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Ansar Dine 'dominates' north Mali,calls for Shariah in Mali: security sources
An offshoot of Al-Qaeda now dominates northern Mali, which fell into rebel hands in March, regional security sources said Saturday as authorities struggled to assert control in the capital Bamako.
"Today it is Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which occupies a dominant position in the three areas of northern Mali thanks to its alliance with the Islamic Ansar Dine group and the influx of Tunisian, Libyan and Moroccan fighters," a Mauritanian source told AFP.
Islamic and tribal Tuareg groups took advantage of a March 22 military coup in Bamako to push government forces out of the whole of northern Mali, an area the size of France and Belgium, including the cities of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.
A resident of Timbuktu said that AQIM fighters from other countries of the region had swarmed to the desert city in the far north, distributing food to the inhabitants and saying they had come to wage holy war.
Security sources said Timbuktu was under the control of Abou Yaya Hamame, the head of an elite AQIM combat unit, along with a lieutenant of Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly.
A security source from Niger said AQIM was less prominent in Gao and Kidal further to the east and south but it had men loyal to it inside both cities.
Confirming the reports, a Malian defence ministry official said, "What's happening in northern Mali concerns not only the Malian authorities but all the other countries of the sub-region."
"The destabilisation of the Sahel and the Maghreb is at stake," the official warned, referring to a vast swathe of northwestern Africa comprising seven or eight countries.
In March junior army officers ousted Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure, complaining that he had failed to give the army the means to combat a Tuareg separatist uprising.
But the chaos after the coup was swiftly exploited by a medley of rebel and criminal groups, which had different aims and appeared to be only loosely allied.
A Tuareg group proclaimed the independence of the region but Islamists Ansar Dine, albeit headed by a former Tuareg rebel leader, rejected the claim, saying the imposition of sharia law throughout Mali was the priority.
Under international pressure the junta eventually agreed to cede power to a civilian government but maintains its influence, with three key posts in the new interim administration.
Coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo has also refused demands by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for elections within 12 months.
ECOWAS leaders met in Senegal's capital on Thursday and warned the coup leaders they would face new sanctions if they continued to defy the 15-nation bloc.
The group also agreed to put a west African force on stand-by to deal with the volatile situation in northern Mali, though Sanogo has also rejected the deployment of outside troops.
"Recent developments in Mali are a source of grave concern. Africa and the world are watching us," Senegal's President Macky Sall told his counterparts.
Tensions flared again early this week as elite paratroopers who had remained loyal to Toure attempted a counter-coup, leaving at least 22 people dead.
Officials said Saturday several high-ranking members of the Malian army had been arrested in recent days, including a general, Hamidou Sissoko, along with about 30 other troops and civilians.
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