Mercenari separatisti in fuga dalla Libia portano ad un putsch in Mali
– Il movimento separatista Tuareg del Nord (Movimento per la Liberazione dell’Azawad, MNLA) ha ripreso vigore dopo l’avvio, nel febbraio 2011, della sollevazione in Libia; a metà gennaio 2012 è iniziata la maggiore offensiva tuareg; nelle fila del movimento sono confluiti mercenari di etnia tuareg rientrati dalla Libia, dove prima erano al servizio di Gheddafi.
o Secondo informazioni da Francia e Mali, a febbraio i ribelli avrebbero massacrato soldati dell’esercito regolare presi prigionieri (ne sarebbero stati sgozzati 80-100 dopo l’attacco della città di Aguelhok), e anche civili. Il governo del Mali ha parlato di attacco concertato di MNLA e di Aqmi, acronimo per al-Qaida del Maghreb, che controlla i territori di ritirata del Nord, che coopererebbero anche nel trasporto di droga dal Sudamerica attraverso il Sahara.
– Un gruppo di giovani ufficiali ha rovesciato il presidente del Mali, di Amadou Toumani Touré al potere dal 2002 e accusato di incapacità a contenere il separatismo tuareg, e di non fornire armi a sufficienza ai militari. È stato formato un “Comitato nazionale per la restaurazione della democrazia e dello Stato”, revocate le elezioni previste per aprile. Il capo dei putschisti, Amadou Sanogo ha promesso la restaurazione della democrazia e le elezioni quando sarà ristabilita l’unità e l’integrità del paese.
o Per Francia e Usa, che hanno condannato il putsch, l’instabilità del Mali rappresenta una minaccia alla sicurezza lungo il confine meridionale del Sahara; gli Usa minacciano la sospensione dei $137mn ($461mn, secondo Wsj, 23.03.2012) di aiuti annuali se no viene restaurata la Costituzione. Il CdS Onu chiede la fine del conflitto.
o La BM ha cancellato tutti gli aiuti tranne quelli di emergenza; l’Unione Africana ha sospeso il Mali.
– I ribelli tuareg hanno approfittato del disordine seguito al colpo di Stato, e sono riusciti a conquistare il controllo di una via di rifornimento cruciale verso Gao, la base militare più importante nel Nord; avrebbero ora il controllo della metà del deserto del Sahara maliano, e mirano alle altre città, compresa la storica capitale carovaniera Timbuctu (ora conquistata, n.d.r);
o minacciano di estendere i loro attacchi ai paesi vicini, se uno di questi dovesse sostenere il governo centrale maliano contro di loro; disporrebbero di lanciamissili, mitraglie e forse missili terra-aria presi dai depositi di armi libici; il portavoce dei ribelli ha dichiarato che molte delle loro armi sono state prese dai depositi del Mali.
– La popolazione tuareg è nomade e conta circa 1,5 milioni di persone, che vivono in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libia, Mali e Niger. Negli anni Sessanta, nel 1990 e negli anni 2000 ci sono state le maggiori rivolte tuareg contro il governo centrale del Mali.
– Alcuni ministri del Mali hanno chiesto aiuto ai paesi occidentali per contenere il flusso di armi e militari dalla Libia. Niger, Chad e Mauritania si sono invece rivolti ai paesi dell’Unione Africana.
– A causa del conflitto secessionista, della grave siccità e della carestia (raddoppiati i prezzi dei cereali in gran parte de paese) oltre 172 000 persone (dati ONU) sono fuggite dal Mali, in Niger, Mauritania e Burkina Faso; secondo la Croce Rossa Internazionale sarebbero 300000 i profughi interni del Mali, oltre a 13 000 fuggiti in Mauritania, 10 000 in Niger, 3000-8000 in burkina Faso.
o In Burkina Faso ci sarebbero anche 72 soldati e gendarmi disertori, simpatizzanti dei ribelli Tuareg e favorevoli all’indipendenza del Nord del paese
– Il Mali è il 3° maggior produttore africano di oro; da un decennio è in alleanza militare con USA e Francia, l’ex colonizzatore, contro un gruppo legato ad al-Qaeda, che ha la sua base in una foresta del Mali.
