On this page citations from press reports (almost daily and mostly in English) on developments in Mali in April 2014.
General and broadly reported questions are not included. Where possible a link is added.
The focus this month: US
military, peace negotiations, situation in the Northern part, dialoque,
Mauritania, French, now-and-then something on resourches and mining,
Earlier Mali in the press blogs on: January, February, March, April,
May, June
***
July 16
***
(Reuters) - A French soldier was killed in the first suicide bombing
targeting France's forces in northern Mali, where local and foreign
troops are struggling to restore order after putting down an Islamist
insurgency last year, officials said.
(...)
***
July 15
***
Armed groups from northern Mali will be in a "position of
strength" when they begin peace talks with the Bamako government
in Algiers on Wednesday, an Algerian diplomat said.
"After the major
defeat of the Malian army," which lost around 50 soldiers in the
Tuareg region of Kidal in May, "the armed movements now occupy
nearly two-thirds of the country... and come to Algiers in a position
of strength," the diplomat told journalists.
He was speaking on the
eve of the talks between Malian government negotiators and rebel
groups aimed at striking an elusive peace deal, with the country
mired in conflict a year after returning to democracy.
The Algiers meeting
brings together the various warring factions for the first time since
an interim agreement in June 2013 paved the way for nationwide
elections.
The diplomat, speaking
on condition of anonymity, described the room for manoeuvre in the
negotiations as "tight".
He said the parties needed to reach a power-sharing consensus
between, "on the one hand, armed groups who want autonomy for
northern Mali ... (and on the other) a government open to any idea
except independence." (...)
--
French military killed,
6 wounded at suicide attack @keesamok
BAMAKO, Mali, July 15, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ --
Today, 14 July 2014, Mr. Pierre Buyoya, Head of the African Union
Mission in Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), handed over to Mr. Sada
Samake, Minister of Interior and Security, a first batch of thirteen
vehicles out of twenty donated by the AU to Mali. This donation,
valued at one million U.S. dollars, equivalent to 481,642,430 CFA
francs, includes thirteen pick-up vans, four ambulances and three
trucks.
The donation will contribute to strengthening the capacity of the
Malian defense and security forces. In his statement at the occasion,
the AU High Representative for Mali and the Sahel, Mr. Buyoya,
reiterated AU's commitment to support the Malian authorities in their
efforts towards the restoration of peace and stability in their
country. Security in the Sahel region constitutes one of the three
main pillars of the AU Strategy for the Sahel. This includes the
promotion of collective security in the region, through the
Nouakchott Process, which is an initiative that brings together
eleven countries of the Sahel region, including Mali.
(...)
--
Malian government negotiators come to the table
with rebel groups on Wednesday hoping to strike an elusive peace deal
with the country mired in conflict a year after returning to
democracy.
(...)
Some of those groups, including the MNLA, the
HCUA, and two branches of the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) will be
represented in Algiers, where a government delegation will be led by
Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop.
But Mali has excluded several Islamist groups linked to Al-Qaeda
which occupied northern Mali for close to 10 months in 2012 before
being ousted by the French-led Serval military offensive.
(...)
Malian Premier Moussa Mara has warned that the
process will "require effort" and "compromises on both
sides".
While
he has suggested that the government is willing to make concessions,
he says there is a "red line" it is not willing to cross --
any talk of compromising Mali's territorial integrity or secular
status.
A
source from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA,
stressed the need for urgent action, with the security situation
deteriorating and inter-communal violence in the north presenting a
threat "more dangerous than anything else".
(...)
Djiguiba
Keita, from the opposition Party for National Rebirth, invoked the
terminology of medieval feudal Europe in a withering description of
Mali as Algeria's "vassal", or subordinate.
The
talks begin with French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arriving
in Bamako to sign a defence agreement with Mali, after Paris said on
Sunday that it was winding up the Serval offensive after 18 months.
It
will be replaced by a wider counter-terrorism operation, codenamed
Barkhan, to be implemented in partnership with Mauritania, Mali,
Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
Le
Drian said around 3,000 French soldiers would be part of the
operation, 1,000 of whom would stay in northern Mali.
