NORTHERN MALIAN ARABS TAKE DEMOCRACY HOSTAGE FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000399

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINR PINS ASEC KDEM ML
SUBJECT: NORTHERN MALIAN ARABS TAKE DEMOCRACY HOSTAGE FOR
THE WEEKEND

REF: A. 08 BAMAKO 00371

B. BAMAKO 00383

C. BAMAKO 00280

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

1.(C) Summary: An armed group of Malian Berabiche Arabs
kidnapped nine primarily Tuareg elected officials outside
Timbuktu early on June 5 to disrupt the selection of
representatives to Timbuktu's Regional Assembly which was
scheduled to have occurred on June 6. Allegedly led by
Lamine Tahar, the Berabiche group reportedly threatened to
kill the hostages - who included one ethnic Arab - if an Arab
was not tapped as the next president of Timbuktu's Regional
Assembly. Three of the nine hostages were released later in
the day on June 5. The remaining six were not released until
the evening of June 8, at a well 160 KM north of Timbuktu as
Malian security forces were closing in. Meanwhile, Telemsi
Arabs led by Minister of Culture Mohamed el Moctar and Malian
army Col. Abderahmane ould Meydou reportedly installed fellow
Telemsi Arab officials in government posts in Tarkint, north
of Gao, without consulting fellow elected Tuareg and Kounta
Arab leaders. These events reflect a recurring phenomenon of
rivalry and jockeying for position among Berabiche and
Telemsi leaders from northern Mali. End Summary.

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Berabiche Kidnap Tuaregs in Timbuktu
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2.(C) Before dawn on June 5 a group of Arab Berabiche
leaders from Timbuktu took eight elected Tuareg leaders and
one elected Arab official hostage in the town of Bourem
Inaly, about 20 KM outside of Timbuktu. Reports on June 5
indicated that the nine men were lodged in the same residence
in advance of a June 6 vote to decide the composition of
Timbuktu's Regional Assembly. A group of armed Berabiche,
allegedly led by Lamine Tahar, roused the Tuareg leaders from
their sleep and led them, bound and blindfolded, to vehicles
which took them into the desert. The Berabiche ordered a
black Tamachek who was with the Tuareg group to return to
Timbuktu on foot to sound the alarm. Three of the nine
captured Tuaregs were released later in the day on June 5.
The remaining five Tuaregs and one Arab were not freed until
the night of June 7 when their kidnappers abandoned them at a
well, 160 KM north of Timbuktu, as Malian security forces
closed in.

3.(C) Local Timbuktu officials elected during Mali's April
26 municipal elections were scheduled to vote on the
composition of Timbuktu's Regional Assembly on June 6. The
kidnapping was designed to disrupt this vote. One of the
kidnap victims was outgoing Regional Assembly president,
Mohamed ag Sindibla. In a show of bravado, his Berabiche
captors allegedly threatened to kill the remaining six
hostages if the new president of the Timbuktu Regional
Assembly was not a member of northern Mali's ethnic Berabiche
community.

4.(C) The incident triggered a general alert among Malian
security forces in Timbuktu and a one day delay of JCET
training activities planned for June 6 with U.S. forces in
Timbuktu. That training has since resumed and will be
completed near the end of the month. Lamine Tahar, the
alleged leader of the hostage-takers, is a prominent
Berabiche businessman in Timbuktu and president of the Union
of Malian Arab Communities (UCAM),which is primarily a
Berabiche association (Ref. A). Some Tuaregs also linked
Malian State Security officer and Berabiche militia leader
Col. Lamana ould Bbou to the kidnapping. Lamana's militia is
reportedly stationed around the town of Ber, which is about
25 KM east of Bourem Inaly.

5.(C) All of the kidnapping victims also belonged to Mali's
majority Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA) political
party - which introduces a potential political angle aside
from an ethnic one. ADEMA claimed the largest number of
seats in the communal elections both in Timbuktu and in Mali.
At the time of the hostage taking, the ADEMA officials were
preparing for the election of Timbuktu's District Council,
scheduled for June 6. The ADEMA officials filed individual
legal complaints with judicial authorities in response to the
kidnapping, although the assassination of Colonel Lamana on
June 10 has diverted the attention of the authorities (Ref.
B).

6.(SBU) Malian authorities immediately reacted to the hostage
taking, assembling and tasking security force units to find
and free the hostages. At the same time, community elements
in Timbuktu rose in indignant protest against the hostage

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taking, demonstrating in front of the offices of Timbuktu's
governor, Colonel Mamadou Mangara. On Monday, June 8, the
freed hostages were taken to the Governor's Office in
Timbuktu for a short ceremony. Afterwards, they were taken
to a hospital for a medical checkup. The hostages indicate
that they were not physically mistreated by the hostage
takers, and that they were given plenty to eat. The election
for the District Council, meanwhile, has been rescheduled for
Saturday, June 20.

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Telemsi Arabs Pull a Fast One in Tarkint
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7.(C) As the hostage crisis was playing out in Timbuktu,
Malian officials in Bamako apparently dispatched several
Telemsi Arab leaders - Minister of Culture Mohamed el Moctar,
Malian army Col. Abderahmane ould Meydou, an unknown Arab
businessman close to President Toure, and probably former
National Assembly Deputy Mohamed ould Mataly - to Tarkint
north of Gao. The team was ostensibly to negotiate a
resolution to a separate conflict between Idnane Tuaregs,
Kounta Arabs, and Telemsi Arabs. This conflict has been
simmering since Mali's April 26 election day when Telemsi
Arab militias descended on Tarkint to tip the electoral
scales in favor of a candidate list composed entirely of
ethnic Telemsi Arabs, including AQIM intermediary and Tarkint
mayor Baba ould Chouekh (Ref. C).

8.(C) Tuareg contacts from Tarkint, however, have reported
that instead of negotiating the delegation assembled newly
elected Telemsi Arab councilors and proceeded with the
selection of the District Council without bothering to inform
elected Tuaregs or Kounta Arabs. The Telemsi Arabs
constituted a majority of the elected officials, thus the
exclusion of the Tuaregs and Kounta Arabs did not likely
affect the outcome of the District Council election. Local
Tuaregs, however, interpreted the move as another act of bad
faith on the part of Malian Arabs. The same Tuaregs had
previously recommended postponing the selection of the
District Council pending the outcome of the court proceeding
in Mopti challenging the April 26 results.

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Summary: More Arab Muscle
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9.(C) The incidents in Timbuktu and Tarkint represent
examples of muscle flexing both among Arab groups, and by
those groups toward their Tuareg neighbors, depending on the
locale. Moreover, they are evidence of a greater
preoccupation with political control than northern Mali's
Arab groups have displayed in the past. The incidents
illustrate the Malian government's difficulty in imposing
order in distant northern regions where local groups do not
hesitate to use guns and fast 4x4s to try to impose their
position, whatever Malian law.
MILOVANOVIC