– Per ora i gruppi minerari esteri non sembrano aver risentito del colpo di Stato (AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.; Randgold Resources PLC). Prevista una la crescita del Pil del 5,5%, che dovrebbe essere trainata dal settore minerario.
– La settimana precedente il putsch il governo maliano aveva annunciato un programma da $71 mn. a sostegno di altre risorse minerarie, che comprendono giacimenti di greggio.
– Dalla crescita economica del paese non hanno tratto vantaggio né la popolazione, molto povera, né i militari.
Il neonato movimento MNLA è stato fondato da un ex ufficiale delle forze armate libiche, nato nel Mali, Mohamed Ag Najem, dopo la morte di Gheddafi tornato in Mali con un consistente arsenale di armamenti.
Army Officers Drive Out President Amid Anger Over Lack of Arms to Fight Separatists Returning From Gadhafi Campaign
– DAKAR, Senegal—Disgruntled junior officers overthrew the democratically elected government of Mali amid anger over the president’s failure to adequately provision the army to fight separatists flowing back from Libya.
A disgruntled army struggling to repel an insurgency in Mali’s desert north toppled their country’s government on Thursday dealing a blow to the mining companies that have powered an economic emergence in Mali. Rhiannon Hoyle discusses. Photo: Reuters
Malian soldiers stormed the state broadcaster’s office and the presidential palace on Thursday, one month before the West African country was set to hold presidential elections. President Amadou Toumani Touré was moved to a secure location, a defense ministry spokesman said.
– The coup in Mali, Africa’s third-biggest gold producer, has the potential to reverberate across a coup-troubled region struggling to contain ethnic Tuareg separatists who have come home from mercenary stints under Libya’s late leader, Moammar Gadhafi.
– The Tuareg insurgents threatened to extend attacks to neighboring countries if any of them should aid Mali’s campaign against them. In particular, Niger has fought protracted wars against Tuareg separatists—who have never been so well armed as in the current rebellion.
Residents encountered soldiers on a street in Bamako, the Malian capital, following a coup Thursday that forced President Amadou Toumani Touré to flee the presidential palace. The coup has the potential to reverberate across a region struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Libyan revolution
– A number of foreign governments condemned the army coup. The U.S. called for "the immediate restoration of constitutional rule in Mali," and the White House debated whether to suspend $137 million in annual aid, the Associated Press reported. France suspended security cooperation with Mali.
– Amnesty International called for the release of the prime minister and two other ministers thought to be held by mutinous soldiers at a military base.
– The coup’s de facto leader, Capt. Amadou Sanogo, told his country in a video statement that he would "restore power to a democratically elected president as soon as national unity and the integrity of our territory is re-established."
– Chief among the soldiers’ grievances was the slow supply of heavy arms needed to fight the Tuareg insurgency, which is thought to have rocket launchers, machine guns and possibly surface-to-air missiles raided from Libyan armories at the close of that conflict last year. Tuareg militants have overtaken as much as half of Mali’s vast Saharan territory.
– "The army didn’t have at their disposal the materials they needed to put an end to the rebellion in the north of Mali…so they did a coup d’etat," said Defense Ministry spokesman Nouhoum Togo, who said he wasn’t part of the coup. "It’s clear that Africa is passing through challenges brought to us by the fall of Gadhafi," he said.
– Moussa Ag Assarid, the spokesman for the separatist insurgency, the Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, said much of their weaponry was taken from Malian armories.
The coup hasn’t softened insurgents’ demands for independence. "It’s proof of the incapacity and irresponsibility of the Malian state," said Mr. Assarid. "We aren’t facing a real government."
– Mali, a rising, multiparty democracy for 20 years, has enjoyed nearly a decade of military partnerships with the U.S. and France, its former colonizer.