Drones, helicopters, fighter jets, armoured
vehicles and transport planes will also take part in Operation
Barkhan -- the name of a crescent-shaped sand dune in the desert --
which will have its headquarters in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.
***
July 14
***
Citing shared goals of peace and security, the
United States last month gave Mauritania a $21m pair of military
aircraft outfitted with advanced surveillance equipment.
The
gift came
as senior staff from US Africa Command, which advances US security
interests on the continent, met with Mauritania's defence minister
and army chief of staff to discuss methods of strengthening
counter-terrorism.
The US has provided some form of security
assistance to Mauritania for decades, having established its embassy
in the capital Nouakchott in 1962.
But cooperation between the two countries deepened
in recent years, amid a growing threat from al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM). The benefits are mutual: In exchange for access to US
resources, Mauritania presents the US with a strategic asset in its
ongoing "war on terror", experts say.
"Mauritania is a base for upsetting regional
stability in West Africa, and that could have repercussions on the
United States," Jacob Zenn, an African affairs analyst with the
Jamestown Foundation, told Al Jazeera. "Historically a lot of
the key militants in the Sahel … have come from Mauritania, [so] a
strong Mauritania that has security over its borders and stability
within the country is a plus for the entire region."
--
More
than 30 people have been killed in clashes in the desert of
northern Mali, the army and Tuareg rebels said, just days before
the start of internationally-brokered peace talks.
An army source told the Reuters news agency on
Sunday that 37 people had been killed in clashes which began on
Friday in the northern desert area between Gao and Kidal. The
army blamed the violence on infighting between rebels.
Peace
talks between Mali government officials and Tuareg rebels are
due to start in Algeria on Wednesday, the first meeting since
clashes took place in the Tuareg stronghold of Kidal in May in
which some 50 Malian soldiers were killed.
The army source said those killed in the most
recent clashes were from the main Tuareg separatist group
National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and a group
of northern Malian Arabs called Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA).
MNLA spokesman Mohamed Ag Attaye, however, said in
a statement that 35 were killed from the Malian army and
other "militias" and blamed government forces for
starting the attack.
(...)
--
BAMAKO, Mali -- France said Sunday that it was reorganizing its
forces in Mali and surrounding countries into a single regional body
focused on battling terrorists in northwestern Africa.
The
announcement came just days before the start of peace talks to end
Mali's separatist rebellions.
''It's a regional operation to ensure the security of the area and
prevent jihadist groups from emerging again,'' the French defense
minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said on Europe 1 radio. France has
1,700 troops in Mali, but under the new plan about 3,000 French
soldiers, based in Mali, Chad and Niger, will become part of a
regional counterterrorism operation.
France sent troops last year to Mali, a former colony, to halt
advances by Islamist militants. The militants had hijacked an
uprising by Tuareg separatists and occupied much of northern Mali in
2012 before being driven back by French troops.
The fighters scattered across the Sahara's
mountains and sand dunes but have carried out a string of attacks on
both United Nations and Malian forces.
(...)
--
EU launches new security mission in Mali, PANAPRESS - Pan African
News Agency, July 14, 2014
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has launched a new
security mission in Mali, called EUCAP SAHEL, Mali, to assist the
Malian authorities in the training of their police officers,
gendarmerie and the national guard, sources from the EU office in
Mali told PANA on Monday.
According to the sources, the EUCAP SAHEL, Mali will promote
the sector of public safety in Mali with support to the efforts
already made by other international partners, like "EUTM-Mali",
MINUSMA and other partners.
The sources said that the planned
training programmes will globally enable the African country to
exercise its sovereignty.
They will also contribute to
establishing a modernized interior security sector which is expected
to stabilize the country.
EUCAP SAHEL will also reinforce and
advise the security forces with a view to improving their operational
efficiency, strengthen the role played by administrative and judicial
authorities in the management and control of their missions and
facilitate their deployment in Northern Mali.
The mission will
operate in addition to the European EUTM which has the mission to
reorganize the Malian armed forces.
