Making sense of Mali's armed groups
Al-Qaeda gets the most attention, but local groups and ethnic fighters are
part of a complicated mix of instability.
<
http://www.aljazeera.com/profile/may-ying-welsh-.html> May Ying Welsh Last
Modified: 17 Jan 2013 10:19
French planes have bombed targets in Mali in what they consider a fight
against al-Qaeda-linked fighters. But the region is a cauldron of
instability with a diverse blend of religious fighters, ethnic militas and
secularists.
After spending weeks reporting from the country's restive north, Al
Jazeera's May Ying Welsh reviews some of the different groups and what they
want.
MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad)
The secular separatist Tuareg rebel group wants an independent state in
northern Mali called Azawad. MNLA say they want this state for all the
peoples of northern Mali (Tuaregs, Songhai, Arabs, and Fulani are the main
ethnic groups). They have some token members from the Songhai ethnic group,
but the fact is that 99 percent of MNLA fighters are Tuaregs whose
motivation is to have a Tuareg state.
The leader of MNLA is Bilal Ag Cherif, an Ifoghas Tuareg, and his deputy is
Mahamadou Djeri Maiga, who is a Songhai. The group which once controlled the
cities of Gao and Kidal has largely melted back into the population awaiting
its next chance.
The MNLA is generally disregarded and underestimated because it has receded
and allowed al-Qaeda-linked groups to take over the field. But it's
important to remember the genesis of this crisis was an action by the MNLA
to take over northern Mali, and all that is happening can be seen as a kind
of reaction. The aspirations of the MNLA are deep-rooted going back to the
first Tuareg rebellion in 1963. Their demands are not going to go away and
those demands will continue to be the deep root of the northern Mali crisis.
FLNA (National Front for the Liberation of Azawad)
This is an Arab group loosely allied to the MNLA which wants the people of
northern Mali to have the right to self-determination. They want northern
Malians to be able to decide whether they want to be autonomous, independent
or to be a part of Mali, possibly through a referendum similar to what
happened when Southern Sudan voted for independence. The FLNA is not asking
for the implementation of Sharia law.
Ganda Koy
Ganda Koy (Masters of the Earth) is a Songhai ethnic self-protection militia
which has been around since the second Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s. Ganda
Koy has in the past fought alongside the Malian Army against Tuareg rebels.
They have allegedly committed massacres against Tuareg civilians.
Human Rights Watch recently put out a report warning that ethnic
self-protection militias like Ganda Koy and Ganda Izo are compiling kill
lists of members of MNLA, Ansar al-Dine, other groups and their
collaborators. One can assume that many of the names on these lists are of
Tuaregs and Arabs.
Ganda Izo
Ganda Izo is a Fulani ethnic militia that was formed in 2008 to perform a
similar function to Ganda Koy-providing self-protection to the local Fulani
populace and countering Tuareg rebellion. Ganda Izo has now expanded to
include more than just the Fulani ethnic group. They have training camps in
Mopti.
The "religious" coalition includes three main groups:
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
AQIM is a mostly Algerian and Mauritanian group that has been present in
northern Mali since 2003 and which has kidnapped and held more than 50
European and Canadian hostages for ransom in the last ten years earning what
is estimated to be well over $100m.
Niger's foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum recently said that AQIM's presence
in northern Mali was part of a deal between the group and the deposed
President of Mali Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT), a deal brokered by ATT's close
political associate Iyad Ag Ghali. Hostage ransom money from European
governments was allegedly spread around to Malian officials while AQIM was
given free rein in Tuareg areas, with a wink and a nod from the Malian Army.
AQIM is currently holding at least nine European hostages in northern Mali.
Over the last decade a few local Ifoghas, Tuaregs and Arabs joined AQIM in
Mali, and their members also inter-married with the community. However now
that AQIM are openly circulating in the main cities of northern Mali, and
thanks to its association with local groups like Ansar al-Dine, the group
has become more mainstream. Now youths from southern Mali, Senegal, Niger
and other countries have come to join them under the rubric of the Islamic
Police which AQIM has a direct hand in running.
AQIM's top leader is the Algerian Abdel Malek Droukdel aka Abu Musab abdel
Wadoud, although it also has an Emir for the Sahara named Yahia Abou Hammam,
and a number of brigades headed by famous Saharan characters such as the
one-eyed Algerian trafficker Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Hamid Abou Zaid, another
Algerian. The exact leadership structures in the Sahara are not clear.
Ansar al-Dine
Ansar al-Dine is a group of local Ifoghas Tuaregs, Berabiche Arabs and other
local ethnic groups who want Sharia law implemented everywhere in Mali and
across the Muslim world.
The founder and head of Ansar al-Dine is Iyad Ag Ghali, a Tuareg former
leader from the 1990s. Over the past ten years Iyad worked closely with the
former president to try and put an end to simmering Tuareg rebellions and to
negotiate hostage ransom deals with AQIM.
Ansar al-Dine's spokesman is an Arab from the Timbuktu area named Sanda Ould
Boumana who was incarcerated in Mauritania in 2005 for being an alleged
member of al-Qaeda.
The majority of Ansar al-Dine fighters are Tuaregs from Iyad Ag Ghali's
Ifoghas tribe and Berabiche Arabs from the Timbuktu area. Ansar al-Dine
avoids fights with the MNLA and FLNA so as not to shed blood of relatives
and tribal cohorts which would be de-legitimising. They tend to leave that
job to MUJAO and AQIM.
Although Ansar al-Dine denies any links with al-Qaeda, it effectively
functions as a local umbrella under which members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM) can operate. The relationship between the two groups is
analogous to the association between the Taliban and al-Qaeda in
Afghainstan, with Ansar al-Dine playing host. The two groups work together
running the religious police, for example. Ansar al-Dine keeps its
membership Malian, thus keeping their future options open within Mali.
Ansar al-Dine can be found in all three main cities of the north: Gao,
Timbuktu and Kidal.
MUJAO (Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa)
MUJAO is the most opaque of the al-Qaeda-linked groups in northern Mali. It
is supposedly a dissident group which split off from AQIM, but they told Al
Jazeera that they're proud of working with AQIM in Gao to fend-off mutual
enemies.
MUJAO says like Ansar al-Dine that they want Sharia law everywhere in the
world. Unlike Ansar al-Dine the group incorporates both locals and
foreigners from the Sahel region and North Africa.
MUJAO has been the most aggressive in attacking MNLA elements as well as
Arab groups who want self-determination for northern Mali. When the MNLA
gain a foothold in a region, MUJAO are known to harrass them until they
leave.
Tilemsi Arab drug lords from the Gao area are alleged to be involved in
funding MUJAO and some of their young people have joined.
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Received on Thu Jan 17 2013 - 13:32:53 EST