– The focus of these partnerships has been to quell an al Qaeda-linked group that uses a Malian forest as its base. Mali’s military now faces a different challenge from the separatist revolt, analysts say.
– "All the resources went to counterterrorism…but that’s entirely different from what they have to deal with, which is a counterinsurgency," said J. Peter Pham, Africa director of the Atlantic Council.
– Mali’s internal quarrels were reignited after the uprising in Libya began in February 2011. Malian ministers, with counterparts from other West African nations, traveled abroad to request greater military assistance to contain the flow of weapons and militants from Libya. Niger, Chad and Mauritania reached out to fellow African Union[e] members for help this month.
– Meanwhile, Mali’s inability to quell the insurgency on its own, combined with severe drought, has sent around 200,000 people into Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
– In Mali’s capital, Bamako, the coup puts the brakes on a blooming reputation for democratic rule. Mali won praise for hand-overs of power like the one President Touré had promised to conduct after next month’s election, in a region where peaceful transitions have been rare.
– Foreign mining companies that have powered an economic emergence in Mali so far appear relatively unscathed.
– AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. said its operations hadn’t been affected. Its shares ended up 0.1% in Johannesburg, having fallen 0.4% earlier in the day.
– Shares of mining group Randgold Resources PLC, which has operations in Mali, ended 12.6% lower in London. Randgold said its operations were unaffected.
"Operations are running normally, people are at work," Randgold Chief Executive Mark Bristow said from his Loulo mine, 215 miles west of Bamako.
– Last week, Mali’s government announced a $71 million program to begin promote its other mineral resources, which could include commercially viable crude deposits.
– Yet little of Mali’s prosperity has trickled down to its mostly poor population, including its soldiers. "The military has no incentive to fight," said Abdoukaye Niang, former United Nations director for West Africa.
Soldiers lashed out Wednesday against a defense minister who had come to a barracks for a motivational speech, according to Yeah Samaké, a presidential candidate and president of Mali’s mayors guild.
"We are currently stupefied by the fact that Libyan fighters along with certain Malians were able to cross more than 800 kilometers of desert over two borders…and that Mali didn’t have more help to stop these guys," Mr. Samaké said.
—Devon Maylie in Johannesburg contributed to this article.
AFRICA NEWS
March 23, 2012, 3:56 p.m. ET
As Coup Consumes Capital, Tuareg Separatists Set Sights on Timbuktu and Other Towns in the North
– DAKAR, Senegal—A separatist army led by ex-Libyan recruits stormed across its ethnic homeland in northern Mali, seizing advantage of the chaos reigning in the aftermath of a military coup.
– Hours after disgruntled junior officers overtook Mali’s presidential palace on Thursday, a mostly Tuareg insurgency known as the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad swept into a highway junction town of Anéfis. The advance, announced on the group’s website, effectively gave the insurgents control over a crucial supply route to Gao, the most important military base in northern Mali.
Meanwhile in the capital Bamamko, state television has gone off the air, as residents near the broadcaster say they saw troops erecting heavy barricades fearing a possible countercoup, the Associated Press reported.
– Far to the north, Mali’s Tuareg separatists—led by militants armed and trained under the late Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi—walked into empty army barracks and seized the town without a single death or injury, hours after Malian soldiers abandoned it, said the group’s Paris-based spokesman Moussa Ag Assarid.
"It is quite a strategic crossroads," said Mr. Assarid by telephone. "For us the next step is to take the cities that aren’t under our control."
– Those cities, he added, include the storied caravan capital of Timbuktu, an ancient city of adobe mosques and sandswept ruins that remains the cultural heart of the Tuareg, a people of one to three million stretched across borders from Mauritania into Libya and Niger. Unconfirmed reports circulated that the army had abandoned Timbuktu.
