By RFIPosted on 29-11-2019Modified on 29-11-2019 at 23:47
"When it launched Operation Serval, France did not collude with anyone," assured General Francois Lecointre, answering a question on Kidal where, since 2012, the Malian administration and the State do not have not returned yet. A situation that some put on the account of a past collaboration between the French forces and the National Movement for the liberation of Azawad.
Some believe that this situation would be the legacy of a past collaboration between the French army and Tuareg armed groups installed at the time of Serval Kidal. A collaboration officially denied by the French army, and yet actors of the conflict at the time confirm that the French have cooperated with the MNLA , the National Movement for the liberation of Azawad.
" The French army sometimes has short memory ," quips a military source deployed in northern Mali at the time of Serval . From the beginning of the operation, the soldiers were instructed to approach the MNLA. Their men served in particular for intelligence and sometimes even as elements on the ground. " We sometimes did joint patrols. There were even official communiqués praising the secularism of the MNLA, "says another military source.
This rapprochement was not everyone's taste. Some diplomats have warned about the porosity between the MNLA and the Mujao , the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, which will eventually join al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. " Collusion with the MNLA was dangerous because it tarnished our image without guaranteeing success. It was unnecessarily compromised with a short-term vision , "says a diplomatic source.
" We had our weapons, we were legitimate, we were at home ," contests a veteran of the MNLA. " Despite our common victories, this collaboration has brought us nothing," he continues bitterly, " neither political recognition nor material reparation, not even the restitution of our historical rights to our territory ."
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