Malians protest against Islamists

AFP/Bamako

Protesters from northern Mali hold a sit-in in Bamako yesterday to protest against Islamists who have enforced Shariah, destroyed ancient shrines and trapped residents with landmines in their region

Protesters from northern Mali demonstrated yesterday in the capital against Islamists who have enforced Shariah, destroyed ancient shrines and trapped residents with landmines. Some 2,000 people braved pouring rain to join the sit-in protest at Banako’s Independence Square monument, chanting: “We want weapons to liberate the north.” “If the army doesn’t want to go to war, then give us the means to liberate our territory!” said Oumar Maiga, leader of a northern citizens’ collective. Tuareg lawmaker Nock Ag Attia said the tribes present in the north - the Tuareg, Fulani, Songhai - did not “share the foolishness” of the Tuareg rebels and Al Qaeda-linked Islamists. The protest came as the international community mulled ways to help Mali’s embattled interim government save its vast desert north, a territory larger than France or Texas, from the armed Islamists. The presence of the rebel Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), which is openly allied with Al Qaeda’s north African franchise, has sparked concern that the region may become a new haven for terrorism. Mali is being ruled by a 12-month interim government set up after a March 22 coup and which has proved powerless to deal with the partition of the country since the Islamists and Tuareg rebels captured key northern cities. The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) will hold a mini-summit in Burkina Faso Saturday to discuss the formation of a unity government that could request military intervention from its neighbours. Mali’s interim president Dioncounda Traore, who has not returned to his country since being attacked in his office in May, will travel from France to attend the summit, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole said. The 70-year-old Traore was attacked by a mob opposed to him taking over from the junta inside his office on May 21. Mali has continued its descent into chaos since then and is de facto split in two, with Islamist groups linked to Al Qaeda controlling the north. In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius yesterday denounced an “accumulation of horrors” in rebel-held northern Mali, saying women were raped, men beheaded and ancient treasures destroyed. He repeated earlier comments that he was “confident” the UN Security Council would soon pass a resolution authorising the force to assist Mali win back its territory. “The aim is firstly to re-establish constitutional order in the south and to ensure and affirm Mali’s integrity,” Fabius said. Following that, the goal would be “to regain lost territory.” The former colonial power’s Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said France is determined to prevent the setting up of “international terror bases that threaten the peace and prosperity of the whole region and our security too.” Ecowas says it has 3,300 troops ready to deploy in Mali. The ramped up diplomatic efforts came after Islamists in the fabled city of Timbuktu set about wrecking UN world heritage-listed ancient shrines, which they consider idolatrous. Ansar Dine has already enforced strict Shariah in Timbuktu in recent months, as well as in other key cities, and at the weekend began their rampage against the tombs they consider “haram”, or forbidden. They smashed seven tombs of ancient Muslim saints as well as the “sacred door” to a 15th century mosque. And in the key northern city of Gao, Ansar Dine’s Al Qaeda allies have planted landmines around the city to prevent a counter-offensive by the Tuareg fighters that they violently expelled last week. The Tuareg - descendants of those who founded Timbuktu in the 5th century - spearheaded the initial takeover of the north as part of a decades-old rebellion to reclaim what they consider to be their homeland. However, the previously unknown Ansar Dine, who had been fighting on their flanks, swiftly took the upper hand and pushed the Tuareg rebels from all positions of power, most recently in bloody clashes in Gao.UN to threaten sanctions over Timbuktu destruction: envoysThe UN Security Council will today threaten sanctions against the Islamist fighters who have destroyed Muslim shrines in northern Mali, but will not give a UN mandate to a proposed African intervention force, diplomats said yesterday. The 15-nation council is to pass a resolution giving support to the move by West African states to send a force to Mali, which has been in turmoil since March with a coup and a rebellion splitting the country. The resolution will also warn the Islamist fighters who have destroyed religious shrines in the northern city of Timbuktu that they could face International Criminal Court charges, according to excerpts of the resolution obtained by AFP. It will also send a “strong message” that anyone associated with Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM), one of the radical groups in northern Mali, will be put on the UN’s Al Qaeda sanctions list, said one diplomat. The resolution “stresses that intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion or historic monuments in the context of a non-international armed conflict can constitute violations of international law which may fall under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” It “urges all parties in Mali to immediately take appropriate steps to ensure the protection of Mali’s World Heritage sites.” Security Council states say they are ready to back the intervention force but are seeking answers to questions about the leadership and resources that the force will take to Mali and the scope of its mandate. “We thought it would be better to adopt a political resolution before giving the (UN) authorization,” one UN diplomat told AFP about the talks on the military force. “It is an important step in our support for the regional action by Ecowas and the AU. We are not yet giving a mandate for the force. That authorisation will be given when we know what mandate, what forces they are proposing.” “The discussions on that are still going on,” said the diplomat. “The Security Council does not give a blank check. It wants an operating plan.” The resolution also expresses concern at the increase in kidnapping and hostage-taking by terrorist groups in the region to raising funds “or gaining political concessions.” The Security Council says this valuable source of funding has “to be addressed.”