the northern town of Kidal, where at least eight soldiers and eight civilians including six government officials were killed when rebels attacked the regional governor's office on Saturday while Prime Minister Moussa Mara was in the town. Around 30 civil servants who were taken hostage in the attack were released on Monday, according to Radhia Achouri, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was due to address the nation on Monday evening, after Mara said on Sunday that Keita was now convinced it was "highly desirable ... that Kidal be totally under the control of the Malian state".

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