In Mali – this is exclusive information from RFI – Iyad Ag Ghaly met with representatives of armed groups in the North, signatories of the 2015 peace agreement. The interview(s) took place at the end of last week, near Kidal. The leader of Jnim (Support Group for Islam and Muslims), linked to al-Qaeda, wants to concentrate everyone’s efforts against the Islamic State group but without entering into a formal alliance.
Some speak of a large meeting, others of a succession of interviews, between Wednesday and Thursday, January 26, in Djounhane, about forty kilometers from Kidal.
Several senior executives of various armed groups in the North as well as security sources ensure that Iyad Ag Ghaly met three prominent personalities. The first is Alghabass Ag Intalla: boss of the HCUA, member of the CMA (ex-independence rebels) and the CSP (which brings together the armed groups of the North who signed the 2015 peace agreement concluded with the Malian state, all tendencies).
The second is General El Hadj Ag Gamou: General of the Malian army and military leader of the Gatia, an armed group that is a member of the Platform (armed groups from the North that have always defended the unity of the Malian State) and of the CSP.
Finally, the third is Mohamed Ag Intalla: brother of Alghabass, Amenokal (first traditional authority) of Kidal and member of the CNT, the National Transitional Council (legislative body of the Transition since the military coup in August 2020). A meeting at the top.
Some sources, however, deny the personal presence of Alghabass Ag Intalla and General Gamou but recognize the participation of ” CSP emissaries having accepted, at his request, to discuss with Iyad Ag Ghaly.
No alliance with the CSP but a common enemy: the Islamic State group
According to these sources, Iyad Ag Ghaly first asked the armed groups that signed the 2015 peace agreement to concentrate their efforts against the rival jihadist group, the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group, which has been on the offensive for almost a year. in northeastern Mali, mainly in the Ménaka region.
“ Iyad does not want to form an alliance with the CSP, the armed movements do not interest him but he wants the assurance that the CSP will not target the Jnim.e”, summarizes a source. On this point, the leader of the Jnim obtained satisfaction: “ He had the assurance that the Jnim was not the priority target of the CSP, for the moment “, confirms an interlocutor close to the participants.
A pact of non-agression
The various sources joined by RFI ensure that it is therefore in no way an alliance with the Jnim jihadists but a kind of temporary non-aggression pact against the common enemy of the moment, know the EIGS. Which is already the case since in recent months, if the signatory armed groups have never fought alongside the Jnim, they have only fought the EIGS. The Islamic State group is responsible for massive massacres of civilians. We deplore more than 900 deaths in a few months, according to the count of local communities.
The CSP therefore considers the Islamic State group to be the current greatest threat to the populations of northern Mali. A meeting is also scheduled for February 10 in Kidal, to determine a common defense strategy and specify the outlines of military collaboration between the various signatory armed groups.
The Jnim wants to recruit among the communities
But Iyad Ag Ghaly is indeed in the recruitment campaign and he also made a second request: if the leader of the Jnim does not ask for a contribution from the CSP, he does, however, ask for that of the communities and the heads of fractions.
“ He wants men and military means, clearly posits an important northern community leader, and he asks people to join him. This is what he had done in Menaka in recent weeks. Now he continues in Kidal. »
The meeting of Iyad ag Ghaly and several Tuareg notables from Ménaka had even been the subject of a communication from the Jnim, a little over a week ago, on its propaganda organ Al-Zallaqa.
According to the various sources who have agreed to confide in RFI, Iyad Ag Ghaly is still looking for reinforcements and is counting on the community fiber – even on the rivalries between fractions – to achieve this.
It is this relay with the communities that he would have requested in particular from Mohamed Ag Intalla, the Amenokal of Kidal, who regularly meets, by virtue of his position, the traditional representatives of the area.
Islamic Caliphate
But Mohamed Ag Intalla is not only the Amenokal of Kidal, he is also a member of the CNT which acts as a legislative assembly in this period of Transition. According to several sources – not all of them have confirmed it – Mohamed Ag Intalla would have proposed to Iyad Ag Ghaly to play the role of facilitator with the Transition authorities, for future exchanges. Some sources even claim that he was already present at this meeting with the status of emissary from Bamako.
Requested by RFI, the Malian Ministry of National Reconciliation did not respond.
During this or these interviews, Iyad Ag Ghaly finally clarified his project for an Islamic caliphate: “ He wants to establish it in three areas: Azawad (local term designating the regions of the North, the separatists conferring on this term an administrative and not only geographical notion, editor’s note)the Macina (in central Mali, stronghold of the Katiba Macina led by Amadou Kouffa, member of the Jnim, editor’s note) and southern Mali “, Details a source.
Iyad Ag Ghaly would also have assured to have ” support in Bamako » and within « great powers », in allusion to France and the United States. Comments reported by several sources, some giving it credit, others judging that it is only an implausible and unfounded element of communication.
Read also: Mali: jihadist leader Iyad Ag Ghaly recruits and appears in the Ménaka region