In Mali, the army flies over the strongholds of the ex-rebels and raises the tension

On Wednesday April 5, at the beginning of the afternoon, a Soukhoï Su-25 of the Malian aviation appeared in the sky of Kidal, the “capital” of the ex-rebels of the Coordination of the movements of Azawad (CMA), in northern Mali. A low-level flight by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) perceived as an intimidation maneuver. The aircraft did not carry out any strikes but its rotations above the city provoked return fire from the fighters on the ground. Similar overflights were also observed at Ber, Anefis and Amassine, resulting in no losses.

Politically, these operations are part of a context of deteriorating relations between the putschist officers who hold power in Bamako and the former rebel movements, mainly Tuareg and Arab, who for more than ten years have in fact controlled the north of Mali. . On Wednesday, the CMA denounced a “patent violation of the ceasefire of May 23, 2014” and an “serious provocation operated under the eyes of the international community, guarantor of the security arrangements and the peace agreement”.

The Malian government has remained silent. The army spokesman, Colonel Souleymane Dembélé, had denied, two days before the events, any desire to take back by arms the lost territories in the north of the country. “Malicious spirits are saying that the army is carrying out an operation towards Kidal. We are not in this dynamic, the authorities remain attached to the peace agreement. The Malian army is not rearming to reconquer Kidal”then assured the boss of the Directorate of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces.

Read also: In Mali, the former Tuareg rebellion denounces a “provocation” by the air force

“They wanted to intimidate us”

Was it a bluff? It is too early to tell, although the date of the flyby does not appear to have been chosen at random. The operation occurred on the eve of the celebrations for the proclamation of the independence of Azawad. Announced unilaterally on April 6, 2012 as Mali suffered an accelerated collapse – marked by a coup d’etat and the loss of all its positions above Mopti – this independence has never obtained the slightest international recognition, but remains a objective for some of the ex-rebels and the populations of northern Mali, as much as a stain on the national pride of the leaders in place in Bamako.

“They wanted to intimidate us, but it had no effect,” provides a CMA executive while sending photos of the festivities, which were finally held Thursday in Kidal, to better support his point. “They want us to understand that they have weapons. By violating the ceasefire, their aim is to restart hostilities and push us out of the agreement [de paix et de réconciliation] of Algiers »analyzes the same interlocutor.

Read our archive (2017): In Mali, a taboo named Azawad

Signed in 2015, a year after an attempt to reconquer Kidal by the Malian army which turned into a fiasco, this agreement provides in particular for greater autonomy for the different regions of Mali and a recomposition of the army in which must be integrated former rebels. Not fully satisfying any of the parties, it has since remained largely unapplied for lack of political will, particularly in Bamako, but the text offers a settlement framework to which most of Mali’s foreign partners remain attached.

“Concerned” by the rise in tensions, the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma) has, since Wednesday, called on each party to “the greatest restraint”. A meeting of international mediation, of which Algeria is the leader, was held the next day in the Malian capital with a view to “propose an initiative that allows everyone to get back to the table”, says one of the participants. “We are going to give them a perch to get out of this conflicting logic without knowing if they will seize it. The two parties have not spoken to each other since October 2022. The flight over Kidal feeds the war narrative on both sides. It’s very worrying.” continues this source.

Staging an army ready to reconquer

Since the coup d’etat of May 2021 which allowed Colonel Assimi Goïta to take over the presidency of the country, Mali has embarked on an arms purchase policy and has reoriented its partnerships. Attack or transport helicopters, fighter or reconnaissance planes delivered by Russia, Turkish Bayraktar TB2 surveillance and combat drones… The deliveries give the ruling junta the opportunity to stage an army which has regained its force and would be ready to reconquer. The association on the ground, started at the end of 2021 according to Western intelligence services, with the mercenaries of the Russian private military company Wagner is, on the other hand, denied by the Malian transition authorities.

Read the survey: Article reserved for our subscribers In Mali, State Security suspected of financing Russian mercenaries Wagner

Alghabass Ag Intalla, the president of the CMA, had alerted the international mediators rushed to Kidal in early February: “It is the agreement that makes us Malians. Without this agreement we are Azawadians”, he assured a month after the movements he represents withdrew from the talks for the application of the peace agreement, insisting on the passage on “those soldiers who took power in Bamako and from whom we receive no orders”.

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Some three weeks later, the response from the Malian minister for reconciliation appeared in the form of a letter, supposed to remain confidential, sent to the Algerian mediation. Colonel Ismaël Wagué, one of the pillars of the junta, denounced incessant violations of the peace agreement by the signatory groups, accusing in particular the CMA of “increasingly obvious collusion with terrorist groups”, while the ex-rebels and the jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, together tried to contain the progression of the minions of the Islamic State organization in the north-east of Mali. The Minister then also warned that “the government, while remaining committed to the intelligent implementation of the agreement, will automatically reject any accusation that would hold it responsible for the possible consequences of its violation. »

Read also: US says missiles deployed by Wagner in Mali pose ‘potential risk’ to civil aviation

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