Mali: Minister Ismaël Wagué met militia leader Dan Na Ambassagou
Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué, spokesperson for the CNSP, during a press conference in Bamako on September 16, 2020. MICHELE CATTANI / AFP
Text by: David Baché
4 min
Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué, Malian Minister of National Reconciliation, met with the leaders of the Dogon militia Dan Na Ambassagou on Tuesday.
A militia, however, accused of numerous abuses.
The meeting took place in Bandiagara at the initiative of the minister and in the presence of the military leader of this armed group, Youssouf Toloba, who did not hesitate to criticize the action of the transitional authorities.
In particular, inter-community tensions and the fight against jihadist groups in the center of the country were discussed.
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Encouraging for some, shocking for others, it is a meeting, to say the least, remarkable.
Youssouf Toloba is the military leader of Dan Na Ambassagou, a Dogon self-defense group made up of traditional hunters, which strives to secure villages in central Mali living under the yoke of jihadist groups.
But this militia is also accused by many human rights organizations, and even by a United Nations expert report published in August 2020, of abuses against Fulani civilians.
She is notably
accused of having massacred more than 150 civilians
in the village of Ogossogou on March 23, 2019. Officially dissolved in 2019,
Dan Na Ambassagou
has never complied with this decision and remains very present on the ground.
As such, many demand that Youssouf Toloba be prosecuted.
This did not prevent him from publishing a video in December 2020 to criticize the management of the security crisis in the center of the country by the transitional authorities.
"
Not a deposit
"
"
This is not a guarantee,
" immediately assures a member of the Malian Ministry of National Reconciliation, who specifies that similar meetings are also taking place with other self-defense groups, both Dogon and Fulani.
“
We want to engage in dialogue with all armed groups to ease tensions on the ground: between the army and the populations, between the army and these groups, and between these groups themselves.
"
The stated objective by the authorities is to put an end to hostilities and initiate in the center of the country a process of disarmament and reintegration, on the model of that which began in the North.
“
We didn't make any deal.
For the moment, we want to prepare them for this process, to convince them to lay down their arms
”, further specifies this close collaborator of the Minister of National Reconciliation, Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué - who before being Minister, had been the Minister of National Reconciliation.
one of the main leaders of the coup d'état
of August 18, 2020.
"
There is no question of it,
" nevertheless believes Mamoudou Goudienkilé, president of Dan Na Ambassagou, who participated in the meeting.
"
For that, there would already have to be security
!"
Before disarming us, we should already disarm the jihadists who kill our populations, steal our cattle and burn our villages
!
"
Mamoudou Goudienkilé affirms that there was also no question of disarmament during this meeting, which he considers "
salutary
" and "
fruitful
", because it allowed his armed group to reaffirm its support for the Malian state. and to request an increased presence of the Malian soldiers in certain areas, "
in agreement with Dan Na Ambassagou
".
Display?
On the side of the Fulani Tabital Pulaaku association, the reaction is necessarily less enthusiastic.
"
We were surprised
"
,
explains its vice-president Boureima Gnalibouny Dicko, who regrets that the state has until now "
always protected
" the militia.
“
We want to believe that there is a real will today to disarm them, but we fear that this is just a display.
"
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