In their interview with Sky News Arabia, two leaders of the Azawad movements did not count much on the meeting, hinting at their withdrawal from the agreement. That is to say a return to armed conflict and demands to monopolize power in the Azawad region.
What happened at the meeting?
The head of the Azawad Movements Coordination, Abbas Ag Intala, members of the Permanent Strategic Framework, and a group of members of the Coordination Committee, received Colonel Major Ismail Wagh, Minister of Reconciliation of the Government of the Military Council of transition. The financial officer has discussed with the movements of Azawad the implementation of the Algiers peace agreement signed between the two parties to the conflict since 2015, and the movements accuse the government of dithering in the implementation of its clauses regarding the involvement of Azawadis in the management of state institutions, while financial sources say the government is concerned about combating terrorist movements such as the Islamic State and the group “Nosrat al- Islam” and Muslims “affiliated with al-Qaeda”. The meeting also discussed holding a referendum on the amended constitution which was proposed by the military council and rejected by the country’s political parties.
The visit of the Minister of Financial Reconciliation, came after the visit of the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Ataf, whose country plays a role of mediator in the conclusion and maintenance of the agreement, in the Malian capital, Bamako, at the end of april ; Meet with the head of the Transitional Authority, Colonel Asimi Goita, to confirm and implement the agreement.
Ataf said in press releases that Algeria is ready to intensify its efforts to restore confidence between the financial parties that signed the agreement, in a way that preserves the unity of the country and its people.
Azadic reaction
Commenting on the meeting and its timing, the representative of the “National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad” in Mauritania, Mr. Ben Bella, is not enthusiastic about what happened there, explaining that:
The meeting is the result of the efforts of Algerian diplomacy, but we are not counting on the visit of the Minister of Reconciliation, hoping for hope. It may just be a one-sided show-off to please Algeria, and work to continue to manage the crisis without looking for effective solutions. We stand on our terms. Either to apply the terms of the agreement in its entirety without selection, or to go back to square one until we obtain our rights guaranteed by the laws of international law.
For his part, the secretary general of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, Bilal Ag al-Sharif, blames international mediation for the “failure” of the agreement so far. Not to pressure the authorities, as he said.
Ag Al-Sharif warned that the Azawad movements would not remain in this situation for long, threatening to withdraw from the agreement.
Algiers Agreement
Movements in Mali’s northern Azawad region have been waging an armed struggle against the government for years, demanding powers that bring them closer to independence by ruling the region inhabited by Tuareg and Arab tribes, while the government insists on the unity of the country. The battles ended with the signing of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, brokered by Algeria, in 2015. The agreement included national reconciliation, achieving economic development in the region and taking into account the ethnic diversity without prejudice to the unity of the country. It stipulated the restoration of peace through decentralization and the formation of a national army made up of members of the former armed groups that had signed the agreement. In early August 2022, the government and the Azawadian movements agreed to activate the agreement by integrating 26,000 veterans of the movements into the army in 2023 and 2024, but the Azawadians again accused the government of freezing the agreement.
Mali is witnessing an escalation of tensions between the armed movements of Azawad and the government of Bamako, in a context of escalation of armed terrorist movements in the region (ISIS and al-Qaeda). Hundreds of inhabitants have been killed in recent months, and thousands of them have been displaced. to neighboring countries.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
