Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BAMAKO1364
2007-11-29 09:19:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

ATT: HOSTAGES WILL BE RELEASED IN TWO, THREE OR

Tags:  ASEC PINR PREL ML AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8648
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #1364 3330919
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 290919Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8454
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0364
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0282
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 0143
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 001364 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017
TAGS: ASEC PINR PREL ML AG
SUBJECT: ATT: HOSTAGES WILL BE RELEASED IN TWO, THREE OR
MAYBE FOUR WEEKS

REF: BAMAKO 01175

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 001364

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017
TAGS: ASEC PINR PREL ML AG
SUBJECT: ATT: HOSTAGES WILL BE RELEASED IN TWO, THREE OR
MAYBE FOUR WEEKS

REF: BAMAKO 01175

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1.(U) Summary: President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT)
completed a two day state visit to Algeria on November 24-25
to discuss security concerns, development issues and the
on-going hostage crisis involving Tuareg bandit Ibrahim
Bahanga. On November 26 Radio France International reported
that Bahanga, who was also in Algiers but did not meet with
ATT, had pledged to liberate the 35 Malian soldiers he
captured more than three months ago. The Malian government
newspaper "L'Essor," however, quoted ATT as saying that
Bahanga would release the hostages "in two or three weeks or
maybe one month." Factors complicating the release are the
logistics of assembling the hostages, who are reportedly
dispersed throughout northern Mali, Niger and possibly as far
as Chad, and questions regarding who is currently holding the
hostages. End Summary.

--------------
ATT In Algiers
--------------

2.(C) President Toure meet with his Algerian counterpart
President Bouteflika on November 24-25 in Algiers to discuss
security coordination and the on-going hostage crisis in
northern Mali. President Toure was accompanied by the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Moctar Ouane. The Minister of
Territorial Administration and President Toure's close
confidant Kafougouna Kone, along with with the Governors of
Gao and Kidal, traveled to Algiers to lay the ground work a
few days in advance of the presidential meeting. Bahanga was
also reportedly in Algiers on November 24-25 but did not meet
President Toure.

3.(C) Toure has repeatedly expressed frustration with
Algeria's "mediation" efforts (reftel). In September Algeria
mobilized more than USD 2 million to help finance the
"reinsertion" of Tuareg ex-combatants into Malian society in
accordance with the July 2006 Algiers Accords. Neither these
funds, nor numerous trips by Malian and Tuareg leaders to
Algiers for negotiations, produced any tangible response from
Bahanga regarding the liberation of the hostages and his
demand for a Malian withdrawal from the northern town of
Tinzawaten. During the November 24-25 meetings in Algiers,
both Presidents Toure and Bouteflika reiterated their support
for the Algiers Accords.

--------------
And the Hostages?
--------------

4.(C) Prior to President Toure's departure for Algiers, some
in Bamako speculated that he might return from Algeria with
the liberated hostages in hand. Such speculation appears to
have been premature. "Algeria," said ATT following his
meetings with President Bouteflika, "is currently working to
gather up the hostages. I wish them good luck so that we can
recover the hostages within the coming weeks."

5.(C) Tuareg contacts have raised two factors that may
complicate the hostages' liberation. With Bahanga shuttling
between Algiers, Tamaransset and perhaps Tripoli, it is
unclear who is actually holding the hostages, what the
captors' nationalities are, and whether they are fully behind
Bahanga. Assembling the hostages, who are apparently
scattered throughout northern Mali, Niger and possibly even
Chad, poses an important logistical challenge.

--------------
Comment: Progress?
--------------

6.(C) One aim of ATT's visit to Algiers was to repair Mali's
strained relations with Algeria. Judging from reports of the
two day visit, it appears that Mali and Algeria are back on
the same page in terms of peace and security in northern Mali
at least for now. It does not appear, however, that ATT made
much headway regarding the hostage crisis. Bahanga's
continued ability to travel unimpeded throughout Algeria may
also suggest that Algeria does not take the threat posed by
Bahanga as seriously as President Toure - or, as many Malians
now see it, the Algerians are the force behind Bahanga's
fight to keep the central government from extending its
control to northern Mali.
McCulley