TUAREG BANDITS ATTACK TESSALIT WHILE MALI AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000675

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2018
TAGS: ASEC PINS PINR ML
SUBJECT: TUAREG BANDITS ATTACK TESSALIT WHILE MALI AND
REBELS NEGOTIATE

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

1.(C) Summary: A previously unknown group of Tuareg bandits
calling itself the Unified Forces of Azawad (FUA) attacked
the Malian gendarme base in Tessalit during the early morning
hours of July 19. One Malian gendarme was wounded and three
others were taken prisoner. The attack appears to have been
led by Baye ag Hamdi, a former National Assembly Deputy from
Tessalit and one-time member of the Tuareg rebel Alliance for
Democracy and Change (ADC). Several Tuareg and non-Tuareg
Embassy contacts said ag Hamdi suffered from an unspecified
mental ailment, however, and that the FUA was a figment of ag
Hamdi's imagination. Tuaregs queried by the Embassy
generally dismiss the Tessalit incident as a quixotic episode
that will not adversely impact ongoing negotiations between
the Malian government and Tuareg rebels in Algiers. On July
21 ADC spokesman Ahmada ag Bibi said that reports relayed by
French media regarding a cease-fire agreement were incorrect
and that the Tuareg delegation was having trouble convincing
Ibrahim Bahanga to accept terms proposed by the Malians and
Algerian mediators. End Summary.

--------------
Attack in Tessalit
--------------

2.(C) A group of Tuareg bandits attacked the Malian Gendarme
base in Tessalit during the early morning hours of July 19.
The attack was orchestrated by Baye ag Hamdi, a former
National Assembly Deputy from Tessalit who claims to
represent a previously unknown group called the Unified
Forces of Azawad (FUA). One Malian gendarme was reportedly
wounded and three others were captured and taken hostage.
Tuareg contacts have minimized the importance of this attack
- as least as far as "real" Tuareg rebels are concerned - due
in large part to ag Hamdi's apparently questionable mental
state. The ADC appointed ag Hamdi as its "Secretary for
Communications" following its May 2006 attacks on Malian
military outposts in Menaka and Kidal. After participating
in the May 2006 attacks ag Hamdi suffered some kind of mental
break-down while hiding with the ADC in the mountains of
Tigharghar east of Kidal. According to Tuareg contacts, some
of ag Hamdi's outbreaks were so severe that fellow rebels
tied him up in order to restrain him. Following the
signature of the Algiers Accords in July 2006 ag Hamdi's
family sent him to Bamako for one year for "treatment." Ag
Hamdi lost his National Assembly seat during the 2007
legislative elections. He was replaced by another ADC
official, Deity ag Sidamou.

--------------
Tuareg-Mali Negotiations Continue
--------------

3.(C) On July 21 ADC spokesman Ahmada ag Bibi told several
Embassy contacts in Bamako via telephone from Algiers that no
agreement had been reached with the Malian government and
that the ADC was having trouble convincing Ibrahim Bahanga to
accept terms proposed by the Malian and Algerian governments.
He said differences of opinion between the Malian and Tuareg
delegations delayed the start of negotiations until Sunday,
July 20. Ag Bibi downplayed the importance of ag Hamdi and
the July 19 attack in Tessalit

4.(C) Since July 21, Radio France and Agence France Press
have been reporting the signature of a cease-fire by the
Malian and Tuareg delegations. Information supplied by ag
Bibi and other well-placed Tuaregs in Bamako, however,
suggest that the two sides signed nothing more than a
document indicating that talks took place and would continue
at an unspecified date in the near future. Several posts to
the Kidal Tuareg website kidal.info.com, including a rather
unusual statement by the website's moderator, also challenge
the French media reports of a cease-fire agreement, stating
that "the two parties negotiating in Algiers broke off
without signing either a cease fire, nor an agreement
allowing for the liberation of prisoners, nor an
implementation plan. A verbal agreement was reached to hold
a follow up meeting shortly." During a July 22 interview
with Radio France, Ibrahim Bahanga's father-in-law and
spokesman for the Northern Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change
(ATNMC) Hama ag Sid'Ahmed also said no agreement had been
reached and that the two sides intended to resume direct
talks "soon."


BAMAKO 00000675 002 OF 002


5.(C) Comment: Tuaregs and non-Tuaregs who know ag Hamdi seem
to regard the FUA as a figment of ag Hamdi's imagination and
the attack in Tessalit as an ill-timed but relatively
unimportant incident. However quixotic, the attack and
subsequent capture of three gendarmes raises the number of
Malian military members now in Tuareg hands to close to 90
individuals. Liberation of the soldiers held by the ADC and
Ibrahim Bahanga is a major aspect of current negotiations in
Algiers. The addition of three new hostages held by a third
and apparently erratic entity - ag Hamdi - signifies a step
in the wrong direction. Although accurate information is
difficult to come by in Bamako, our Tuareg contacts are
adamant that the reports broadcast by French media regarding
the signature of a cease-fire agreement are at best premature
and at worst unfounded.
LEONARD