MAYOR OF ANDERAMBOUKANE DISCUSSES AQIM KIDNAPPINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000155

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019
TAGS: PTER PINR PINS PREL ASEC ML
SUBJECT: MAYOR OF ANDERAMBOUKANE DISCUSSES AQIM KIDNAPPINGS
AND PROMOTES HIS TRAVEL AGENCY

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

1.(C) On March 11 the Embassy met with Aroudeiny ag Hamatou,
the Mayor of Anderamboukane, site of the Tuareg festival
attended by four European tourists who were kidnapped on
January 22 along the Mali-Niger border. As Anderamboukane's
Mayor, Aroudeiny was responsible for the organization of the
festival. Educated in France and a frequent international
traveler - we met Aroudeiny as he was passing through Bamako
on his way to France for a conference on conflict and
stability - Aroudeiny does not fit the mold of a rural
northern Malian mayor. In addition to his education and
jet-setting, he also has an unusual pedigree as a senior
member of the Tuareg Iwellemmeden group from the Menaka area.
His elder brother, Bajan ag Hamato, holds the title of the
Iwellemmeden's Amenokal, or traditional leader. Bajan is
also Menaka's only National Assembly Deputy. Aroudeiny and
Bajan's grandfather, Firoun, was one of the French military's
fiercest Tuareg opponents during colonization.

2.(C) In contrast to Tuareg leaders from Kidal and Gao who
have dispatched various private emissaries to ferret out
information regarding the two Canadian diplomats kidnapped in
Niger in December 2008 and the four European tourists taken
in January 2009, Aroudeiny appeared relatively uninterested
in the kidnapping details. When asked if the four Europeans
were taken on the Malian or Nigerien side of the border,
Aroudeiny first waived his hand and said: "What does it
matter? The point is that they were captured." He then said
he believed the four were taken at Bani Bangou in Niger.
Aroudeiny claimed that he and other officials in
Anderamboukane and Menaka tried to alert local camel herders
and others to be on the look out for suspicious vehicles once
news of the Europeans' disappearance reached him in
Anderamboukane, but that there are so many suspicious
vehicles in that corner of northern Mali that no one knew
what to look for.

3.(C) Aroudeiny acknowledged rumors of potential Tuareg
involvement in the actual kidnappings, and said this could
adversely impact the image of Malian Tuaregs as providing
evidence - in his opinion unfounded - of links between Tuareg
bandits and AQIM. He rated the likelihood of more
kidnappings of western hostages as high, and sketched out an
historical progression of banditry in northern Mali that
began with the smuggling of Marlboros, then cars, guns, drugs
and now human beings. Aroudeiny said the only way to prevent
future kidnappings was to ensure that no one paid for the
release of those currently held captive by AQIM.

4.(C) Aroudeiny said he did not believe, however, that the
increased threat of being kidnapped by bandits or violent
Islamic extremists would adversely impact tourism to northern
Mali. As if to emphasize this point he then plugged his
private travel agency, Amawal Voyage, which runs trips across
northern Mali and into southern Algeria, and asked if the
Embassy could help him identify potential clients in the
United States.

5.(C) Comment: Our discussion with Aroudeiny was somewhat
disappointing. Given his advanced education, status within
the albeit small but still powerful Iwellemmeden Tuareg
hierarchy, and role as the organizer of the ill-fated
festival in Anderamboukane, we had hoped that he would
provide a somewhat more detailed analysis of events in the
north. What we got, instead, was a friendly shrug that said,
basically: "stuff happens." His assessment of the elevated
risk for future kidnappings, however, is worth noting and
tracks with what we have heard from other contacts in Mali.
MILOVANOVIC