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Malian Tuareg separatists lose key support faction

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 19:30
An influential Mali tribal chief has withdrawn his support for separatists fighting for an independent state in the deeply divided west African nation, according to a statement seen Friday by AFP. Intalla Ag Attaher's tribes of the northern Iforas mountains were a key partner in the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an armed collective of ethnic Tuaregs which rose up against the state last year.

Malian army heads for rebel-held northern town of Kidal

May 14, 2013 21:00
By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian troops headed for the remote northeastern town of Kidal on Sunday ahead of a mid-May deadline set by the government to wrest it from the control of Tuareg separatist rebels. French forces which swept Islamist insurgents from the far north of Mali have allowed the MNLA rebels to run Kidal in recent months but Mali's government wants to reimpose its authority ahead of July presidential and legislative elections.

Pan-Muslim body urges generous aid for Mali

Agence France-PresseMay 13, 2013 11:01
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Monday urged its member states to make generous contributions at a donors' conference on Mali to be held this week in Brussels. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu launched the appeal at the opening of a ministerial meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah. Romano Prodi, the UN special envoy for the Sahel, attended the meeting which was held to discuss logistical and financial assistance to Mali, an OIC member, ahead of the donors' conference on Wednesday.

Mali 'cannot have two armies': French minister

Agence France-PresseApril 26, 2013 12:00
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday that Mali "cannot have two armies" in the rebel-held city of Kidal, calling for talks with armed Tuareg militants in the war-torn north. The Tuaregs' National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which runs Kidal, has refused to give up its weapons or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with the Mali government.

Tuareg rebels refuse to disarm, take part in Mali polls

Agence France-PresseApril 24, 2013 14:45
Separatist Tuareg rebels in Mali on Wednesday refused to disarm or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with Bamako. "The disarmament of the MNLA (the Tuareg's National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) is out of the question. Have you ever seen a group disarm without negotiations?" Paris-based spokesman Mahamadou Djeri Maiga told a press conference. The MNLA launched a rebellion for independence of the north in January last year which plunged the west African nation into crisis.

Mali's Tuareg rebels reject elections, disarming before talks

April 24, 2013 14:15
By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Mali's Tuareg separatist rebels dismissed French calls to disarm ahead of July elections on Wednesday saying they would fight to the death if Malian troops entered areas under its control, underscoring the challenge of unifying the West African state.

Militants capture town in northeastern Mali

Agence France-PresseApril 21, 2013 21:45
Arab militants captured a village near Mali's desert city of Timbuktu on Sunday, sources told AFP, as ethnic Tuareg rebels massed in a show of strength near another key northern city. The Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) told AFP it had taken Ber, a settlement of around 9,000 people some 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Timbuktu, from an armed gang which had been "harrassing our parents". "As of Sunday, we control the town," Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadane, a spokesman for the MAA told AFP.

The Tuareg scouts of the French army in Mali

April 13, 2013 23:15
Like a pair of hunting dogs, two pick-up trucks packed with Tuareg soldiers race across the savannah, kicking clouds of sand into the blistering desert air. A band of brothers from a tribe of nomadic Saharan pastoralists, these men have stayed loyal to the state during a coup last year, an uprising by rebels from among their own people and then a deadly Islamist insurgency. Now they work as scouts for the French-led mission to purge Mali of its Al-Qaeda-linked militants and return the country to government control.

France wants to keep 1,000 soldiers in Mali permanently

April 8, 2013 17:00
By Adama Diarra and John Irish BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - France has proposed keeping a permanent force of 1,000 French troops in Mali to fight armed Islamist militants, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday. Fabius, on a visit to Bamako, said France was pushing ahead with plans to reduce its 4,000-strong military presence from the end of this month but planned to keep a combat force in Mali to support a future U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Mali Tuaregs say nine killed in battle with jihadists

March 30, 2013 13:15
Clashes in northern Mali between a Tuareg separatist group and jihadist fighters have left nine dead, Tuareg officials said Saturday. The fighting pitted Al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) -- a secular separatist Tuareg group that currently supports the government. "After the fighting, we recorded four dead and two wounded in our own ranks... There were five dead on their side," Mohamed Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, a top MNLA official based in neighbouring Burkina Faso, told AFP.
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