As part of the nationwide withdrawal of the force, a convoy of UN peacekeepers from Chad has arrived in the Malian city of Gao.

In what the UN called dangerous conditions, the troops drove hundreds of kilometers from outposts in northern Mali, Tessalit and Aguelhok.

The authorities refused to allow them to fly, so they had to travel by road.

A decade-long UN mission against Islamist militants in Mali has failed, according to the country’s military government.