TUAREG CLAIMS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AS ICRC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000257

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019
TAGS: PHUM PINR PREL PTER PGOV ML
SUBJECT: TUAREG CLAIMS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AS ICRC
SEEKS PRISON ACCESS

REF: A. 07 BAMAKO 01006

B. BAMAKO 00047

C. BAMAKO 00037

D. BAMAKO 00246

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

1.(C) Summary: On April 9 Tuareg trafficker turned National
Assembly Deputy Deity ag Sidamou described human rights
abuses allegedly perpetrated by Malian army Col. Abderahmane
ould Meydou and other ethnic Arabs against captured Tuareg
rebels. It is impossible to discern whether ag Sidamou's
account is truthful and reasonably accurate or manipulative
and without basis in fact. On April 2 the ICRC told the
Embassy it had no evidence that Tuareg prisoners had been
mistreated but remained unable to visit imprisoned Tuareg
rebels in Bamako. ICRC concern over the status of these
prisoners is growing. The ICRC's Geneva based Director for
West Africa and Niger-based Sahel Director raised this issue
with the Presidency on April 20. End Summary.

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Deity ag Sidamou
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3.(C) Ag Sidamou is an Idnane Tuareg from Tessalit who was,
and may still be, deeply involved in northern Mali's
smuggling trade. The Tuareg rebel Alliance for Democracy and
Change (ADC) selected ag Sidamou as the group's "Finance
Secretary" in 2006 even though ag Sidamou appears to be
finance secretary for no one but himself. Ag Sidamou was
lightly wounded in the ADC's October 2006 attacks against
what was then the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
(GSPC),now AQIM (Ref. A). Although ag Sidamou does not
speak French, he won election to the National Assembly in

2007. In May 2008 he was linked to a rebel attack on a
Malian military convoy near Tessalit - an allegation he
denied. Most recently ag Sidamou helped orchestrate the
February disarmament of Idnane rebel factions north of Kidal,
likely with Libyan financing. He recently returned from
Tripoli in time to attend the opening of the National
Assembly's April session.

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Allegations of Extra Judicial Killings
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4.(C) On April 9 in Bamako ag Sidamou told the Embassy that
Malian officials were blocking access to 22 Tuareg prisoners
in Bamako in order to prevent observers from documenting
inhumane detention conditions and descriptions of abuse and
torture by members of the Malian military. Ag Sidamou said
he believed that only 15 of those imprisoned in Bamako were
actually Tuareg rebels, with the rest being Tuareg civilians
caught up in military sweeps of northern Mali. The rebels
were captured on January 12 near Kidal and during the January
22 battle of Bourghessa against forces belonging to rogue
Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Bahanga (Refs. B and C).

5.(C) Ag Sidamou alleges that when fighting subsided in
Bourghessa on January 22, Malian soldiers led by Col.
Abderahmane ould Meydou and Col. Baba Ahmed lined up two
seriously wounded but still alive Tuareg fighters and then
rolled a vehicle over them. Ag Sidamou said ould Meydou was
in the vehicle at the time. Afterward, ag Sidamou said ould
Meydou got out of the car to say he'd committed this act in
order to send a message to other Tuaregs. Col. ould Meydou
and Col. Ahmed are both ethnic Arabs. Ag Sidamou said Malian
troops used ropes to tie other captured Tuaregs to the backs
of vehicles, then dragged them to their deaths.

6.(C) To substantiate these claims, ag Sidamou said he had
recently obtained photographs of the victims taken at the
scene by Malian soldiers. These photos, which ag Sidamou has
not to date shared with us, have apparently been circulating
amongst the Malian Arab community in Gao. Ag Sidamou added
that the individuals depicted in the photos were so badly
disfigured that it was impossible to determine their
identities, and that he did not personally know the victims'
names. He claimed news of this incident caused a serious
falling out between Col. Meydou and Col. Elhedj Gamou, a
Tuareg officer leading a militia composed of Imghad Tuaregs
that also clashed with Bahanga.

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ICRC Concerns Growing
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BAMAKO 00000257 002 OF 002


7.(C) The ICRC delegate in Bamako said Malian authorities
have parried ICRC requests to visit captured Tuareg rebels
and terrorist suspects in Bamako. Both groups of detainees -
Tuareg rebels and suspected AQIM associations - appear to be
in the custody of Malian State Security (DGSE),meaning that
these individuals currently inhabit a judicial netherworld
disconnected from formal civilian legal mechanisms or Malian
military tribunals. The ICRC has spent several months
ping-ponging between the Ministries of Defense, Security,
Justice, and the Presidency. Further complicating matters is
the ICRC's own standing in Mali, as it has no official
mandate in Mali and has concluded no agreements with the
Malian government regarding prison visits. The ICRC did
successfully visit Tuareg rebels detained by Malian forces
and Malian soldiers captured by Tuareg rebels in 2008.

8.(C) On April 2 the ICRC delegate said that the ICRC had no
evidence indicating that any of the Tuareg rebel prisoners
had been mistreated by Malian authorities. The ICRC did
begin the process of visiting one or two of these detainees
in March but quicly ended the visit after Malian authorities
prevnted the ICRC from following its standardized and
regimented prison visit procedures. The ICRC subequently
lost track of where Tuareg rebel prisones were being held
and under whose jurisdiction.

9.(C) The ICRC said attempts to visit terrorist suspects
have been even less successful as Malian officials have yet
to admit to the ICRC that any of individuals of this category
are even in custody. The ICRC also reported encountering
more difficulties with Malian authorities following the
February 26 road accident that killed four DGSE officers and
one of the two Mauritanian terrorism suspects Mali was
transporting from Gao to Bamako. COMMENT: The Malians may
now be able to accurately say that there are no terrorism
related prisoners in Bamako - apart from Tuaregs recently
captured in connection with the European kidnappings. END
COMMENT.

10.(C) During an April 17 meeting with the Embassy,
Secretary General of the Presidency Django Sissoko did not
commit to access for the ICRC, offering instead assurances of
no human rights violations in Mali. On April 20 the ICRC's
Geneva based Director for West Africa and Niger based
Director for the Sahel met with Sissoko to discuss prison
visitation rights. Clearly disappointed ICRC officials
subsequently told the Embassy that Sissoko's message was
identical to the one he delivered to the Embassy a few days
before.

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Comment: Captured Rebel Limbo
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11.(C) Deity ag Sidamou's past, and probably present, role as
a Tessalit based trafficker would likely not make him an
ideal witness for the prosecution. Yet we take the fact of
his allegations of human rights abuses seriously. Mali could
ease concerns about the status and treatment of captured
Tuareg rebels by working with, as opposed to obstructing, the
ICRC. Allowing the ICRC to visit these individuals may also
relieve some of the tensions brewing amongst Tuaregs in Kidal
over the murky status of their captured colleagues. On April
20 Mali released eight Tuareg civilians who were apparently
caught up in security sweeps of Kidal in January and
February, leaving approximately 14 Tuareg rebels still in
custody (Ref. D). This partial liberation of Tuareg
prisoners, and Mali's upcoming April 26 local elections may
temporarily divert Tuareg attention away from imprisoned
rebels in Bamako and reduce the likelihood of restive Tuaregs
trying to capture some Malian soldiers of their own to even
the score. Once the election results are in, however, we may
be back to business as usual in Kidal.
MILOVANOVIC