Wed 20 October 2021:
In an effort to end a decade of conflict, Mali’s government has requested the country’s largest Islamic authority to initiate peace talks with leaders of Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate.
The religious affairs ministry’s recent announcement on Tuesday is by far the most serious step toward negotiations with group leaders, but it is unclear when such talks will begin.
As security deteriorates and armed groups expand beyond their traditional strongholds, Malian authorities have previously endorsed the idea of negotiations and covertly funded local peace initiatives with the fighters.
A strategy like this is strongly opposed by Mali’s main military ally, France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, stated in June that French troops would not participate in joint operations with countries that negotiate with such groups.
The minister of religious affairs asked the High Islamic Council (HCI) to open negotiations with the leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), ministry spokesperson Khalil Camara told the Reuters news agency.
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“The minister met the High Islamic Council last week to inform them of the government’s desire to negotiate with all the radical Malian groups, [including] Iyad Ag Ghali and Amadou Koufa,” Camara said.
Ag Ghali is JNIM’s chief and Amadou Koufa leads JNIM’s most active affiliate in central Mali. Both are frequently targeted by French bombing campaigns.
A senior HCI official, Mohamed Kimbiri, confirmed that the body had been charged with dealing with Malian JNIM leaders but had been told not to negotiate with foreign groups.
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On Tuesday, he told The Associated Press that the administration had asked him to start talks last week and that they are working with their representatives in the country’s north.
“The only directive we have received is to negotiate only with the Malians,” Kimbiri said. “The other [fighters] we consider invaders.”
He also said the subject of Islamic law is not “taboo. Everything is negotiable.”
Another HCI official said no talks had yet taken place.
The government’s actions came while relations between Mali and France, which first intervened against the fighters in 2013, were at a low point.
Russian mercenaries
In 2013, France sent troops to Mali after unrest broke out in the north of the country.
But relations between the two deteriorated following a coup in August 2020 which toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
France suspended military cooperation with Mali in June, and French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that he would close bases in northern Mali and draw down the presence of French troops in the Sahel region.
Malian interim Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga has indicated that talks between his government and Wagner were motivated by the French drawdown.
The growing influence of Russian paramilitary companies and advisers has been witnessed in the Central African Republic to the dismay of France.
Germany has also warned against the Russian mercenaries, saying their deployment would call into question its military commitments in Mali.
Forces from Wagner are also reportedly present in Libya, Sudan and Mozambique.
Mali has been battling an insurgency linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS since 2012, when the unrest started in the north of the country.
(with agencies)
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