Factbox: Mali's mosaic of armed groups

[Yukimura Sanada]

Factbox: Mali's mosaic of armed groups

Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:23am EST

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive on Monday in central Mali after four days of air strikes by French warplanes on their strongholds in the desert north.

Here is a look at the main armed rebel groups in Mali:

* AQIM - Born out of the Algerian Salafist movement, GSPC, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) arrived on the public stage in January 2007. It rose to prominence partly by attacking Algerian government forces but mainly through its involvement in kidnapping Westerners across the Sahel zone including Mali, Niger and Mauritania. It has also links to trans-Sahara smuggling - a trade that includes drugs, guns and people - topping up the tens of millions of dollars raised from ransom-taking. In July 2012, the head of U.S. Africa Command described AQIM as al-Qaeda's "wealthiest affiliate".

- Its objectives include ridding North Africa of Western influence, overthrowing apostate "unbeliever" governments. Its leaders are Algerian militant Abdelmalek Droukdel and Salah Gasmi. Gasmi, the group's number two, was arrested in northern Algeria last month. It has traditionally operated in Mali through two wings, or katibas. France has advised its 6,000 citizens in Mali to leave as AQIM has in turn promised revenge for the French military intervention in Mali.

* ANSAR AL DINE - Ansar Dine, which experts say has links to local al Qaeda factions, is a Tuareg-led Islamist group. Its name means "Defenders of the Faith" and it follows the puritanical form of Islam known as Salafism. Ansar Dine's leader, renegade Tuareg chieftain Iyad Ag Ghali, is linked to AQIM through a cousin who is a local commander and the group has received financing from AQIM, diplomats said. Ansar Dine and other Islamists gained the upper hand in Mali last year when they hijacked a rebellion launched by the secular MNLA Tuareg rebel group that fought for independence in 2012.

- Ansar Dine's turbaned fighters, who operate under the black Islamist flag, initially gained a reputation in the north for keeping order after outbreaks of looting. However they started enforcing sharia, earning hostility from locals who have a long history of practicing a more liberal, tolerant style of Islam. The group has said that Timbuktu's famed shrines are un-Islamic and idolatrous. Much of the area's religious heritage has now been destroyed.

* MUJWA - The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) is seen an AQIM splinter group that formed in late 2011. The faction retains links to AQIM but has focused on broadening its base from the domination of AQIM's Algerian-dominated leadership. Its stronghold has been in Gao, the biggest town in Mali's north, and it has drawn recruits from a range of ethnic groups in Mali and elsewhere in the region. Last month the United States designated the group and Hamad Al Khairy and Ahmad Al Tilemsi, two of the organization's leaders, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. MUJWA has also been behind attacks and hostage taking in the region.

Sources: Reuters/Jane's World Insurgency & Terrorism/Council on Foreign Relations/Jamestown Foundation/State Dept.

(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; [email protected]; +44 20 7542 7968; Reuters; Messaging: [email protected]; [email protected]; +33 1 49 49 5071; Reuters Messaging: [email protected])

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Timeline: Islamist rebels promise long war with France in Mali

Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:39am EST

(Reuters) - Here is a look at Mali since a military coup paved the way for Islamist rebels to take over the country's mostly desert north:

March 22, 2012 - Soldiers seize power from President Amadou Toumani Toure as a protest over the government's ineffective handling of a campaign against northern rebels turns into a coup. The African Union suspends Mali the next day. Coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo says he is ready for talks with rebels but wants to preserve Mali's territorial integrity.

March 30 - Tuareg separatist insurgents enter the key town of Kidal in the north after soldiers abandon positions. Sanogo calls for external help against the rebels, who gradually gain control over the northern half of Mali. One week later on April 6, the rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), proclaims independence for northern Mali, which it names Azawad, after announcing an end to fighting.

April 8 - President Toure resigns, paving the way for the soldiers who ousted him to stick by a deal to restore civilian rule and hand power to parliamentary speaker Dioncounda Traore. Traore is sworn in three days later.

April 9 - Members of Mali's Arab community in Timbuktu form the Azawad National Liberation Front, or FLNA, an armed group to fill the void left by the army's retreat from the north.

