Alene i den sagnomspundne ørkenby, Timbuktu, skal 150 være ankommet fra Sudan for at kæmpe mod de “vantro” – frygt i Vesten for at islamismen i Vestafrika vil brede sig til andre dele af kontinentet og videre endnu.
Foreign fighters have arrived in a town in northern Mali, Gao’s exiled mayor has told the BBC, confirming reports of an influx of jihadists to the north.
Sadou Diallo said between 60 and 100 Algerians and Sahrawis had come into the town about four or five days ago, writes BBC online Tuesday.
Two weeks ago, the UN Security Council gave the regional bloc Ecowas 45 days to draw up a plan with the details of its offer to send 3.000 troops to the vast desert region.
The Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels took control of northern Mali – an enormous area – following a coup in March.
The Islamists, who have since fallen out with their Tuareg allies, have imposed a harsh interpretation of Sharia in the areas they control – there are reports of people being stoned to death and having their limbs (lemmer) amputated.
Mr Diallo, Gao’s elected mayor who was speaking from the capital, Bamako, said that the Islamist group controlling the town – the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) – had also recruited 200 students from local Koranic schools.
He said Mujao paid them between 300 and 400 US dollar a month.
Earlier a security official said that hundreds of Sudanese and Sahrawi fighters had arrived in the region. An resident in Timbuktu said Monday that “more than 150 Sudanese Islamists arrived in 48 hours”.
“They explained that they had come to help their Muslim brothers against the infidels (vantro),” he was quoted as saying.
Timbuktu is where centuries-old shrines to Islamic saints, revered by Sufi Muslims, have also been destroyed by the Islamists, who consider them idolatrous (afgudsdyrkelse).
Meanwhile, the UK says it could help to provide training for the West African military intervention. Germany has pledged similar support and voiced similar concerns.
