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