Nomadefolket tuaregerne har kæmpet for rettigheder og selvstyre i årtier, men måtte i fjor se yderligtgående islamister fortrænge dem fra magten i erobrede områder i det nordlige Mali – nu melder de fra og ønsker (igen) en politisk løsning.
One of the groups fighting in northern Mali has split and wants dialogue, a statement from the breakaway faction says according to BBC online Thursday.
Islamic Movement for Azawad said it was splitting from Ansar Dine, and “rejects all forms of extremism and terrorism”.
The splinter (udbryder) group is headed by Alghabass Ag Intalla, an important Ansar Dine leader and an ethnic Tuareg from the strategic town of Kidal.
France sent troops to Mali earlier this month to halt a militant advance. It said al-Qaeda linked Islamists – some of whom were foreigners – threatened to turn Mali into a “terrorist state”.
For the last 10 months, three main Islamist groups have controlled northern Mali, where they have imposed strict Islamic law.
Along with secular (verdslige /ikke religiøse) Tuareg rebels they took advantage of chaos after a military coup to extend their influence to an area of the Sahara Desert larger than France.
But the Islamists soon took control of the major towns, sidelining the secular Tuaregs, who want their own homeland.
The Islamic Movement for Azawad (IMA) statement said its group was made up entirely of Malians, who wanted a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
Azawad is a term used by Tuareg rebels for the northern region of Mali, where they want independence.
Mr Ag Intalla said that the IMA was linked to neither al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) nor the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), two groups which control large swathes of northern Mali and are led by an Algerian and a Mauritanian respectively.
“We are a group of people from the north of Mali who have a set of grievances that date back at least 50 years when Mali became independent,” Mr Intalla said, adding: “We are not terrorists. We are ready to negotiate.”
Meanwhile, Mali’s army has been accused by a Paris-based rights group of carrying out a series of summary executions.
The reports that the Malian army, drawn largely from the south, has targeted Arabs and Tuaregs from the north expose a racial aspect to the war which has been hidden by the emphasis on Western troops fighting a war against Islamist insurgents.
