Mali PM declares war against Tuareg
Print Edition
MALI’S prime minister said his country was at war with Tuareg separatists after the rebels attacked a northern town he was visiting, killing eight soldiers and abducting around 30 civil servants.
Some shooting had already broken out before Prime Minister Moussa Mara’s arrival in Kidal early on Saturday and he was forced to take shelter in an army base as rebel fighters attacked and seized the regional governor’s office.
Clashes continued throughout the day with sporadic shooting eventually easing during the night.
“In light of this declaration of war, the Republic of Mali is henceforth at war,” Mara said inside the base overnight.
Mara was visiting Kidal for the first time since his appointment last month to revive long-delayed talks with northern armed groups.
Mali, a former French colony, was thrown into turmoil in 2012 when al-Qaida-linked Islamists took advantage of a Tuareg-led rebellion and seized control of the country’s north.
A French-led military operation drove back the Islamists last year but now the Mali government’s focus is now back on the Tuareg rebels.
A spokesman for the MNLA rebel group claimed control of Kidal yesterday. During the day Mara moved on from Kidal to another northern town, Gao.
The clashes, potentially the worst pitting the government against Tuareg rebels since the French intervention, now threaten to sink efforts to find a peaceful solution to the long cycle of rebellions in the West African nation’s desert north.
The government and a grouping of armed groups, which broke with the Islamists ahead of the French offensive, signed an agreement last year promising to hold talks over autonomy.
MINUSMA, a nearly 13,000-strong United Nations peace-keeping mission, is rolling out but is not yet at full strength.
Mara criticized the French and UN forces for allowing the attack to take place.
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