***
July 13
***
France said Sunday its
military offensive that freed northern Mali from the grip of
Islamists would be replaced by an operation spanning the wider,
largely lawless Sahel region to combat extremist violence.
The so-called Serval
offensive kicked off in January last year when French troops came to
the help of Malian soldiers to rid the country's vast desert north
from Islamists and Tuareg rebels who seized control after a coup.
France had initially
planned to put an end to Serval and redeploy troops to the Sahel
region in May but a fresh bout of clashes between rebels and the army
in the flashpoint northern town of Kidal forced Paris to delay the
pull-out.
"The president
wanted a reorganisation of our troops in the (Sahel) zone,"
Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday in a television
interview.
He said French-led
Serval had been successful. "Now there is a concern for us and
for the countries in the area to make sure there is no upsurge (in
terrorism) as there are still major risks that jihadists will develop
in the zone that goes from the Horn of Africa to Guinea-Bissau."
The new operation,
codenamed Barkhan, will kick off in the coming days and is being
implemented in partnership with five countries in the Sahel-Sahara
region, Le Drian said, without detailing which nations these were.
He added the operation
would consist of around 3,000 soldiers supported by drones,
helicopters and fighter jets.
Le Drian did not
mention what nationality the troops would be, but he had said in May
that this "counter-terrorism" operation would consist of
3,000 French soldiers who would be present in northern Mali, the
north of Niger and in Chad.
"The aim is to
prevent what I call the highway of all forms of traffics to become a
place of permanent passage, where jihadist groups between Libya and
the Atlantic Ocean can rebuild themselves, which would lead to
serious consequences for our security," Le Drian said.
"It's our security
which is at stake."
***
July 11
***
Seven
fighters loyal to Malian army killed by Azawads, Sahara Media news
agency website, July 11, 2014 (via BBC Monitoring Middle East -
Political)
Secretary-general
and the official responsible for foreign relations at the supreme
council of the unity of Azawad Abbas Ag Intalla has said that seven
fighters at least who were loyal to the Malian army had been killed
in the battles which raged today, Friday [11 July].
In an exclusive statement to Sahara
Media, Ag Intalla pointed out that they had identified seven bodies
belonging to militia members who participated in the attack on Kidal
last May alongside the Malian army.
He added that the `militias which belonged to Mali' had launched this
morning an attack on the positions of the National Movement for the
Liberation of Azawad and the Azawad Arab Movement (the northern wing)
but that "the movements had repulsed their attack and inflicted
heavy losses in terms of lives and equipment on them", as he
said.
Ag Intalla, who is the son the leader
of the Ivogas tribes Intalla Ag Taher, added: "For our part, we
tried several times to maintain the ceasefire and to negotiate with
these militias by all means, but we did not succeed".
The Azawad leader considered what had
taken place to be a flagrant violation of the truce which was signed
in Kidal last May under the auspices of Mauritanian President Mohamed
Ould Abdelaziz.
He added: "We reserve our full
rights to defend ourselves and to protect our land and people
alongside the national and Arab movements and we announce our total
support for and participation in any decision or position to be taken
in this respect".
--
Background
The Economic Partnership Agreement involves the EU and its member
states, 16 West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo), the
Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) and the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
The EPA establishes a
partnership based on common objectives, asymmetrical obligations –
in West Africa's favour – and joint institutions including a
Council, an EPA implementation committee, a Parliamentary Committee
and a civil society forum.
West Africa accounts
for 40% of total trade between the EU and all the ACP regions. The EU
supplies a large part of the equipment that contributes to the
economic growth and development in the region. European annual
exports are worth approximately €30 billion. West African exports
towards the EU account for €42 billion. The agreement should
increase this figure even more in favour of our African partners.
The EU Economic
Partnership Agreements, which aim to help creating a "virtuous
circle" of growth, stem from the Cotonou Agreement signed in
2000 between the EU and countries of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP). The regional negotiations with West Africa started in October
2003 and were concluded in February 2014.
