France, May 3 -- The disappearance of Me Mountaga Tall comes as Mali's junta faces a major crisis following large-scale attacks on several of its strategic positions last weekend and the killing of its defence minister.

The assaults are being carried out by Tuareg separatists and Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists.

Tall was a member of the M5-RFP movement, a key player in the protests that led to the toppling of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in 2020.

Initially an ally of the military officers who seized power in 2020, he subsequently distanced himself from the junta, becoming a vocal critic.

"Two men in balaclavas came to take him away, they left with him," a family member who witnessed the scene told AFP, adding that the family had ...