– "Just as in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, this is for us, the wind of a revolution that is continuing into sub-Saharan Africa," the spokesman said
Libya Spillover Leads to Mali Coup
Video: Gold Miners Hit By Coup in Mali
Deal Journal: Africa-Focused Gold Miners Lose Luster After Mali Coup
– The government’s control over major cities has been its advantage in the two months since an inflow of arms and ex-militants from Libya sparked this latest revolt for Tuareg independence.
– Mali’s Tuareg population has staged revolts against the distant capital in the 1960s, 1990, and again in the 2000s. Each time, leaders cited the slow pace of development in the harsh desert north Tuareg villagers call home. Yet the militants have never been so well-armed, thanks to an influx of Libyan rocket launchers and machine guns heavy enough to down aircraft—although the army claims to mostly fight with weapons stolen from Malian armories.
– For the U.S. and France, Mali’s instability compounds a security threat along the southern edge of the Sahara.
o Mali—one of the region’s few enduring democracies—was a linchpin in U.S. efforts to contain an al Qaeda franchise that operates in the country’s western region.
– Soldiers on Thursday, furious that their civilian government didn’t do more to equip them in their fight, took control of the capital, Bamako. The new government, led by low-ranking officers, has canceled next month’s election. De facto leader Capt. Amadou Sanogo told state television he’d allow elections "as soon as national unity and the integrity of our territory is re-established." There was no timetable given.
– Mali’s government, including its armed forces, appears to be in disarray. An army spokesman said lines of communication have collapsed. He wasn’t able to confirm or deny the loss of Anéfis, or the army’s abandonment of Timbuktu.
The fate of Mali’s overthrown President Amadou Toumani Touré also was unclear.
In a televised interview, Capt. Sanogo suggested he has arrested the president, but won’t hurt him, the AP reported. Mr. Touré, a one time military leader who allowed elections in 1992, before winning elections in 2002, was widely expected to step down after next months’ vote.
– The chaos has spurred a mass movement of people now estimated by the United Nations at 206,000 who have fled Mali’s north since hostilities began in January. Aside from war, many have fled drought and hunger. In much of Mali, cereal prices have more than doubled.
– The sudden collapse of government has changed the complexion of any security cooperation. Former colonial ruler France has canceled security assistance, while the U.S. on Friday said it would halt $461 million in aid awarded to Mali for its 20-year-streak of democratic reform.
– The World Bank canceled all but emergency aid. The African Union[e] said it had suspended Mali’s membership and would send a mission to assess the situation.
– Still, miners in a top African gold producer say the coup hasn’t halted business.
– Rangold Resources and Anglogold Ashanti Ltd., who had been expected to drive Mali’s 5.5 % economic growth, continue operations. On Friday, Randgold’s shares fell as the market digested the news that rebel soldiers had toppled the government of Africa’s third largest gold producer. Anglogold Ashanti ended slightly higher, after a decline the day before.
—Devon Maylie in Johannesburg contributed to this article.
Staatsstreich in Mali – Präsident Toure offenbar von meuternden Soldaten gestürzt
22.03.2012 · In Mali haben meuternde Soldaten den Präsidentenpalast in der Hauptstadt Bamako gestürmt. Der Verbleib des Präsidenten Toure ist unklar. Nach Angaben des Militärs ist die Verfassung außer Kraft gesetzt und eine Ausgangssperre verhängt worden.
– Im westafrikanischen Mali haben sich meuternde Soldaten nach eigenen Angaben an die Macht geputscht und Präsident Amadou Toumani Toure gestürzt. In einer Fernsehansprache sagten die Rebellen, das „Klima der Unsicherheit“ im Land und die „Unfähigkeit des Regimes, den Terrorismus zu bekämpfen“ habe sie zu dem Putsch bewogen. Die Verfassung sei bis auf weiteres aufgehoben und es sei eine Ausgangssperre verhängt worden, erklärte der Sprecher des neu gegründeten „Nationalkomitees für die Wiederherstellung der Demokratie und des Staates“, Leutnant Amadou Konare.
