Mali: Iyad Ag Ghaly recruits and appears in the Ménaka region
Iyad ag Ghali, leader of Ansar Dine, on August 7, 2012 in Kidal.
AFP PHOTO / ROMARIC OLLO HIEN
Text by: David Baché
5 mins
In Mali, Iyad Ag Ghaly is in the Ménaka region to recruit new fighters and he appears personally.
Photographs were broadcast overnight from Sunday to Monday, January 23 by Al-Zallaqa, the propaganda organ of the Jnim (Support Group for Islam and Muslims) linked to AQIM and led by Iyad Ag Ghaly.
We can see the jihadist leader surrounded by notable Tuaregs from the Ménaka region who pledge allegiance to him.
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The last time he showed up, Iyad Ag Ghaly took part in a lavish banquet celebrating the release of hundreds of jihadist fighters released by Mali in exchange for several hostages including Malian political figure Soumaila Cissé and Frenchwoman Sophie Pétronin.
It was in October 2020, more than two years ago.
This time, Iyad Ag Ghaly appears with several Tuareg notables swearing allegiance to him in the Ménaka region, during a meeting which would have been held on Saturday, January 21, barely two days ago.
The images have been authenticated by Heni Nsaibia, researcher at Acled (Armed conflict location and event data), specialist in the jihadist sphere in the Sahel, who specifies that the date is credible, although more difficult to confirm with certainty.
Near Inekar, for several weeks
According to several local security and civilian sources contacted by RFI, the meeting was held precisely in the Inekar sector, near the border with Niger, an area very far from Kidal or southern Algeria where Iyad Ag Ghaly usually hides.
Above all, Iyad Ag Ghaly would be on the move, in the area, for several weeks, “
for more than two months
”, even assures a source.
A freedom of movement which may surprise, even if "
Iyad has been much more mobile since Barkhane's departure
", as one interlocutor indicated, summarizing, on this point, the thinking of all the others.
In this case, rumors had reported the presence of Iyad Ag Ghaly in the Ménaka region on several occasions in recent weeks.
Some sources even assure that he would have personally led fights against the EIGS but this is the first time that photos and an official press release from the Jnim attest to his presence.
Recruitment campaign
This stay and this publication are thus very revealing of the security situation in this part of north-eastern Mali, which has been disputed for almost a year between the Jnim of Iyad Ag Ghaly, linked to AQMI, and the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group.
Civilians are very often targeted, particularly by the EIGS which has set up, as a method of conquest, the fact of massacring populations, stealing cattle and burning camps and villages in its path.
Since last March, nearly a thousand civilians have perished in this way, according to the count of local communities.
In this context, the Jnim seeks to expand its ranks by broadcasting these images.
Iyad Ag Ghaly intends to show his personal involvement in what ultimately looks like a recruitment campaign.
Tuareg Daoussak
According to the sources joined by RFI, the notables swearing allegiance to Iyad Ag Ghaly, on the images broadcast by the Jnim, are Tuaregs from the Daoussak fraction.
According to some of these sources, this allegiance particularly concerns combatants from the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), a local armed group that signed the 2015 peace agreement with the Malian government.
“
Some have passed through our ranks
,” admits a member of this armed group, “
but that was a long time ago.
There were not only Daoussaks with this allegiance and none of our fighters defected to join the Jnim
”, still assures this source within the MSA, on the front line to defend civilians against the EIGS, for almost a year, and who takes a dim view of this dynamic: if the MSA and the Jnim currently have a common enemy - the Islamic State group - and if certain battles have been able to lead them on the same ground [such as Talataye last September, editor's note] this MSA executive wants to be categorical: no alliance is desirable with the Jnim, “
to jump into their arms is a serious mistake.
»
In any case, the number of men affected by this new allegiance is difficult to estimate, but they will probably not be the last.
'No support'
The temptation to join the Jnim risks becoming greater and greater in response to the deadly attacks of the EIGS, but also because the inhabitants of Ménaka feel very largely abandoned by the Malian state: the Malian army and its Russian auxiliaries, although present in the town of Ménaka, have not led any combat in this sector since the beginning of hostilities.
The transitional government has not even issued a single communiqué to mourn the deaths of the hundreds of Malian civilians killed in the region.
“
The SOS of the populations has been known for a long time
”, points out a local source, “
and they have not been given any support.
Only Al-Qaeda can offer them something
.
»
This source, which considers and deplores that the attitude of the authorities plays into the hands of the Jnim, also recalls that since the beginning of the EIGS offensive in the area, the economic activities of the local communities, largely made up of breeders and of traders, are at a standstill.
“
Before, they lived from their market, now they have nothing.
»
►Also read: Mali: the government mandates the High Islamic Council to negotiate with Ag Ghaly and Koufa
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