Published on 09.02.2023 at 14:18 by APA
Observers fear that this new development will further complicate the stalled peace process. The various components of the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) decided to operate under a single banner on Wednesday 8 February. It was during a ceremony that took place in a packed stadium in Kidal, a town in northern Mali they have controlled for almost a decade.
Since 2019, during various meetings they have held, the former rebels of the CMA have constantly expressed the desire to merge their armed movements into a single politico-military entity. The Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) – one of the three signatory parties to the Peace Accord in 2015 – had three main components within it. These are the National Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MNLA), the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) and the Arab Movement of Azawade (MAA). The declaration of merger was signed by the secretaries general of the three respective armed movements, Bilal Ag Acherif, Alghabass Ag Intalla and Ibrahim Ould Handa.
By taking this action, these leaders admit the disappearance of their armed movements in favor of a single politico-military entity. For the moment, no name has been given to it and the emblems of its new flag have not yet been unveiled. It also remains to determine the name of the person who will be in charge of heading the political and military wing of this new structure as well as the duration of his mandate.
Prior to this merger, the components of the CMA had their own management and decision-making autonomy at all levels. They were mainly organized into a group with an executive bureau whose president is appointed for a non-renewable term of six months as well as a chief of staff who is supposed to serve one year.
The current president of this coordination was the secretary general of the HCUA, Alghabass Ag Intalla. The latter recently appointed a new chief of staff in the person of Colonel Hamad Rhissa Ag Mohamed, whose deputy was Alhousseini Ag Ahmedou. These people will remain in place until the setting up of the bodies of this new politico-military entity planned during a congress whose organization is announced for soon.
The initiators also sent an invitation to armed movements that are members of other groups involved in the process, such as the Platform and Inclusivity, to join their project.
The Algiers Agreement on hold?
Observers fear that this new development could further complicate the peace process currently at a standstill due to the decision taken last December by the ex-rebels to suspend their participation in the various mechanisms for the implementation of the Agreement. They conditioned the lifting of this suspension on the holding of “an emergency meeting” on “neutral ground” with the International Mediation, whose leader is Algeria, to make an assessment of the Agreement signed in 2015. whose application is made in sawtooth.
The International Mediation accepted this initiative while wanting to extend it to the other signatories of the Agreement such as the Platform of June 14, 2014 and the Malian authorities. The latter through the Head of State, Colonel Assimi Goïta refused to participate in any meeting around the Peace Agreement outside of Mali. With this situation, many are those who fear an imminent resumption of hostilities between signatory parties to the Peace Agreement insofar as each side is only reinforcing its military positions on the ground.