May 26 - The Tuareg-led MNLA and Islamist militant group Ansar Dine agree to merge and create an independent state in the north. The Tuaregs ditch the pact a week later.

December 11 - Cheick Modibo Diarra, prime minister since August, 2012, is forced to resign by the military hours after he was arrested trying to leave for France. Django Cissoko succeeds.

December 20 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously authorizes the deployment of an African-led military force to help defeat al Qaeda and other Islamist militants in northern Mali. The international African force is not expected to begin operations before September 2013.

Jan 4. 2013 - Ansar Dine says it has suspended a ceasefire agreed with the government the previous month, accusing Bamako of making a mockery of peace talks by gearing up for war. Ansar Dine is one of the main armed groups controlling northern Mali.

January 11 - French President Francois Hollande announces French military intervention to halt advances by the rebels. French air strikes help Malian government troops drive Islamist rebels from the strategic central town of Konna, a day after Mali appeals for urgent military aid from its former colonial master.

January 14 - Islamist rebels take control of the town of Diabaly, just 350 km (220 miles) northeast of Bamako in a counter-attack, after four days of air strikes by French warplanes.

(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Canada says will provide transport plane for anti-rebel campaign in Mali

OTTAWA | Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:20pm EST

(Reuters) - Canada will send a military transport plane to provide temporary heavy-lift support for a French campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, the government said on Monday.

"While the Government of Canada is not, and will not be, considering a direct Canadian military mission in Mali, Canada is prepared ... to provide limited and clearly defined logistical support to assist the forces that are intervening in Mali," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.

Acting on a French request, a giant C-17 cargo aircraft will fly from Canada to France and then on to the Malian capital Bamako, where it will unload, Harper said. The plane will be made available for a week.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counteroffensive in Mali on Monday after four days of French air strikes on their northern strongholds.

"(We are) deeply concerned by recent events in Mali. The establishment of a terrorist region in the middle of Africa is of grave concern to the broader international community, including Canada and our close allies," said Harper.

Canada's appetite for military intervention is low following a five-year mission to Afghanistan, which ended in 2011 after 158 soldiers were killed.

Britain has made available two C-17 transport planes which will ferry French medical gear, tanks and other equipment to Mali this week.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Paul Simao and Mohammad Zargham)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

France to add Mali troops, speeding up Africa input

PARIS | Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:43pm EST

(Reuters) - France plans to increase its troops in Mali to 2,500 in the days ahead and is working to speed up the deployment of West African troops for a campaign against Islamist rebels, the government said on Monday.

A defense ministry spokesman told Reuters troops would be sent to bolster the 600 already deployed.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive in Mali on Monday after four days of French air strikes on their northern strongholds, seizing the central town of Diabaly and promising to drag France into a brutal Afghanistan-style war.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said EU foreign ministers would meet this week to try to accelerate the arrival of a training mission for the Malian army.

An EU diplomat in Brussels said the meeting was likely to take place on Thursday.

"International political backing is almost unanimous," Fabius told a news conference, saying Paris had been assured of the full backing of its partners including logistical support.

"France will not be alone in this mission," he said.

He said that preparations were being stepped up for a West African force initially planned for around September which should include some 600 soldiers from Nigeria, around 500 each from Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo and Senegal and 300 from Benin.

Britain has supplied two cargo planes for France's use and Fabius said Germany was offering medical, humanitarian and logistical support.

The United States has offered help with transport, communications and intelligence while Belgium and Denmark were also helping with transport.

Fabius said he had spoken to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who told him an exceptional meeting would be held this week to discuss the situation in Mali.

"We will take decisions allowing the acceleration of the deployment of the European advice and training mission for the Mali army," he said.

(Reporting by John Irish, Brian Love, Emmanuel Jarry and Catherine Bremer; editing by Jason Neely)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Tens of thousands flee new fighting in Mali: U.N.

By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS | Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:22pm EST

(Reuters) - Tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing the latest outbreak of fighting in Mali that has led to French air strikes against Islamist strongholds in the northern part of the country, the United Nations said on Monday.

