MORE ON BULTIMEIER MURDER AND GSPC

C O N F I D E N T I A L NIAMEY 001298 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/AF, S/CT, AF/W, INR/TNC AND INR/AA; RABAT FOR LEGATT E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2016 TAGS: ASEC KCRM PTER NG SUBJECT: MORE ON BULTIMEIER MURDER AND GSPC REF: A. (A) NIAMEY 1297 (DS CHANNEL) ¶B. (B) NIAMEY 1296 Classified By: DCM Donald W. Koran for reasons 1.4 (b/d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) In a December 3 meeting with DCM and RSO, Haibala Mohamed provided updated and more detailed information on the people he said murdered an Embassy employee in 2000 and on the GSPC in Mali. (Reftels report Mohamed's November 30 and December 1 meetings with Emboffs.) He claimed to have obtained the new information from family members in Mali. He first spoke with the DCM and RSO in broken French, and then went over the same material in Tamacheck, with an Embassy FSN translating into French. In some cases the spelling of people and place names may only be approximations. End Summary. -------------- The alleged Bultemeier murderers -------------- ¶2. (C) Mohamed said that Chebani Ould Hame Inewe, who he claimed had murdered Bultemeier, was no longer in prison in Algeria, as he had previously reported. He said that a relative had reported seeing Chebani on November 19 near the Bordj-Mokhtar border crossing between Algeria and Mali. He also saw Chebani's brother Omar Ould Ela, who Mohamed said was also implicated in the Bultemeier murder. Mohamed was concerned that if quick action was not taken, the murderers would flee Bordj-Mokhtar possibly to join up with the GSPC in Mali. -------------- The GSPC in Mali -------------- ¶3. (C) Mohamed identified the leader of the GSPC in Mali as Bin Lawarr. Mohamed said that the GSPC group now had more than 60 men. He did not know the exact number, but said that they now had 46 "Toyotas" and six trucks, three of which had trailers. Previously, he said, they only had 38 "Toyotas" and four trucks. He claimed that the GSPC obtained the additional vehicles from a prominent ethnic Arab-Amhar Malian businessman named Hanoune Ould Ali. ¶4. (C) While Mohamed was unsure of the exact timeline, he thought that about four months ago the Algerian military chased the GSPC group further into Mali. About two months ago, the GSPC ambushed Kunta ethnic fighters, leaving nine Kunta dead and eight captured. The GSPC are now located in a valley about nine kilometers from the Techerene well. Mohamed said that Nigerien Tuaregs resisted attempts by the GSPC to operate in Niger because they appreciate that much of their livelihood depends on tourism in the Agadez region and they therefore do not want the GSPC there. -------------- Bio note -------------- ¶5. (C) Mohamed explained that he was not a Tuareg, but a Kunta, although his mother was a Tuareg. (Comment: Many consider the Kunta a subset of the Tuareg in Mali rather than a distinct ethnic group.) He said that his mother was related to Mohammed Anacko, a prominent Nigerien Tuareg who had introduced Mohamed to Emboffs. Mohamed said that he had served in the Nigerien Republican Guard and later as a member of Kunta armed group that had fought Arabs in Mali in 1999-2000. He showed Emboffs pictures of himself both in the Nigerien military and with his fellow Kunta fighters. He said that his family is well known in Mali and that he had met the Malian president twice. He complained that the Kunta were impoverished and were the Malian ethnic group that most resists the GSPC. He expressed disappointment that no action had been taken on the information that he provided at his earlier meetings with Emboffs, and reiterated his desire to work with the USG to bring the Bultemeier killers to justice and to combat the GSPC. Mohamed said he speaks Arabic, as well as Tamachek and basic French. ALLEN