Kidal Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the

Kidal Region Kidal Region ( Bambara: ߞߌߘߊߟ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Kidal Dineja) the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering . This area was formerly part of Gao Region, but was created as a separate region in 1991. It is located in the north of the coun ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. The administrative center ''(

chef-lieu An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

)'' is the town of

Kidal Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and incl ...

. The cercle is divided into rural and urban

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

, and below this, quarters/villages. In 2009 the cercle had a population of 33,087. The climate is typical Saharian with very little rainfall and large fluctuations in temperature. The average annual rainfall is around 130 mm but there are large year-to-year variations with 204 mm recorded in 1999 and only 66 mm in 1990. The mountain region of Adrar des Ifoghas was taken by French and Chadian forces on 22 February 2013 as part of the

Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

. The area of In Arab, near

Anefif Anefif or Anéfis is a Saharan village and commune in the Cercle of Kidal in the Kidal Region of north-eastern Mali. Geography Anefif is located on the Tessalit Trail. It lies southwest of Kidal on the route linking Kidal to Bourem and G ...

, was captured by MNLA forces on 29–30 March 2013.

Communes

The Kidal Cercle contains the following ''communes'':. *

Essouk Essouk (Arabic: : "the market") is a commune and small village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village lies 45 km northwest of Kidal in the Adrar des Ifoghas massif. The ruins of the medieval town of Tadmakka (Arabic: ) lie 2 km no ...

(an Urban Commune)

References

Cercles of Mali Kidal Region {{Mali-geo-stub