alkhabar
Maghreb
The MNLA announced the agreement on its website and celebratory gunfire was heard in Gao and Timbuktu after the announcement.
The agreement solidifies the relations between the MNLA who announced the independce of Azawad in Northern Mali and Iyad Ag Ghali's Ansar Dine which had previously said it was committed only to installing Sharia not independence.
“The agreement reached this evening will see the merging of the two movements – the MNLA and Ansar Dine – to create an independent Islamic state,” MNLA spokesman Mohamed Ag Attaher told Reuters by phone from Gao.
This new found unity contrasts with the chaotic situation in Bamako where Ecowas seems unable to land the armed force of 3,000 designated for Bamako and rival factions in the Malian capital are resisting a return to democratic rule with President Dioncounda Traore being flow for medical treatment in Paris after being attacked by a pro junta mob who support the junta leader Captian Amadou Sanogo.
Abdel Fatau Musah, director of political affairs for ECOWAS, told Al Jazeera that the groups' merger was an "opportunistic alliance".
"The territorial integrity of Mali is non-negotiable," Musah said. "Our offer of mediation is still on the table but the re-partitioning of Mali is off the table. ECOWAS is not going to entertain any negotiations with groups that we consider terrorist groups." he said "We are going to chase them out of that territory ... from those population centres, and we have the means to do so."
The agreement solidifies the relations between the MNLA who announced the independce of Azawad in Northern Mali and Iyad Ag Ghali's Ansar Dine which had previously said it was committed only to installing Sharia not independence.
“The agreement reached this evening will see the merging of the two movements – the MNLA and Ansar Dine – to create an independent Islamic state,” MNLA spokesman Mohamed Ag Attaher told Reuters by phone from Gao.
This new found unity contrasts with the chaotic situation in Bamako where Ecowas seems unable to land the armed force of 3,000 designated for Bamako and rival factions in the Malian capital are resisting a return to democratic rule with President Dioncounda Traore being flow for medical treatment in Paris after being attacked by a pro junta mob who support the junta leader Captian Amadou Sanogo.
Abdel Fatau Musah, director of political affairs for ECOWAS, told Al Jazeera that the groups' merger was an "opportunistic alliance".
"The territorial integrity of Mali is non-negotiable," Musah said. "Our offer of mediation is still on the table but the re-partitioning of Mali is off the table. ECOWAS is not going to entertain any negotiations with groups that we consider terrorist groups." he said "We are going to chase them out of that territory ... from those population centres, and we have the means to do so."