"An estimated 30,000 people may have been displaced as a direct result of the fighting in Central/Northern Mali," U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey told reporters.

"It is feared that the number of people affected may be greater as it has been reported that some Islamist groups have prevented people from moving south," he added.

Del Buey said the Interior Ministry in neighboring Mauritania had confirmed that thousands of refugees were en route from Mali to the Mauritanian border. No significant numbers of refugees had been observed arriving in Burkina Faso and Niger, he added.

"Since March 2012, some 230,000 people have been displaced by the fighting and insecurity in Mali," he said.

Northern Mali fell under Islamist control after a March military coup in Bamako triggered a Tuareg-led rebel offensive that seized the north and split the West African nation in two.

France, which has poured hundreds of troops into the Malian capital Bamako in recent days, carried out more air raids on Monday in the vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance grouping al Qaeda's north African wing, AQIM, alongside Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine militant groups.

France called for a new U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday to update the 15-nation body on developments in Mali. Del Buey said U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman would brief the 3:00 p.m. EST council meeting on the situation in Mali.

France informed the council on Friday that its military operations in support of the Malian army against Islamist rebels in the north would last as long as needed. It also called for an acceleration of deployment of an African-led force in support of the Malian army, in line with council resolution 2085.

The original timetable for the U.N.-authorized AFISMA intervention force of 3,300 West African troops with Western logistical, financial and intelligence backing did not foresee deployment before September, to allow time for full preparation.

Resolution 2085 was approved unanimously in December. Although it authorized military intervention in Mali, it set benchmarks for preparations for the operation. But it also authorized U.N. members to provide "coordinated assistance" to help Mali restore authority over the entire country.

"Resolution 2085 has been overtaken by events, as you've seen, over the weekend," del Buey said, adding that "the resolution stands."

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

Germany offers support to French Mali mission

BERLIN | Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:23pm EST

(Reuters) - Germany on Monday agreed to support French troops fighting Islamist rebels in Mali although it ruled out sending combat troops to the West African country.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive in Mali on Monday after four days of French air strikes on their northern strongholds, seizing the central town of Diabaly and promising to drag France into a brutal Afghanistan-style war.

France launched a surprise mission to halt the rebels' push south last Friday, earning promises of logistical support from the United States, Britain and Canada.

Germany, which disappointed allies two years ago in refusing to join an operation against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, then followed suit.

"Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle offered to work with the French government in exploring how Germany could support the French mission, outside of sending combat troops, through political, logistical, medical and humanitarian means," Germany's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Germany will not leave France alone in this difficult situation," spokesman Andreas Peschke told reporters.

Westerwelle in a phone call with French counterpart Laurent Fabius also discussed the need to intensify European Union preparations for a mission to Mali to train government troops, the ministry said.

European Union foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels this week to discuss the crisis.

The German foreign ministry declined to give details on what kind of support Germany could offer.

It may say more on Wednesday when Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the West African bloc ECOWAS, visits for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Paris has pressed ECOWAS to deploy 3,300 African soldiers as quickly as possible in Mali.

Asked if Ouattara would request military transport planes to fly African troops to Mali, German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he had not heard such a request but could look into it.

Germany, which in the wake of its past aggression has sometimes struggled to define its military role, has said since last October that it could support an EU mission to train troops but would not engage in combat.

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Jason Neely)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

U.S. sharing intel on Mali with France, eyes more support

By David Alexander
LISBON | Mon Jan 14, 2013 6:09pm EST

(Reuters) - The United States is sharing information with French forces battling al Qaeda-affiliated militants in Mali and is considering providing logistics, surveillance and airlift capability as well, U.S. defense officials said on Monday.

"We have made a commitment that al Qaeda is not going to find anyplace to hide," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters on his plane as he began a week-long tour of European capitals.

Just as the United States pursued militants affiliated with al Qaeda to northern Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, "we have a responsibility to make sure that al Qaeda does not establish a base for operations in North Africa in Mali," he said.

France intervened in Mali on Friday in an effort to block an advance by rebels who the West fear could use the West African nation as a launching pad for international attacks.

Paris has poured hundreds of troops into the Malian capital and carried out more air raids on Monday in the vast desert area seized last year by al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM and Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine militant groups.