***
July 7
***
Esteban Villarejo,
Spain strenghtens military presence in Africa, Spanish newspaper ABC
website, on 7 July (via BBC Monitoring Europe - Political)
A police helicopter in
a hangar at Dakar International Airport, ready for patrol, military
missions in the Central African Republic, Somalia or Mali; two air
transport operations in support of France in 15 African countries;
Navy's participation in the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean,
or the presence of a prime minister at an African union summit -
whose host was Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang - are
some proofs of how Africa has become especially relevant for Spain's
geostrategic interests in recent years.
Before a military audience at the Higher Centre for National Defence
Studies (CESEDEN), Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy referred to
the importance of the African continent in the following terms:
"Political instability and the poor economic prospects for a
large part of the population in these countries are factors that have
a direct impact on the Sahel region's security and can affect Spain
and Europe."
Al-Qa'idah-linked
jihadist groups in the vast Sahel region, Boko Haram's terrorism in
Nigeria, increasing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and destabilizing
factors in countries like Libya and Syria - they also use the North
African illegal immigration route - are pushing the migratory
pressure towards the Mediterranean, turning these facts into the main
security concerns for Italy or Spain, whose National Security
Strategy (2013) identified these areas as a priority.
That is why the Spanish
Government, headed by Prime Minister Rajoy, will propose opening a
"southern" front at the next NATO summit in Cardiff (which
will be held on 4 and 5 September), so that NATO will not focus its
entire attention on the Ukraine crisis and the resulting panic that
it has unleashed in NATO member states, such as Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland or Romania.
"Endemic Threats"
"Spain will
contribute and has already offered a package of capabilities to
strengthen NATO's presence in these eastern European countries: air
patrols, a frigate, or the High Readiness Headquarters in Betera,
which is ready to lead join NATO operations; however, we also want
that NATO's southern flank be considered a priority for NATO's
interests," Defence Ministry sources pointed out.
At the next NATO summit
in Cardiff, which should also illuminate a future for the new
"Resolute Support" mission in Afghanistan, a new NATO that
stands up to the threat posed by Russia and other unstable areas will
be defined for the umpteenth time and all this with a reduced defence
budget that is being kept low because of the financial crisis: for
example, Spain has cut its defence budget by 32 per cent since 2008.
Defence Minister Pedro
Morenes highlighted this concern at a joint news conference with NATO
Supreme Allied Commander Europe US General Philip Breedlove, who
attended a preparatory meeting, on Wednesday [2 July]: "It is
very important that NATO keep an eye on the endemic threats in the
southern flank and all the Mediterranean coast towards the east, the
Sahel region, and the Gulf of Guinea. A weak flank is a threat to the
entire organization," the Spanish defence minister stressed.
Earlier, he had pointed
out that the next NATO summit in Cardiff would be "the most
important summit since 1991, with NATO at the crossroads . . . with
Eastern Europe, Syria or Iraq. We have to define what NATO is, its
mission, and its capabilities."
More than 400 troops
Coinciding with the
withdrawal of the Spanish troops from Afghanistan - Spain has gone
from deploying 1,300 troops in Afghanistan to having 300 troops,
which are now deployed in Herat and Kabul, Spain's military
geostrategic interest has shifted towards Africa, where 400 troops
are deployed in seven countries, apart from the patrols in the Indian
Ocean and the cooperation with western African navies.
This Spanish
initiative, following in the footsteps of France and the EU-led
missions in Mali and the Central African Republic, seeks to bring
stability to a key region in order to also put an end to the illegal
immigration routes, because the illegal immigration mafias are taking
advantage of the porous borders - practically nonexistent - of
Mauritania, Algeria or Libya to send thousands of people to the EU.
"Flows of refugees or immigrants" is the term that NATO
uses to refer to the great security and human challenge that the
southern countries are facing. "The best possible response"
will also be discussed at the NATO summit in Cardiff, General
Breedlove pointed out, but any NATO mission in the southern flank has
been ruled out for the time being.
--
(...) Resolute
will benefit from increased production at the Syama [gold] mine in Mali,
namely from the new parallel oxide processing plant which is expected to
be commissioned in January 2015, partially offsetting the above falls.
