The war began in Mali in January 2012, when the Tuareg rebellion took the north before being supplanted by armed Islamist groups.

 

The French army intervened on 11 January to help the Malian government threatened disintegration, and continues its operations in the north.

 

The conflict has displaced more than 270,000 people within Mali. 170,000 others have fled to neighboring countries (mainly in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger), according to the UN.

 

In the Mauritanian desert where temperatures reach 50 degrees, the  Mabera refugee camp welcomes tens of thousands of unfortunates "stranded in the desert" in a situation which is "extremely precarious", the title of a report by MSF, driven by ethnic fighting,food insecurity and the collapse of basic services.

 

"This is a camp where over 75,000 Malians have sought refuge. (...) We take the allegations seriously," responded the spokesperson of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations, Melissa Fleming.

 

There is no famine in the Mbera camp says Marie-Christine Ferir, responsible for emergency response to MSF because generally "rations have improved, the food is enough now."

 

"Ethnic and political foundations"

 

But water scarcity: refugees receive an average of 11 liters per day, when their situation would require 20 for drinking, cooking and hygiene.

 

As for the children, "they should receive a diet of enriched milk and micro-nutrients not to fall into malnutrition," adds Ferir.

 

The children arrived at the camp in January were generally well nourished in the early days, but soon developed symptoms of malnutrition.

 

"It puts the lives of children at risk", warns Marie-Christine Ferir. Besides the risk of irreversible neurological sequelae and immune problems that can cause malnutrition among toddlers, their mortality rate has soared: "It is now above the emergency threshold, with a limit of two deaths of children under two years to 10,000 per day. It is 3.2 deaths per 10,000 children per day, "she says.

 

On average, two children aged 2 die every day Mbera, says MSF.

 

"Malnutrition in the Mbera camp is our main concern and has been for some time," said the UNHCR spokesman, adding that "further efforts have been made since the beginning of the year."

 

In its report, MSF insists that "aid organizations must maintain their response for as long as necessary."

 

Because "due to ethnic and political foundations of this crisis, it is unlikely to see the refugees return to Mali soon," said the NGO.

 

From the Tuareg rebellion in the early 1990s, the current conflict has crystallized the hatred between the majority black population and those it calls "white skin", Tuareg and Arabs are treated equally to rebel Tuareg and / or Islamists.

 

These "white skin" have often fled Mali (45% of those interviewed by MSF in the camp) for fear of reprisals from the local population or the Malian army. In Mbera camp, the majority of the population is Tuareg, also with many Arabs. "They will not move anytime soon" for fear of reprisals, "is what they tell us," said Marie-Christine Ferir who remembers that "after the rebellion of the 1990s, some remained several years ".

 

"I do not see how Mali will emerge from this crisis," she said.

 

On a recent day, small groups of Malians stood in the burning heat and orange sands in the town of Koulikoro, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of the capital Bamako, learning to hold weapons. They began the training last week, and this week they learned how to shoot from standing, sitting and prone positions.

About 550 people form the team meant to ready Mali's army for combat. But there is worry that the project to train thousands of soldiers may not be sufficient to keep the armed Islamic militants at bay.

French forces entered Mali swiftly and strongly in January after Islamic militants began a formidable push south toward the country's capital. The militants, who are inspired by a radical interpretation of Islam, ruled the northern half of Mali for nearly 10 months before the French-led military operation forced them into the desert surrounding the main cities. The extremists have responded with a series of attacks, including suicide bombings.

French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said this week that about 100 French troops have been pulled out of Mali and were as of this week in Cyprus on their way back to France. Last month, French President Francois Hollande said that by July, about 2,000 French soldiers will still be in the former French colony, down from 4,000 at the peak deployment, and at the end of the year "1,000 French soldiers will remain." He said the French troops would likely be part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation that France is pushing for.

The French-led operation with backing from regional bloc ECOWAS and under authorization of the U.N. Security Council has largely been hailed a success so far, though there are some concerns the militants will simply regroup once the French start drawing down.

Mali's military chain of command was broken after a coup last year. Soldiers lack respect for their commanders and superiors. There are reports that soldiers, humiliated by their defeat last year at the hands of the Islamic extremists, have carried out reprisals against the Arab and Tuareg civilians left behind.

Human Rights Watch released a report Thursday that said two Tuareg men who had been arrested in February and tortured by Malian soldiers in the Timbuktu region have died in detention in Bamako.

The army had detained seven Tuareg men between the ages of 21 and 66 in February on suspicion they supported Islamic militant groups, the rights group said. The seven told a researcher they had been "severely beaten and kicked, burned, injected with a caustic substance, and threatened with death while in custody," the report said.

