Asked whether or not he approved of the state controlled since 2020 by the military, he replied in the negative: “Not at all. We intervene in the areas that we control”.
The planned operation will mobilize hundreds of men and a large number of vehicles, according to its instigators. It will consist more of patrols intended to secure the civilian populations than of a generalized offensive.
Three armed groups from northern Mali that fought the central state in the past have merged in Kidal.
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Its centers of gravity Anéfis in the Kidal region, and Ber in that of Timbuktu, in vast areas of the north and northeast delivered for several months to a push by jihadist groups affiliated with the Islamic State organization (EI ).
If the Kidal region is relatively preserved, the pressure of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) as well as the fighting to which it gives rise have caused hundreds of civilian deaths and caused massive movements of displaced persons.
The planned operation engages the CMA, an alliance of Tuareg-dominated groups who entered the rebellion in 2012 for independence or autonomy in the north, but also loyalist armed groups who had then fought on the side of Bamako.
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Separatists, loyalists and the Malian state signed the so-called Algiers peace agreement in Bamako in 2015, negotiated under Algerian mediation.
The radical Islamist groups that also entered the fight in 2012 continued the fight. The actions of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or IS have spread to the center, then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, plunging the Sahel into great instability.
The planned operation illustrates the lack of state control over large parts of the territory, but also the deterioration of relations between armed groups in the north and Bamako, and the threats to the 2015 agreement.
The application of the latter is considered an important factor of stability. However, the CMA and almost all the signatory groups, including loyalists, have suspended their participation in its implementation.
Officials of the Gatia, signatory and pro-government, have confirmed their participation in the operation.
In contrast, a Gao governorate official said that “the government (was) not involved in the operation”.
Many Malian interlocutors speak on condition of anonymity for their safety and given the sensitivity of the situation.