Panetta praised France for the steps it had taken and said he had been in talks with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian about what assistance he needed. The Pentagon was looking at providing help in three areas, he added.

"One is obviously to provide limited logistical support, two is to provide intelligence support and three to provide some airlift capability," Panetta told the briefing on his plane.

A senior U.S. defense official said the United States was already sharing information with the French and would continue to do so.

Panetta declined to say whether the intelligence support would be in the form of satellite images or unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. He indicated the airlift support under discussion involved cargo planes and a defense official said the logistic support included tanker aircraft for aerial refueling.

"We are engaged in those discussions. Africom (U.S. Africa Command) is discussing this with France and will continue to work with them to ensure that ultimately we do stop AQIM," said Panetta, who received a briefing from the head of Africom, General Carter Ham, during his flight to Lisbon.

THREAT TO U.S., EUROPE

Panetta said the aim of the intervention was to disrupt rebel advances in Mali and to give time for the ECOWAS grouping of African nations to respond on the ground.

"The responsibility for assuring security in that region will be passed to African nations to provide a more permanent security for the sake of the world," he said.

"While they might not have any immediate plans for attacks in the United States and Europe ... ultimately that still remains their objective and it's for that reason that we have to take steps now to ensure that AQIM does not get that kind of traction," Panetta said.

His comments came at the outset of a trip that is likely to be his last as U.S. defense secretary and will take him to Lisbon, Madrid, Rome and London.

Describing himself as a "son of Europe," the Italian-American defense secretary said it was appropriate to finish his time in office with a visit to NATO partners, adding that he wanted to underscore the importance of the alliance to a new generation of Europeans.

Panetta said he would brief his counterparts on talks last week between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Karzai and Obama discussed the nature of the U.S. military presence, if any, in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of most combat troops at the end of 2014.

They agreed that Afghan forces would take the lead role for security beginning this spring, in what was described as a slight acceleration of the mid-2013 transition timetable.

Panetta, the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Portugal in 30 years, said he would discuss plans to reduce the U.S. military presence at Lajes Air Field in the Azores.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Phil Stewart and Andrew Heavens)

 

[Yukimura Sanada]

U.N.'s Ban hopes French intervention halts latest offensive in Mali

UNITED NATIONS | Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:57pm EST

(Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the French-led military intervention in Mali at the request of the government there and voiced the hope that it would halt an assault launched by Islamist militants.

"The secretary-general welcomes that bilateral partners are responding, at the request and with the consent of the government of Mali, to its call for assistance to counter the troubling push southward by armed and terrorist groups," Ban's press office said in a statement.

"Countries with capabilities to assist Mali are now providing assistance," it said.

Northern Mali fell under Islamist control after a military coup in March in the capital of Bamako triggered a Tuareg-led rebel offensive that seized the north and split the West African nation in two.

France, which has sent hundreds of troops into Bamako in the past few says, launched more air raids on Monday in the vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance grouping al Qaeda's north African wing, AQIM, Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine militant groups.

"The secretary-general hopes these actions will help to arrest the latest offensive while efforts continue to fully implement Security Council Resolution 2085 (2012) aimed at the full restoration of Mali's constitutional order and territorial integrity," the U.N. statement said.

France informed the council on Friday that its military operations in support of the Malian army against Islamist rebels would last as long as needed. It also called for an acceleration of the deployment of an African-led force in support of the Malian army, in line with Security Council Resolution 2085.

The original timetable for the U.N.-authorized intervention force of 3,300 West African troops with Western logistical, financial and intelligence backing did not foresee deployment before September, to allow time for full preparation.

Resolution 2085 was approved unanimously in December. Although it authorized military intervention in Mali, it set benchmarks for preparations for the operation. But it also authorized U.N. members to provide "coordinated assistance" to help Mali restore authority over the entire country.

French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said Paris was acting under article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which discusses nations' right to collective and individual self-defense.

Araud said that France now wanted the deployment of the West African troops under resolution 2085 to be accelerated. "We want to do it as quickly as possible," he told reporters.

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; editing by Christopher Wilson)