The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA), three armed movements that make up the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) merged Wednesday in Kidal, a Malian city in the northeast that they have controlled militarily since 2013. The ceremony took place in front of a large crowd.
With our correspondent in the region, Serge Daniel
It was in the stadium of the city of Kidal that the ceremony devoting the merger of the three armed groups took place. Politically and militarily, they now form a single entity.
For Mohamed ELmaouloud Ramadane, member of the board of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad, ” an important step has just been taken “.
” This is a very important step that we have just taken, because the population of the Movement has been asking for a long time. So it’s a done thing today. It’s a new deal. It’s a new impetus. If we speak with one and the same voice, we have a single leadership, it will greatly boost everything we have as our objective. “, he explains.
Concretely, the new leadership of the ex-rebels of the North should have more weight against the Malian government. And on the ground, military actions should be better coordinated. The members of the new alliance suspended their participation in the decision-making bodies of the Algiers peace agreement a few months ago, accusing the Malian state of backing down on the agreement.
The new version of the CMA is already planning, with other armed groups involved in the peace process, to launch a vast operation to secure the populations of northern Mali.
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