The former rebels of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), signatories of the 2015 peace agreement, demand the release of their fighters arrested on April 23 in Chimam, in northeastern Mali. The Malian army considers them as ” terrorists “, which the CMA refutes. But their own allies of the Gatia, another armed group signatory to the agreement, are now asking them for explanations.
The Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) raises his voice, five days after the arrest of twelve of his fighters. Two of them had been released the next evening, those who had been integrated into the Malian army as part of the 2015 peace agreement. The ten others, on the other hand, are still detained and considered as “ terrorists by Bamako.
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In a press release dated Thursday 27 and released on April 28, the CMA accuses the “ Fama (Malian Armed Forces) and their Wagner partners “for having called out to his fighters when they were” with their mission order “, and to have on this occasion ” sequestered civilian populations “from whom they would have even robbed” a large sum of money “.
” Possible consequences »
The CMA “ categorically denies any link with terrorists “demands the release of his men” with their weapons » and the restitution of « stolen money “. Threatening, the ex-rebels warn against “ the possible consequences “can” result from such actions “.
The day before yesterday, Ahmed Attaf, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, leader of the international mediation for the peace agreement of 2015, was in Bamako. No mention of this file in the official statement of the Malian Presidency, even if it was probably discussed.
Requested by RFI, the Malian ministries of National Reconciliation, in charge of the peace agreement, Defense, and the Malian army, did not respond.
“ Nobody can walk in Chimam without being a member of the Islamic State in the Sahel »
On the other hand, it is the Secretary General of the Gatia, another armed group from the North member of the platform, theoretically allied with the CMA, who has chosen to react publicly. And Fahad Ag Almahmoud in turn asks the CMA to account. ” No one can walk these days in Chimam without being a member of the Islamic State in the Sahel “, He wrote this morning on his Twitter account, also qualifying the CMA fighters arrested on April 23 as “ terrorists “. He therefore requires explinations from the CMA.
Joined by RFI, several Platform executives wonder – without providing details – about the presence of CMA fighters, a fortiori armed, in this area on which the Islamic State group has recently established its domination.
The beginning of a crack in the hitherto united front of the armed groups in the North. The CMA and the Platform have for months been in perfect solidarity in their opposition to the Malian transitional authorities, whom they consider responsible for the stalemate in the application of the 2015 peace agreement. These new dissensions, if they persist, could weaken the signatory armed groups in the North in the standoff that currently opposes them to Bamako.
Signatory groups, al-Qaeda and Islamic State
For more than a year, the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State (EIS) group has been on the offensive in northern Mali. Platform groups have been on the front line since the beginning of this offensive to defend civilians. The CMA also took a stand against the massacres perpetrated by the ISIS.
Without implementing the same military means to counter it as its allies on the platform, the leaders of the CMA joined by RFI consider that the progression of the jihadist group constitutes a threat to its stronghold of Kidal.
The CMA’s leadership includes former members of Ansar Dine, who left the al-Qaeda-allied jihadist group in 2013 to form the HCUA (now part of the CMA) and join peace talks with the Malian government.
At the end of 2022-beginning of 2023, Iyad ag Ghaly, leader of Ansar Dine and Jnim, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, an ally of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, met with leaders of the Platform and the CMA to offer them a kind of temporary non-aggression pact in order to concentrate their respective means against the EIS.
In an audio message that has been circulating for several days, Youssouf Ould Chouaib, one of the main leaders of this Islamic State in the Sahel, addresses armed groups in the North, urging them to lay down their arms or join the ranks of the ISIS. .
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