In a press release released Tuesday, November 28, the Bamako Court of Appeal accused leaders of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jnim) and rebels of the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP) of having associated “ to sow terror », launching joint legal proceedings against several of these personalities. This follows the line of the Malian Transition, which no longer makes a distinction between jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and rebels from the movements that signed the 2015 peace agreement.
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Targeted by the procedure are the head of the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) Alghabass Ag Intalla, head of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) Bilal Ag Acherif and five other leaders of armed groups in the North who signed the 2015 peace agreement. The latter are today united under the banner of the CSP rebels.
The procedure also concerns three jihadist leaders of the Jnim terrorist group, linked to al-Qaedaand not just any: Iyad Ag Ghaly, number one of Jnim and founder ofAnsar Dineas well as Amadou Kouffa, from Katiba Macina, are notably cited.
All are accused by the attorney general of the Bamako Court of Appeal of having formed a “ association aiming to sow terror, undermine national unity, territorial integrity and tarnish the image of the Malian Armed Forces “. The prosecutor specifies that he bases his accusations on the basis of “ exploitation of information transmitted to him », without detailing which ones, or by whom.
“ Conspiracy »
In his eyes, however, these facts are “ likely to constitute alleged offenses of criminal association ” or ” acts of terrorism “.
An investigation was therefore opened and entrusted to the specialized anti-terrorism unit. The latter had already been assigned a week ago the investigation into the mass grave that the Malian soldiers claim to have discovered on November 16 in Kidal, two days after their entry into this city, until then in the hands of the CSP rebels. No information – location, number of bodies – has been communicated until now on this mass grave.
The joint procedure launched against the leaders of the CSP and Jnim formalizes, through legal action, the line adopted for several months by the Malian transitional authorities: even before the resumption of the war with the northern groups, the latter had started to indiscriminately qualify rebels and jihadists as “ terrorists “. A way of legitimizing before the Malian public and the international community the military reconquest of Kidal and the de facto rupture of the 2015 peace agreement.
The authorities of Bamako “ make diversion »
The porosity between the different armed groups in the north has been known for many years: some fighters have passed through different groups and, as a reminder, the HCUA was even born from a split within Ansar Dine, in 2013. Today , the Malian army and its Russian proxies under Wagner are the common enemy of Jnim and the CSP.
But the rebels deny any form of collaboration and ensure, in summary, that everyone carries out their attacks on their own.
A situation similar to that of 2012: separatists and jihadists had combined their forces against the Malian army. The jihadists then dominated the separatists and took sole control of the northern regions of the Mali.
“ It is nonsensereacts a rebel executive of the CSP, they are creating a diversion in the face of the multiple accusations of abuse against civilians to which they are subject. » According to this member of the HCUA, this procedure “ only commits the junta which produced it and will in no way affect the destiny of the CSP “.
“ This comedy neither warms nor colds us », adds another CSP executive, who believes that “ if anyone must be judged, it is the leaders of the junta who brought in Wagner’s mercenaries who are executing the populations “.
Read alsoInfo-check: In Mali, a Wagner flag hoisted on the Kidal fort