Col. Christophe Paczka, a French commander of the training center in Koulikoro, said weapons and equipment were brought and assembled for the training of the Malian troops.

"This army is getting back on its feet and needs weapons," Paczka said.

This week, the Malian trainees gathered in fatigues in front of chalkboards where European instructors showed them the basics of their weapons. The soldiers also laid on their bellies side by side, learning to aim from the ground.

Eventually 2,800 soldiers will be trained, said Col. Laurent Viellefosse, a trainer for the program.

The Malian soldiers seem motivated about the training as they split into smaller groups with instructors from England, Finland, Sweden and France.

"We have had easy exercises, some others more difficult, but nothing that's insurmountable," said Malian soldier Soumaila Fomba. "I'm most interested in leadership and commanding on the field, and shooting."

The EU has given 12.3 million euros for the training center, hospital and operating costs, said Col. Phillipe de Cussac.

However, even with the training, a U.S. official warned stronger forces are needed.

"In Mali right now, the French have pushed the AQIM out of the major cities in North Mali, and we're working to create a U.N. operation to follow that so the French can focus on the high-value targets and eventually turn over that security to the host country," Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Michael Sheehan, said Tuesday at a hearing, according to a transcript of the hearing.

He said the West African or ECOWAS force that is in Mali right now "is not capable at all."

French troops are currently backed by soldiers from other West African countries including Chad. Sheehan suggested a U.N. force be supported for the mission, but said eventually a stronger force was needed to chase the al-Qaida-linked militants out of the mountains.

"That is going to be a job for a much more capable force," he said.

In a letter to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika theTuareg require to be represented in government through a quota of ministerial posts, and administration positions in senior positions.
 

According to a statement adopted Friday after a meeting of leaders of the Tuareg tribes with Amenokal (chief elected by the tribal elders) Ahmed Edabir, in Tamanrasset, 1,900 kilometers south of Algiers, the Tuareg call for "the revision of the entire structure of employment assistance for the rehabilitation of the specificity of the region, including its distance and to ensure that local officials manage these aids. "
 

"The events experienced by countries in the region forced Algeria to strengthen national unity and to deal with all internal and external threats," stressed the Tuareg, referring to the conflict in Mali, with which Algeria shares a long border.
 

On March 11, the Algerian government announced that companies in the South should recruit primarily from local labor, in an attempt to appease the anger of unemployed youth who demonstrated in several departments of this region, particularly Ouargla, near the oil area of Hassi Messaoud

The Algerian youth unemployment is hard. According to the IMF, 21.5% under 35 are unemployed, against 10% for the entire population.

The situation of young people is even more difficult in the South, this marginalized region where many workers are employed from the North and abroad.

 

 

 

One year after the start of the conflict in Mali, hundreds of thousands of people are facing hunger and drought and chronic poverty have worsened the situation, said the agency. "The situation of food and nutritional security has deteriorated in recent months due to a conflict in the north has displaced about 335,000 people and has also hampered humanitarian access to people who are still trapped in the affected areas ", it said. According to WFP, more than 80% of families in Mali depend entirely on what they grow themselves on their small plots.

The WFP  is launching  an emergency school feeding program in the northern part of Mali. This will feed close to 70,000 .This will feed close to 70,000 children throughout the conflict-affected area. WFP is already feeding 113,000 children in the southern part of the country. However this program is only 20 percent funded  according to WFP.

In addition, the recent military intervention launched in northern Mali was followed by a "serious escalation of reprisals by government troops," which seem to target members of ethnic groups seen as supporters of armed groups , said Deputy High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang, who  confirmed to the Council of Human Rights that the Fulani, Tuareg and Arabs were particularly targeted: "The situation has been exacerbated by  inflammatory rhetoric, especially in the media, which stigmatises members of these communities, including thousands who have fled for fear of reprisals from the Malian army. "

“If the Malian government wants to re-establish itself over Mali, they need the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. We, Tuaregs, have been at war for 52 years. And we will continue until our people’s living conditions change,” Ibrahim ag Mohamed Assaleh, from the separatist organisation known by its French acronym MNLA, tells IPS in an exclusive interview in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.

In January 2012, the MNLA led an attack against a military base in Menaka, in Gao region, calling for an end to the marginalisation of northern Mali‘s nomad populations. Three months later they took control of the country’s north. Soon after, however, the MNLA was pushed aside by a coalition of Islamists militants composed of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine and the Movement of Unity and Jihad in West Africa.

“The (January) intervention of France and the international community is welcomed in the Azawad by the MNLA as long as they are fighting terrorists, who we have fought for many months,” says Assaleh, who is part of the team negotiating with the Malian government.

