Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAMAKO305
2008-03-28 06:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

MALI NEGOTIATES WITH BAHANGA AS NEW GROUP ATTACKS

Tags:  ASEC PINS PINR PTER ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0305/01 0880630
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 280630Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8934
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0396
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000305 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2018
TAGS: ASEC PINS PINR PTER ML
SUBJECT: MALI NEGOTIATES WITH BAHANGA AS NEW GROUP ATTACKS
AGUELHOK

REF: A. BAMAKO 00299

B. BAMAKO 00256

C. BAMAKO 00290

D. BAMAKO 00239

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 SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000305

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2018
TAGS: ASEC PINS PINR PTER ML
SUBJECT: MALI NEGOTIATES WITH BAHANGA AS NEW GROUP ATTACKS
AGUELHOK

REF: A. BAMAKO 00299

B. BAMAKO 00256

C. BAMAKO 00290

D. BAMAKO 00239

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

1.(C) Summary: On March 26 President Amadou Toumani Toure's
personal military advisor, Brigadier General Brehima
Coulibaly, and the leader of the Tuareg rebel Alliance for
Democracy and Change (ADC),Iyad ag Ghali, traveled to
Tripoli to participate in Libyan-brokered negotiations
between Mali and the Northern Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change
(ATNMC) led by Ibrahim ag Bahanga. ATNMC spokesman Hama ag
Sid'Ahmed will represent the ATNMC at the talks in Tripoli.
On the morning of March 26 an apparently new group of Tuareg
rebel/bandits attacked Malian military base in Aguelhok,
between Kidal and Tessalit. After exchanging small arms fire
with the Malian military for several hours, the attackers
withdrew. Several children were reportedly wounded by stray
bullets during the fire-fight. It is not clear if the
attackers were associated with the ADC or the ATNMC.
Preliminary information indicates that the attackers were not
affiliated with any previously declared rebel movements - a
detail that could signal an unfortunate new development for
northern Mali. End Summary.

--------------
Back to Tripoli
--------------

2.(C) Libyan sponsored negotiations between the Malian
government and the ATNMC began on March 27, following the
March 20-22 clashes between Bahanga's ATNMC and the Malian
military (Ref A). According to Hama ag Sid'Ahmed, the
ATNMC's Paris-based spokesman who doubles as Bahanga's
father-in-law, the ATNMC killed 43 Malian soldiers, wounded
63, destroyed 12 vehicles and 4 BRDMs. Sid'Ahmed claims that
the ATNMC captured 6 vehicles, ammunition and 33 prisoners.
Alla ag Alladi, who is one of the few Tuaregs to have been in
regular contact with Bahanga since the skirmishes began, told
the Embassy that Bahanga held 45 hostages, although this
number may include the 9 severely wounded soldiers released
by Bahanga on March 21. A delegation from the Malian Red

Cross, which visited the hostages on March 27 and is expected
back in Kidal shortly, should be able to provide the exact
number of detainees.

3.(C) Hama ag Sid'Ahmed is negotiating on behalf of the
ATNMC in Tripoli. A March 27 interview with Bahanga
published in the Algerian newspaper El Khabar and reprinted
on Tuareg websites quotes Bahanga as saying that he did not
travel to Libya himself because he "has the conviction that
the war is going to continue for a long time" and therefore
preferred to send Sid'Ahmed instead. In a second article
posted to Tuareg websites from the Algerian newspaper El
Watan, Mohamed Ali Baye - an Ifoghas Tuareg of the
Ifergoumessen faction who lead the ATNMC's first wave of
attacks against the Malian military on March 19-20 - calls
for Algerian mediation.