The increase in waste removal volumes at Syama in FY2015 is the
main driver for the increase in expected All-In-Sustaining costs for
that year. However, the current Life of Mine plan at Syama forecasts
this to reduce in subsequent years.(...)
--
Kamerbrief verlenging en wijziging mandaat Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)
Brief van minister Timmermans (BZ), minister Ploumen (Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking), minister Hennis-Plasschaert (Def) en minister Opstelten (VenJ) aan de Tweede Kamer over verlenging en wijziging mandaat MINUSMA.
***
July 6
***
Malian opposition said
concerned over handling of crisis in north, Radio France
Internationale 06 Jul 14 (via BBC Monitoring Africa – Political)
The beginning of the talks between the government and the armed
groups in northern Mali, which has been announced, is being waited
for still. The democratic and republican opposition parties have
expressed great concern over the management of the crisis in the
north by the president of the republic and the government.
The Malian opposition is asking President IBK [Ibrahim Boubacar
Keita] to consult the local political class, the stakeholders, with
the aim of coming out with a platform and a national vision before
beginning the discussions with the armed groups of northern Mali. The
talks are in principle expected to take place in Algeria before the
end of this month.
The opponents of the
Malian government have a message on the choice of this neighbouring
country and the choice of other countries to play the role of
facilitator for the resolution of the crisis. The message is quote
and unquote, we are urging the brotherly and friendly countries to
avoid any haste that is likely to compromise the future. Plainly, it
is a Malian crisis and inter-Malian dialogue must be the absolute key
for resolving the issue.
On its part, the ruling
majority explains that, on the issue of negotiations, the opposition
will, in one way or another, be involved in the formulation of the
national strategy. It also asserted that unlike what the Malian
opposition is saying on the issue of the north, the state has a
vision. The aim is to make peace with the armed groups in the north,
move quickly towards negotiations and to concessions. As a Malian
minister summarised it, quote and unquote, you will see that the
negotiation process will be speeded up very soon.
***
July 3
***
Evert Brouwer, Veilig onderkomen, Materieel Geien, 3 julio 2014
Over onderkomens Nederlandse militairen in Mali.
***
July 1
***
Christopher F Foss,
Roll out: mapping the appetite for wheeled artillery, July 2014
Jane’s International Defence Review
(...)
France
The CAESAR 155 m m /52
calibre SP artillery system was originally developed by Nexter
Systems as a private venture but has since been adopted by four
countries. The French Army has taken delivery o f 5 + 72 CAESARs, all
based on a Renault Trucks Defense Sherpa 6x6 cross-country truck
chassis, which can be fitted w ith a modular armour package. Those
CAESARs have seen operational deployment by the French Army in
Afghanistan, Lebanon and most recently Mali.
--
In 2014, Mali has
fallen off most news agendas, replaced by more urgent and potentially
more devastating conflicts in South Sudan and Central African
Republic. (...)
--
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - "Mali will not yield any military bases to
France," the Malian local media quoted Moussa Mara, the Malian
Prime Minister, as saying while referring to the Franco-Malian
military cooperation agreement.
They said Mara made the statement during a tour of the
Sikasso region.
According to Mara, the military cooperation
agreement is not a defence pact and so the question of a military
base is ruled out.
He said, "this document is not
intended to yield any Malian military base to the French army. It
aims to provide a legal framework for the presence of the French
military in Mali since the launch of the Serval operation in January
2012," noting that it is also a recognition of the efforts that
France has made to save Mali, when rebels and drug traffickers
occupied the northern part of the country in 2012.
Mara said
there is nothing new in this agreement which had existed since 1985
under former Malian president, Gen. Moussa Traoré.
"It
had to be renewed through the inclusion of new provisions to enable
the French army to continue its operations against terrorism which is
a threat to all the countries of the Sahel," he said
--
Baku-
APA. At least
one United Nations peacekeeper was killed and six others injured in
Mali on Monday when their vehicle struck a land mine in the north of
the country, a U.N. spokesman said,
APA
reports quoting Reuters.
Foto gemaakt bij Westminster, Londen, september 2011.