On Jan. 29, Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traoré announced a roadmap for transition, setting elections for no later than the end of July. But the MNLA says it has not been consulted and included, and therefore will not participate.

“They might organise elections where they feel like it. But we do not see those elections happening, at least in our land. Our concerns have not been taken into consideration,” says Assaleh.

Mediation was initiated between the Malian government, the MNLA and the Islamist group Ansar Dine by neighbouring Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore in August 2012, but the talks are now stalled.

“They still occur, but at a slower pace since the French intervention was launched,” explains a member of the Burkinabe mediation team who prefers to remain anonymous. Mali has been pressured by United Nations Resolution 2085 to negotiate with non-terrorist groups.

“Some lobbies in Bamako do not see the point of negotiating any more. That weakens peace. And this might be costly to the government,” comments Assaleh.

Yvan Guichaoua, a West African expert on non-government armed groups and a lecturer at the University of East Anglia, tells IPS that the responsibility of the present chaos is shared between those in the north and south of Mali.

“The problem is that Bamako authorities show no intention at all to negotiate with the MNLA at this stage. The MNLA is considered to have initiated the present chaos, which is only partly true – recurring rebellions have hit Mali since its independence.”

However, Dr. Roland Marchal, senior research fellow and specialist on the economics and politics of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa at the National Centre for Scientific Research, based at Sciences-Po in Paris, tells IPS that a political compromise between the government, the MNLA and Ansar Dine is not the way to secure northern Mali.

“First, all those actors may not be representative of the population enough to define and enforce an agreement. That is why a formula such as a National Conference that would encompass many actors rooted in the political, social, religious and cultural arenas, may offer a greater chance to reach a sustainable agreement,” he says, adding that all three groups also face allegations of huge violations of basic human rights.

“There is a need to fine tune between a new social contract that would include some kind of amnesty and the need for justice. This can be achieved by the Malians themselves, not the international community or the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

The Malian army has been accused of committing arbitrary killings against the Tuaregs – executions that have been documented by several human rights groups. The claims forced the Malian army chief of staff, General Ibrahima Dahirou Dembele, to call presumed military perpetrators back from the front.

Human Rights Watch accused the MNLA and its allies of committing executions, pillages and rapes during a 2012 attack on the Aguelhok military camp in northern Mali. The MNLA detained and executed up to 153 Malian soldiers, according the Malian government and the International Federation of Human Rights.

The allegations were serious enough for the ICC to launch an investigation. The Malian government has issued arrest warrants against 26 people, including Assaleh. Four members of the MNLA have been arrested in Mali, to date.

“The warrants are a non-event,” defends Assaleh. “Agelhok’s January 2012 massacres have not been perpetrated by the MNLA. We want an independent inquiry and we are ready to participate with the ICC.”

Beyond the roadmap, Assaleh remains sceptical of developments.

“We have signed many agreements in the past. Now we need to apply them. We need a definitive solution to the problems of the Azawad. Since the coup, nothing has changed. (Mali’s ousted President) Amadou Toumani Touré’s networks are still really powerful and want to retain control. The MNLA will not support that.”

But who does the MNLA represent?

Assaleh is adamant that the MNLA represents 90 percent of Tuaregs, 40 percent of Fulanis, and 30 percent of Arabs.

“We have legitimate historical claims, even if we are a minority. This is our land. We invited all Tuaregs to join. But many do not want to talk to us. Among them are people who have supported all regimes, including the one of the dictator Moussa Traoré …they stayed in Bamako to keep their salaries, their privileges,” Assaleh says, referring to several Tuareg personalities who have joined the government and, he believes, made a lucrative business of the development of the north.

But Guichaoua says the MNLA remains heavily Tuareg “despite some roles offered to non-Tuaregs (Arabs, Songhay) in its official, yet phony, structure of command.”

“As a result, it arguably represents a small share of the population of the Azawad, mostly the Idnan and Chamanamas Tuareg tribes,” he says.

Marchal agrees, saying that the MNLA is poorly representative of the Azawad or Tuareg population in north Mali.

“The MNLA is seen as a group of thugs by many in Mali,” he says.

In Kidal, the MNLA’s stronghold in northern Mali, the French and Chadian army have ensured the securitisation of the area in cooperation with the MNLA, to the detriment of the Malian army. According to the MNLA, the Malian army is not able to protect northerners and Assaleh says the deployment of the army could only lead to more repression for Tuaregs.

But Guichaoua says that building a legitimate political representation from within the country will prevent the recurrence of another rebellion.

“(It) is the challenge ahead.”


 Marc-Andre Boisvert - IPSNews