MALI RELEASES SOME TUAREG PRISONERS AND ONE MURDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000246

SIPDIS

RABAT FOR LEGAL ATTACHE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2019
TAGS: PHUM PINS PINR PREL PGOV ASEC ML
SUBJECT: MALI RELEASES SOME TUAREG PRISONERS AND ONE MURDER
SUSPECT PRIOR TO LOCAL ELECTIONS

REF: A. 08 BAMAKO 00778

B. 08 BAMAKO 00800

C. 08 BAMAKO 00942

D. BAMAKO 00211

E. BAMAKO 00217

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

1.(C) Summary: On April 16 the Malian government released
Amadou Diallo, the primary suspect behind the September 1,
2008, murders of four Tuaregs near Ansongo. Diallo is the
leader of a primarily Peuhl self-defense militia known as the
Ganda-Izo. President Amadou Toumani Toure had previously
promised to prosecute anyone suspected of involvement in
these murders. One day later, on April 17, the Malians
released eight Tuareg civilians to the custody of National
Assembly Deputy Alghabass ag Intallah. The liberated Tuaregs
were immediately airlifted to Kidal. It is unclear whether
Tuareg leaders are also aware of the nearly simultaneous
release of Diallo. The two sets of liberations suggest that
Mali may be seeking to ease tensions among Tuareg and Peuhl
communities in northern Mali in advance of April 26 local
elections on the one hand, and ease overcrowding within State
Security (DGSE) detention facilities on the other. End
Summary.

--------------
Murder Suspect Goes Free
--------------

2.(C) On April 17 presidential insider Kader Bah told the
Embassy that Malian authorities released Amadou Diallo on
April 16. During northern Mali's 1991-1996 rebellion Diallo
was a leader of the primarily Peuhl and Songhai self-defense
militia formerly known as the Ganda-Koy. After deserting his
Malian government appointed position overseeing Malian
imports at port of Dakar in early 2008, Diallo re-emerged in
northern Mali as the leader of a Ganda-Koy spin off called
the Ganda-Izo, which was implicated in the September 1, 2008,
murders of four Tuareg civilians near Ansongo south east of
Gao. Following the murders Bah, who is also Peuhl, said
Diallo telephoned him to claim responsibility (Ref. A).

3.(C) In response, Malian security forces arrested more than
40 suspected Ganda-Izo members (Ref B). Diallo himself was
apprehended in Niamey by Nigerien officials and extradited to
Mali. In December 2008 President Amadou Toumani Toure agreed
to release a 17 Gando-Izo members, but said any one linked to
the September 1 murders would remain in prison (Ref. C).
"Those who have killed," said President Toure as quoted by
Agence France Press on December 14, "will go before the
courts." No charges were ever filed against Diallo and no
investigation of the September murders was concluded, nor was
Diallo ever placed within the jurisdiction of Mali's formal
legal system. It is unclear if Tuareg rebels are yet aware
that Diallo is once again a free man.

--------------
Released Tuaregs Flown to Kidal
--------------

4.(C) Mali also released eight Tuareg prisoners in Bamako on
April 17. The individuals were turned over to National
Assembly Deputy Alghabass ag Intallah and then flown
immediately to Kidal. The release coincided with the
availability of a Kidal bound aircraft and upcoming April 26
local elections. The aircraft was chartered by the Malian
government to fly the Tuareg prisoners and ag Intallah's
father, Intallah ag Attaher who has been the traditional
leader of Kidal Tuaregs since 1963, back to Kidal. Ag
Attaher has been in Bamako for medical reasons for several
months.

5.(C) According to Tuareg contacts, the liberated prisoners
were Tuareg civilians caught up in military sweeps of Kidal
during the Malian government's January and February offensive
against rogue Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Bahanga. Fourteen
Tuareg rebels remain in the custody of Malian State Security
(DGSE) in Bamako. Alghabass ag Intallah, other Tuareg
leaders, and the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) have been trying without success to obtain permission
to visit Tuareg rebel prisoners in Bamako (Ref. D). Several
Tuareg leaders, including Alghabass and Tuareg rebel Alliance
for Democracy and Change spokesman turned National Assembly
Deputy Ahmada ag Bibi, have accused the Malians of

BAMAKO 00000246 002 OF 002


mistreating Tuareg prisoners. In early April the DGSE
allowed Alghabass to visit with two of the estimated 22
Tuaregs in Malian custody (Ref. E). The decision to release
these eight individuals on April 17 seemingly supported
statements by Tuareg leaders alleging that only 14 or 15 of
the Tuaregs detained by the DGSE were actually Tuareg rebels.

--------------
Comment: A Question of Time and Space?
--------------

6.(C) The decision to release eight Tuareg civilian
prisoners and as well as Ganda-Izo leader and murder suspect
Amadou Diallo appears timed to reduce tensions amongst
Tuaregs in Kidal and Peuhls near Gao just one week before
April 26 local elections. It may also be an attempt to
create space within DGSE holding cells. The DGSE is neither
procedurally nor logistically prepared to detain prisoners
for prolonged periods of time. In recent months, however,
the DGSE has become the incarceration point for Ganda-Izo
members, Tuareg rebels, Tuaregs associated with AQIM
kidnappings, and a handful of Islamic extremists. On April
16 presidential insider Kader Bah told the Embassy that the
DGSE had asked the Malian military to assume responsibility
for Tuareg rebel prisoners in order to ease the
administrative burden on the DGSE, but that the Malian
military had refused. Bah also reported that the DGSE
Director Col. Mamy Coulibaly was having trouble coping with
the number of detainees in DGSE custody. The liberation of
Tuareg civilians - if indeed these individuals were civilians
caught in the wrong place at the wrong time as claimed by
Tuareg leaders - was overdue. The nearly simultaneous
liberation of Amadou Diallo, however, indicates that Malian
authorities have once again - following the failure to
investigate the October 17, 2007, killing of a Tuareg
gendarme by Malian soldiers in Gao; and the April 10, 2008,
executions of two Tuaregs in Kidal - decided it is
politically easier to leave a case of murdered Tuaregs
unsolved.
LEONARD