MALI AND ADC CONTENT TO LEAVE BAHANGA BEHIND IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000779

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2018
TAGS: PREL ASEC PINS PINR ML
SUBJECT: MALI AND ADC CONTENT TO LEAVE BAHANGA BEHIND IN
THE LIBYAN DUST

REF: A. 06 BAMAKO 00898

B. BAMAKO 00712

C. BAMAKO 00675

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

1.(C) Summary. Negotiations between the Malian government
and the Tuareg rebel Alliance for Democracy and Change (ADC)
appear to be on track one week after a second round of talks,
held August 28-30, in Algiers. A meeting of the nine-person
Algiers Accords Oversight Committee is scheduled for
September 15 in Kidal. The Committee has been largely
inactive since Bahanga began attacking Malian military units
over one year ago. The ADC, which released the last of its
21 Malian military "prisoners" on August 16, intends to
gather in Tegharghar on September 10 to prepare for the
Committee meeting. The installation, composition and command
of one Kidal-based mixed military unit is expected to be
agenda item number one for both the ADC in Tegharghar and the
Oversight Committee in Kidal. Mali, the ADC and Algeria
appear content to move ahead without the participation of
Ibrahim Bahanga, who veered once again toward Libya and
Qadhafi just days before the last meeting in Algiers.
Although Bahanga continues to hold an estimated 65 Malian
soldiers hostage, the recent defections of Bahanga's two key
deputies - Hassan Fagaga and Mohamed ag Aharib - back to the
ADC have significantly weakened Bahanga's position. End
Summary.

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A Sept. 15 Date in Kidal
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2.(C) Preparations are underway for a Sept. 15 meeting of
the Algiers Accords Oversight Committee in Kidal. This
Committee was created in 2006 and includes three
representatives each from Mali, Algeria and the ADC (Ref. A).
The ADC's three representatives are Kidal Chamber of
Commerce president Abdousalam ag Assalat, newly returned ADC
member Mohamed ag Aharib and Captain Haroun ag Saghid. The
three representatives from the Malian side are Police
Controller and Committee Chairman Mahamadou Diagouraga,
Paratrooper Colonel Eloi Togo and Customs Officer Moulaye
Hamed Ould Moulaye Riggani. The Algerian Committee members
in 2006 were Lt. Col. Ouadahi Achour, Commandant Zemali
El-Hadj and Adjutant Sakhri Youcef. Two other Algerians,
Commandant Meckour Azedine and Lt. Benasia Kahled Oualid,
served as Committee alternates. We do not know whether the
composition of the Algerian delegation has changed.

3.(C) The Sept. 15 date was set during the Aug. 28-30
meeting between the Malian government and ADC in Algiers.
Tuareg groups met in Bourghessa on August 25-26 to hash out
who would travel to Algiers to meet with the Malian
delegation and Algerian mediators. Tuaregs present at the
Bourghessa meeting included ADC spokesman Ahmada ag Bibi, Bah
Moussa, Hassan Fagaga, Bayen Ag Ahawali, Sidi Mohamed ag
Douad (AKA "19"),Ada Massamad, Magdi Bahada and Mohamed ag
Aharib. Ibrahim Bahanga and his father in law, Hama ag
Sid'Ahamed, were invited to participate but failed to show.
Two of Bahanga's key deputies, however, Fagaga and ag Aharib,
accepted the ADC invitation and now appear to be once again
within the ADC camp.

4.(U) On August 30 the Malian Prime Minister's office issued
a brief statement summarizing the August 28-30 meeting in
Algiers. The statement confirmed an agreement to regroup,
under the aegis of the Oversight Committee, in Kidal on
September 15. It also reiterated Mali and the ADC's
commitment to de-mine areas mined by Bahanga, return weapons
and materials taken from the Malian army during rebel
attacks, and facilitate the return of civilian populations
displaced by fighting. The statement concluded by noting
that the next "tripartite" meeting would occur at a place and
date to be determined and would examine recommendations
proposed by the Oversight Committee.

5.(C) One of the Oversight Committee's key agenda items will
likely be the composition, command and responsibilities of
one mixed military unit now to be based in Kidal. Although
the Malians and ADC apparently agreed to base this unit in
Kidal - as opposed to Tinzawaten as demanded previously by
Bahanga (Ref. B) - details on the size and scope of the unit
are unknown. The ADC is regrouping in Tegharghar on
September 10 to prepared for the Committee meeting in Kidal
five days later. ADC Commandant Bah Moussa seems to be
leading Tuareg candidate for command of the newly formed
mixed unit.

BAMAKO 00000779 002 OF 002



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Bahanga Who?
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6.(C) Mali, the ADC and Algeria appear content to ignore
Ibrahim Bahanga while proceeding with Algiers Accords
implementation. One Tuareg contact, Acherif ag Mohamed, told
the Embassy that Bahanga's refusal to participate in the most
recent talks in Algiers and decision to turn, once again,
toward Tripoli was actually a relief to both the ADC and
Algeria for it meant that Bahanga was once again Qadhafi's
problem. On September 9 Kader Bah, a close confident of
President Toure, described the situation with Bahanga in
similar terms. He said that Bahanga had further isolated
himself, was no longer an integral part of the peace process,
and that Algeria judged Bahanga of little value in terms of
countering AQIM.

7.(C) The August 17 release of 21 Malian soldiers by the
ADC, and the August 24 release of three other Malians by a
group that describes itself as the "United Forces of the
Azawad" (Ref. C),left Bahanga as the only Tuareg rebel still
holding Malian soldiers. Bahanga still has approximately 65
Malians soldiers in captivity. He released two captives on
August 25 and one more on August 26, all for medical reasons.
Rumors regarding an impending decision by Bahanga to release
the hostages to Qadhafi in Tripoli continue to circulate.
Many thought Bahanga would time the release to coincide with
Libya's September 1 celebration of Qadhafi's rise to power.


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Comment: Isolating Bahanga
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8.(C) By turning to Libya, then Algeria, and back to Libya
again, Bahanga appears to have done Mali, Algeria and his
estranged Tuareg rebel colleagues a huge favor by effectively
taking himself out of the Algiers Accords implementation
process. Although he still holds more than 60 Malian
soldiers hostage, his control over anything more than his
home base of Tinzawaten was greatly weakened by the
defections of Fagaga and ag Aharib. Tuaregs and Malian
officials seem convinced that Bahanga is waiting for a Libyan
payoff in order to release his captives. In the meantime,
neither Mali, Algeria nor the ADC appear to see any problems
with moving ahead with negotiations as though Bahanga had
completely ceased to exist.
LEONARD