--------------
Unknown Tuareg Group Attacks Aguelhok
--------------

4.(C) During the early morning hours of March 26 Tuareg
bandits attacked the Malian military post in Aguelhok,
located between Tessalit and Kidal. The attack was
apparently led by Eghless ag Oufene who was, until he decided
to attack the Malian army, a financial officer for a UN
funded agricultural development program in Kidal. Others
believed to be associated with the attack in Aguelhok include
Abdullah ag Albacar, the Mayor of Tessalit, and Hama Moussa.
Both ag Albacar and Moussa are believed to be deeply
implicated in northern Mali's drug trafficking business.

5.(C) The attackers allegedly descended on Aguelhok with at
least five 4x4s, including one ag Oufene may have taken from
his employer in Kidal. Small arms fire continued throughout
the morning of March 26 until the Malian military, which had
just shifted soldiers away from Aguelhoc to reinforce
Tinzawaten and Abeibara, managed to repel the attackers.
Seven children were reportedly wounded by stray bullets.

6.(C) Some reports place Bahanga's deputy, Hassan ag Fagaga,

BAMAKO 00000305 002 OF 002


at the scene of the attack. Contacts in northern Mali,
however, have yet to provide any firm indication of Fagaga's
participation. One source speculated that if Fagaga were
indeed implicated, he could have been acting independently of
Bahanga. Unlike operations organized by the ATNMC, the
attack on Aguelhoc was seemingly led by Tuaregs without
formal military training. After the fire-fight seven wounded
attackers traveled to Bordj-Mokhtar in Algeria for medical
treatment. Two of the wounded Tuareg attackers are in their
late teens or early twenties.

--------------
Comment: The Downside of Buying Out Bandits
--------------

7.(C) The March 26 attack on Aguelhok could very well be a
product of Mali's decision to negotiate with Tuareg bandits
like Bahanga. Ag Oufene, ag Albacar and Hama Moussa's ties
to Algeria have also fueled speculation of Algerian
involvement now that Libya has overtaken Algeria as northern
Mali's mediator of choice. Given the Malian military's
evident weaknesses, a negotiated settlement like the one
reached by Iyad ag Ghali and Libya three weeks ago to secure
the release hostages taken by Bahanga in August 2007 (Ref B)
was one of Mali's only viable options. For northern Malians
watching from the sidelines, however, the buy-out of Bahanga
likely translated into one message: banditry, hostage-taking
and attacks on the Malian military pay. It is perhaps more
than a bit ironic that ag Oufene attacked Aguelhoc on the day
ag Ghali and President Toure's senior military advisor
traveled to Tripoli to negotiate the release of more hostages
captured Bahanga. At the same time, Libya is managing a
parallel process with members of Mali's Berabiche community
to negotiate an end to northern Mali's other hostage crisis
involving AQIM and two Austrian nationals (Ref C).

8.(C) Bahanga's deputy Hassan ag Fagaga has figured into
some of the many conflicting accounts of the attack on
Aguelhoc. Fagaga's involvement, or lack thereof, remains
unclear. Available details of the attack suggest it was
orchestrated by a group of disaffected Tuaregs acting
independently of either the ADC or ATNMC. Both the ADC and
ATNMC are dominated by the Kidal Ifoghas tribe and their
operations are typically led by prominent Ifoghas rebels like
ag Ghali, Bahanga, Fagaga and Mohamed Ali Baye. Eghless ag
Oufene belongs to the Idnane tribe. Abdullah ag Albacar and
Hama Moussa are both Taghat Melet (Ref D).

9.(C) If ag Oufene and the others were indeed acting
independently, Aguelhok could be the first instance of new
groups of rebel bandits taking matters into their own hands.
The monetary rewards reaped by leaders of the ADC and the
ATNMC following victories over the Malian army undoubtedly
play a role in these calculations. The key difference for ag
Oufene was that in Aguelhoc the Malian army prevailed. If,
however, ag Oufene and his accomplices managed to disappear
into the desert as Bahanga and the ATNMC have done following
each of their attacks, other restive northerners may conclude
that lightening strikes against the Malian military carry
little risk if one loses and a good likelihood of a high pay
off in one wins.
MCCULLEY