– Toure sei wegen „seines Unvermögens, die Krise im Norden Malis zu bewältigen“ gestürzt worden, fügte er hinzu. Während seiner Rede war Konare von rund 20 weiteren Rebellen in Militäruniformen umgeben. Sie wollten nun mit den Nachbarländern und internationalen Organisationen über das weitere Vorgehen beraten, hieß es weiter.
– In Malis ehemaliger Kolonialmacht Frankreich betonte Außenminister Alain Juppé: „Wir haben diesen Militärputsch verurteilt, weil wir uns dem Respekt demokratischer und verfassungsmäßiger Regeln verpflichtet fühlen.“
– Er forderte die Wiederherstellung der verfassungsmäßigen Ordnung und die planmäßige Durchführung der Wahlen, die am 29. April stattfinden sollten. Toure, der seit 2002 an der Macht ist, konnte laut Verfassung nach zwei Amtszeiten nicht mehr als Kandidat antreten.
– Hintergrund des Coups sind die kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen der malischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung MNLA und Regierungstruppen. Seit Januar war es in Nord-Mali immer wieder zu schweren Kämpfen gekommen.
– Truppenteile sind unzufrieden mit der Handhabung des Konflikts mit den Tuareg-Rebellen. Sie werfen der Regierung vor, dass sie nicht genug Waffen für die Gefechte zur Verfügung stelle.
– Dem Putsch waren am Mittwoch schwere Kämpfe in der Hauptstadt Bamako vorausgegangen. Zeugen sagten der Nachrichtenagentur dpa, es seien die ganze Nacht lang Schüsse zu hören gewesen. Die Aufständischen hatten zunächst die Gebäude des staatlichen Rundfunks und Fernsehens und anschließend den Präsidentenpalast in der Hauptstadt Bamako gestürmt. Mehrere Minister seien festgenommen worden, berichtete die Webseite „maliactu.net“ am Donnerstag. Präsident Toure soll den Palast rechtzeitig verlassen haben. Wo er sich aufhält, war unklar, jedoch soll er sich Medienberichten zufolge in Sicherheit befinden.
– Der UN-Sicherheitsrat rief zu Ruhe auf. Mitgliedsstaaten hätten sich „besorgt“ über die militärischen Unruhen in dem westafrikanischen Land geäußert, sagte der britische UN-Botschafter Mark Lyall Grant, der dem wichtigsten Gremium der Vereinten Nationen derzeit vorsitzt, in New York. Die verfassungsmäßige Ordnung in dem Land müsse gewahrt bleiben. Am Donnerstag will sich der UN-Sicherheitsrat bei einem Dringlichkeitstreffen über die Vorgänge in Mali unterrichten lassen.
UN-Generalsekretär Ban ki-moon äußerte sich ebenfalls „zutiefst besorgt“ über die Vorgänge in Mali. Er rief nach Angaben eines Sprechers dazu auf, den Konflikt „friedlich und innerhalb des demokratischen Prozesses“ auszutragen.
– Die für Autonomie kämpfenden Tuareg hatten Mitte Januar im Norden Malis ihre größte Offensive seit dem Jahr 2009 gestartet. Verstärkung erhielten sie offenbar von zurückgekehrten Rebellen, die in Libyen für den im vergangenen Jahr getöteten Machthaber Muammar al Gaddafi gekämpft hatten. Seither kamen bei den Kämpfen zahlreiche Menschen ums Leben. Nach Angaben der Vereinten Nationen sind mehr als 172.000 Menschen auf der Flucht.
– Das Nomadenvolk der Tuareg zählt rund 1,5 Millionen Menschen, die in Algerien, Burkina Faso, Libyen, Mali und im Niger leben.
Al Qaida beteiligt? Tuareg richten Massaker im Norden Malis an
14.02.2012 · Schon im Januar sollen aufbegehrende Tuareg im Norden des Landes zahlreiche Soldaten, aber auch Zivilisten getötet haben. Es gibt Mutmaßungen über eine Tatbeteiligung von Al Qaida.
