AQIM hardliners(above)and their Ansar Dine proteges,are disliked by the mostly moderate Tuaregs
XINHUA
BAMAKO, June 13
A leader of Tuaregs dominating Mali’s North is calling for the deviation from the Ansar Dine group because of its links to the Al-Qaida branch in northern Africa (AQIM).
The patriarch of Ifoghas Tuaregs, Intalla
Ag Attaher, wrote a letter to his children,traditional chiefs and ulemas (Muslim legal scholars), urging them to
“immediately desert the Ansar Dine
group because of its links to Al-Qaida.” The letter published on Wednesday was
written by one of the most respected
personalities in northern Mali,intensifying the indication of the
rejection of ideals propagated by Ansar
Dine.
“I appeal to all those who are my friends,the heads of communities as well as some of my children who are still
members of Ansar Dine to desert it
because we have discovered that it’s part of Al-Qaida,” Intalla wrote in his letter dated June 8.
The letter marked the rift between
Tuareg separatists aiming to establish an independent Azawad state and Ansar
Dine headed by Iyad Ag Ghaly attempting to impose strict sharia law (Islamic law) across Mali. The two sides signed an agreement on May 26 only to cancel it a week later. They joined forces to carve up the North after the March 22 military coup, with differences looming immediately afterwards.
Well placed sources told Xinhua that of
the patriarch’s family, Alghebass Ag
Intalla is still a member of Ansar Dine. His daughter Nina Wallet Intalla is an
influential member of the Tuareg rebel
MNLA and is staying in neighboring Mauritania. Another son to the elderly
Intalla is also a member of the MNLA. An observer, who did not wish to be named, said, “A position like the one taken by the elderly patriarch may considerably affect the morale of Ansar Dine given that the ex-parliamentarian and another son to the patriarch are the main leaders of this Islamist group.”
Some people, however, have doubts over
the authenticity of the letter, while others indicate that the authenticity of the letter “does not leave any ambiguity” for anyone who understands the position of the said patriarch of Ifoghas. “Such a letter coming from the elderly Intalla does not surprise me at all. In fact, during the meeting that was held on April 25 in Gao, he had sent a letter written in Tissinare (Tuareg writing) in which he had disapproved the cooperation with Ansar Dine.
However, the translator reversed the contents of the letter, ” a source in Gao said. The letter from the patriarch was written after the protests by the Kidal youths and women on June 5-7.
Please tell me who are the good guys are in this whole mess
Things aren’t as simple as black/white or good vs evil among the warring groups in N. Mali, beneath the empty slogans, usual politicking and unnecessary bloodshed, all the sides including the Malian Politicians who didn’t have the will to support their armed forces in securing their sovereign territory, the lilly-livered troops and the opportunist junior officers like Captain Sonogo who truncated their democracy, and most of all the MNLA rebels that shook hands with the devil (Ansar) can be seen as a dark shade of gray. Both Ansar and MNLA are terrorist entities; they resort to violence as a means to achieve political objectives. We must not differentiate btw the two, they are two sides of the same coin.
@Anwar, I hear you, but don’t you think the rift between the tuareg nationalists and the mostly foreign ansar dine al qaeda affiliates can be exploited ??
Who knows, may be the tuaregs(MNLA) can be enticed with a loose federation with mali. They will have political and governing autonomy, and would be independent all but in name.
Of course national defence and foreign affairs would be handled by the central govt in bamako.
If the MNLA can neutralize the Ansar dine, then the UN backed ecowas can come in an provide some stability.
‘Cause if ecowas rolls into mali guns blazing, I have a feeling they would end up fighting 2 or 3 different groups.
The nationalistic Junta, the Ansar terrorists and the tuareg nationalists.
Either way, a massive desert campaign is inevitable. The sooner nigeria makes real provisions for this eventuality, the better.
@doziex, you got the situation in a nutshell
My thoughts exactly. However, how can one trust any group that is so foolish enough to ally itself with AQIM and its proxies while proclaiming itself as an independence movement? A devolution of the Malian state into confederacy will set a very dangerous precedent and may give other such groups in the neighbourhood (MASSOB et al
) the wrong idea that resorting to violence could achieve their aims. Nigeria cannot afford that, it would be recipe for national suicide.
@doziex: learn from history, appeasement is the reason why empires crumble. Carthage, Rome in its fading years, the Incas, and not the least Chamberlain’s Britain during the Second World war, it has yet to recover its former spirit.
Going in with all guns blazing though a very detestable thing, is in fact what ECOWAS has to do at this point. That is the only language they understand. You cant take a knife to a gun fight, we go in with as much heavy equipment and materiel as possible, shoot first and ask questions later. I cant imagine diplomacy with the people that shamed themselves by orchestrating a mob attack on their Head of State. .
I dont believe you should count the mali national army as a potential threat in the sense that they couldnt stand up to the rebels and they want to fignt nigerian soldiers,i sorry for them the day they make that mistake,if u kill a nigerian soldier the rest of them will be out for revenge.
Omoh, the same thing happened in sierra leone. The SLA could never quite muster the courage to defeat the RUF rebels.
But when they joined the RUF and turned against their govt and it’s ecomog protectors, they became fearless warriors.
Nationalism can be a great source of courage.
Yeah right, but heavy fire power is almost always effective in keeping those nationalist emotions in check. Air superiority which we certainly have over the entire battle ground will help demoralise any potential opposition to the restoration of constitutional order. Forget the presumptions, what we need is a really good plan. Some kind of blitz Krieg combined with unconventional warfare by Special Forces in the desert and the Northern Mali while simultaneously waging a covert war in Niger and other terror outposts. The success of this strategy will depend on our ability to co-ordinate multiple number of operations at the same time. This will require advanced communications systems which we should acquire asap. This battle is not just about Mali, it is a struggle for the Soul of Nigeria. It will decide whether we continue to be the victims of terror and aggression by violent groups in our own homeland. We could use the cover of the Malian Intervention to destroy BH supply lines across the Sahara.
@Anwar, no doubt NAF can easily acquire the aircrafts that would make air superiority possible.
But as things stand now, with our current available assets, air superiority is not garranteed.
The malians themselves posses a handful of mig-21s and mi-24 hind attack helics themselves.
One should not forget, that while ecomog was thought to posses air superiority over the SLR theater, they were repeatedly harassed by SLA mi-24 helics, until they were eventually destroyed in a NAF alpha jet bombing run.
i think you might be ignorrant of the nigerian fire power