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Malian government, Azawadi armed groups launch Algiers talks

Bamako says is ready to make "offers to armed groups", rejects negotiations on autonomy or independence for Azawad · MNLA believes "there can be no conditions" in talks · Proliferation of groups, dissidents makes conflict management complicated

The government of Mali and five Azawadi armed groups are today launching a round of talks in Algiers, which according to participants is aimed at establishing a "roadmap" that brings them to negotiations leading to a peace agreement that puts an end to the current armed conflict in the area, which started in 2012. Azawad -northern Mali, made up primarily by the provinces of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu- is now partially outside the control of the Malian government, with several regions being dominated by groups claiming autonomy or independence.

It is foreseen that the talks, which are facilitated by Algeria, will be complex. On the one hand, Malian presidency representative and former Prime Minister Modibo Keita has announced that "offers to armed groups" will be made. But Bamako has also made it clear that "neither independence nor autonomy" for Azawad will be negotiated. So far, Mali has only been willing to accept some decentralization of the Malian state.

On the other side of the table, three Azawadi movements will be jointly represented under a single political delegation: the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) and the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA). The first two are mostly Tuareg -MNLA being secular and HCUA Islamist- while the latter is predominantly Arab. All three advocate that, at least, Azawad be granted autonomy within Mali.

Speaking to Afrik.com, MNLA representative in Europe Moussa Ag Assarid said that "there can be no conditions to negotiations." Ag Assarid recalled that Malian decentralization promises have never been fulfilled in northern Mali, and therefore Azawad must now get its own "legal status" that allows "self-management"

A complex scenario

Besides the government and the MNLA, HCUA and MAA, another two groups are expected in the Algiers table. One of them is an MAA dissident group, while the other one is the Coordination of Movements and Resistance Patriotic Fronts (CMFPR), a very loose coalition that brings together several armed groups which are opposed to the independence of Azawad and which have their main bases of support among the non-Tuareg and non-Arab populations on the Niger river valley, especially among the Songhai and Fulani.

CMFPR is currently divided into two streams. One of them is recognized by Mali and Algeria, and it is the one invited to the Algiers talks. The other one is led by Ibrahim Abba Kantao, former leader of one of the CMFPR member groups, the Ganda Iso. Abba Kantao deplored that his group has been excluded from the talks, and blamed the Algerian and Malian governments for bending, he said, to independence demands by MNLA, HCUA and MAA.

On the side of the Tuareg-majority armed groups, unity does not prevail either -it has hardly ever. The leaders of each of the two most prominent groups (MNLA and HCUA) hail from different Tuareg noble clans. Meanwhile, the third important Tuareg armed actor, Colonel El Hadj Ag Gamou, has now for years had his own militia, made up mainly by Imghad Tuaregs, who are vassals in traditional Tuareg society.

Ag Gamou's militia -which is more or less linked to the Malian army- has clashed with the MNLA and HCUA in recent months. The most recent episode occurred last week in Anefis: Ag Gamou's men and the dissident MAA attacked MNLA positions. According to MNLA sources, dozens of fighters were killed.