Von Thomas Scheen, Johannesburg
– An der seit Mitte Januar laufenden Tuareg-Rebellion im Norden Malis haben die Rebellen nach übereinstimmenden Informationen aus Frankreich und Mali ein Massaker an gefangenen Soldaten der malischen Streitkräfte und mutmaßlich auch an Zivilisten angerichtet. Bei einem Angriff der Rebellengruppe „Mouvement national de libération de l’Azawad“ (MNLA) in der Region um die Stadt Aguelhok sind unterschiedlichen Angaben zufolge zwischen 80 und mehr als 100 Soldaten ermordet worden, nach malischen Angaben aber auch Zivilisten. Vielen der Soldaten sei die Kehle durchgeschnitten worden. Die Taten sollen bereits am 24. Januar verübt worden sein.
– Die malische Regierung hatte unmittelbar nach dem Angriff auf Aguelhok von einer „konzertierten Aktion von MNLA und Aqmi“ gesprochen. Aqmi ist das Kürzel für die radikale islamistische Terrorgruppe „al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique“, die Rückzugsgebiete im Norden Malis unterhält. Wenn das zutrifft, würden frühere Meldungen bestätigt, wonach es punktuelle Zusammenarbeit zwischen Tuareg und Aqmi insbesondere bei der Sicherung südamerikanischer Drogentransporte durch die Sahara gibt.
– Der französische Minister für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, Henri de Raincourt, sprach nach einem Besuch in Mali von „absolut widerlichen Verbrechen, willkürlichen Ermordungen gefangener Soldaten und wohl auch Zivilisten“. Die malischen Streitkräfte sprechen von mehr als 100 Toten. Der französische Außenminister Alain Juppé nannte die Zahl von 82 Toten, unter denen sich allerdings keine Zivilisten befinden sollen. „Wir wissen nicht genau, welche Rolle Aqmi bei diesen Massakern gespielt hat“, sagte Juppé.
Zehntausende Menschen auf der Flucht
– Die neue Tuareg-Rebellengruppe MNLA gibt vor, für die Unabhängigkeit ihres Siedlungsgebietes namens Azawad zu kämpfen. Gegründet wurde diese Bewegung von einem ehemaligen Offizier der libyschen Streitkräfte, einem gebürtigen Malier namens Mohamed Ag Najem, der sich nach dem Tod des libyschen Machthabers Gaddafi unter Mitnahme eines beeindruckenden Waffenarsenals nach Mali absetzte.
– Die Kämpfe im Norden Malis haben inzwischen mehrere zehntausend Menschen zur Flucht veranlasst. Das Internationale Komitee des Roten Kreuzes (IKRK) nannte die Zahl von 30000 Flüchtlingen, die sich alleine in anderen Landesteilen Malis in Sicherheit gebracht haben sollen. Hinzu kommen die Flüchtlinge, die sich über die Grenzen gerettet haben: 13.000 in Mauretanien, 10.000 in Niger und zwischen 3000 und 8000 in Burkina Faso.
– In Burkina Faso sollen sich nach malischen Angaben auch 72 desertierte Soldaten und Gendarmen befinden, die mit den Tuareg-Rebellen sympathisieren und von Ouagadougou aus die „Unabhängigkeit Nord-Malis“ fordern.
– Die Bitten der malischen Regierung an den burkinischen Präsidenten Blaise Compaoré, diese Deserteure auszuliefern beziehungsweise „ihnen den Mund zu verbieten“, wie es in Bamako hieß, stießen bislang indes auf taube Ohren. Das hat allerdings Tradition in Burkina Faso. Als Charles Taylor sich 1989 anschickte, Liberia in Schutt und Asche zu legen, hatte er zuvor die Gastfreundschaft Compaorés genossen. Auch die Rebellen, die ab 2002 die Elfenbeinküste in einen Bürgerkrieg stürzten, waren aus Burkina Faso gekommen.
Gaddafi rekrutiert Söldner unter den Tuareg
Die Tuareg und Gaddafi: Einst die Herren der Wüste