Malis afsatte præsident (i hvert fald indtil videre) advarede for nylig om, at striden med tuaregerne i det enorme Sahel-lands nordlige del har stået på i et halvt århundrede og nemt kan vare længe endnu.
BAMAKO, 26 March 2012 (IRIN): Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré, overthrown Thursday by mutinous soldiers, said recently that tackling recalcitrant (genstridige) Tuareg rebels in the north is going to be an ongoing task for future governments of his poor West african country.
“The problems of the north have been with us for 50 years now… Our elders dealt with them; we are tackling them, and the younger generation will continue to do the same. This is not going to be over tomorrow,” he told Radio France Internationale.
Touré’s successor government, the “Comité national pour le redressement de la démocratie et la restauration de la démocratie et la de l’ Etat” (CNRDRE), led by army captain Amadou Sanogo, has dissolved state institutions, suspended the constitution, reportedly arrested several ministers, taken over the state broadcaster, and announced a curfew (udgangsforbud).
CNRDRE says it has brought an end to “an incompetent regime” and singled out Touré’s “incapacity to manage the crisis in the north of the country… and to fight terrorism”.
Persistent complaints
There have been persistent complaints from soldiers of inadequate supplies and military hardware, poor direction and strategic planning and a sense of abandonment for those on the frontline, fighting a war that could and should have been prevented.
Touré, 63, having first taken power aged 42, had planned to retire gracefully, leaving after a second-five year term, as stipulated in the constitution.
Until recently, he had been adamant that presidential elections scheduled for the end of April would take place, that there was no question of the military situation forcing an emergency transitional government, and that he was looking forward to retirement and more time with his family.
The current situation has an ironic symmetry.
Touré’s first period in office after overthrowing military ruler Moussa Traoré in March 1991 began against a background of revolt in the north and ended in June 1992 just after a Pacte Nationale was signed by the government and representatives of Tuareg resistance movements fighting for a separate territory.
Twenty years later, the long-term solutions put forward in that agreement – decentralization, reconciliation and bringing resources and development to some of the country’s most isolated regions – have not taken hold.
Many Malians from different communities believe Touré is responsible for the current crisis, alleging that the promises did not turn into concrete developments, too many projects were left on the drawing board, and too much of the funding was never accounted for.
Arsenal from Libya
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http://www.IRINnews.org/Report/95127/MALI-Rebellion-claims-a-president
