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Alexander hat geschrieben:Sechzig Geiseln sollen freigelassen werden

Gute Nachrichten ... ob DIE Geiseln auch freigelassen werden?

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Birgitt

New round of talks to broker peace with Tuareg rebels

African states and Tuareg rebel groups have moved this week to end hostilities. Algeria is mediating talks between Mali and Tuareg insurgents and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has urged rebels to lay down their arms.

Mali’s government has set up a special commission with former Tuareg rebels to prepare a new round of talks for late August, sources told AFP Wednesday. mehr...

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Vague hope of peace in Niger and Mali

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) warned on Tuesday of hopes being pinned too high on a lasting peace in the Tuareg areas in the north of the west-African state of Niger and Mali. The evening before leaders of the armed Tuareg organisations said after talks with Libya’s head of state, Muammar al Gaddafi, that they would lay down their arms. "The chances of a lasting peace in Niger are small because the government in Niamey has shown so far no preparedness for compromise towards the Tuareg", warned the GfbV Africa expert, Ulrich Delius. "Gaddafi is well-known for his symbolic peace initiatives, which as in the cases of Darfur and Chad have seldom been of a lasting nature." mehr...

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Alexander

Touareg rebels accuse Mali of not respecting its commitments concluded in Algiers meeting

Toureg rebels in Mali abandon 1-month truce and threaten to resume attacks

The opposition movement or the Touareg rebels have put an end to a 1-month truce. The rebels justify such a step by the failing of the Malian Government to commit to the promises it made during the meeting held in Algiers, under the auspices of the mediator between the belligerent parties, the Algerian Ambassador to Mali, Mr. Abdelkrim Ghreib. The rebel Touregs have called on the EU, and the UN to support to the peace process in Mali.
In this regard, the Touareg rebels represented by the Coalition for the Change, said in statement released yesterday that they regret the failing of the agreement reached in Algiers, last July.21st, adding that the agreement concluded in Libya, last April, has not been respected by the Malian Government, too. The statement that has been signed by the spokesman of the coalition has indicated that the Malian Government neither respected its commitments reached during the meeting of Algiers, in July.2006, nor those agreed last month in Algiers, or the agreement concluded in Tripoli. While the Toureg rebels added that they are still disposed to participate in the ongoing negotiations.
Meanwhile, the political wing of the Toureg rebels, led by Ibrahim Bahanga, has announced new claims as like, the establishing of a political status for the northern regions of Kidal, Timbuktu, and Gao, in which the Touareg populations are based. But the statement has not made it clear if the world “status” expresses the will of the rebel movements to establish a self determination status.

Quelle: http://www.elkhabar.com

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Alexander

Tuareg rebels free three Malian police officers
24.08.2008 - AFP

GAO, Mali (AFP) — Tuareg rebels on Sunday freed three Malian police officers kidnapped after a raid in northern Mali in July, rebel leader Baye Ag Hamdy said. "I released the three hostages to show that I am ready to start talks with the Malian government to make peace. I wanted to show my good intentions," Baye Ag Hamby told AFP by phone. There are still dozens of Malian soldiers being held by various Tuareg groups ... mehr

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Konflikte zwischen Tuareg und Mali - Sahara-Frieden auf Sand gebaut

Algerien vermittelt Friedensgespräche zwischen Malis Regierung und Tuareg-Rebellen. Es geht um Sicherheit in der bei Schmugglern und Terroristen beliebten Saharawüste. mehr...

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Alexander

Discussions between Tureg rebels and Mali’s Government start today in Algiers
Hassan Fagaga to El Khabar: “negotiations pending on the site of the Joint Security Unit”

The representatives of the Tuareg rebels have arrived to Algiers, yesterday, to take part in a new round of discussions today with representatives of the Malian Government, headed by Minister of Interior Affairs, General Kaffougouna Kone.
El Khabar has met 8 of the main leaders of the Tuareg Democratic Alliance for Change, headed by the commandant of Tuareg fighters Hassan Fagaga, as well as the former spokesman for the movement, Ahmed Bibi, currently an MP in the Malian Parliament.
However, the leader of the movement, Brahim Bahanga has been absent yesterday, while expected to arrive later together with some other members, to attend the meeting. The latter is to last until next Saturday, the Algerian mediator, Ambassador Abdelkrim Ghrib told El Khabar.
Yet, Algiers meeting is to be devoted to discuss four main issues, including the assertion of the cease fire agreement which has already entered into force, as well as assessing the work of the commissions in charge of the return of displaced families. The meeting is also to discuss the issue of demining hundreds of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, being ploughed by the rebels, and finally, releasing all the prisoners being detained by both parties.
Hassan Fagaga told El Khabar yesterday that the main contention point between the two dispute parties is the site of the Joint Security Unit, which the two parties have agreed on in the last Algiers Meeting. This issue is to be discussed by a commission, made up of 200 military experts, expected to arrive to Algiers today.

Quelle: El Khabar

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Alexander

Bamako and Tuareg rebels agree on an additional peace talks
Bahanga wing: “such meetings are useless”

The dispute parties in Mali have left Algiers meeting, which started Thursday in Djennane El-Mithaq, without reaching a concrete compromise to the crisis.
The leader of the rebels’ Democratic Alliance for Change, Ibrahim Agg Bahanga quoted by the Alliance spokesman saying he is not satisfied “about such recurrent useless meetings.”
However representatives of rebels in Kiddal locality and the Malian Government agreed on some measures in terms of “building trust-bridge in order to pursue peace talks sooner on essential issues.” The dispute parties have agreed on pursuing tripartite peace talks through two other meetings, scheduled between 2 and 10 September 2008. They have further agreed to “gather necessary conditions to start settling some issues, including the release of prisoners, the return of displaced people, the clearing the mines and unveiling death circumstances of some of the Alliance leaders.”
The Alliance spokesman told El Khabar that the problem of the Malian Government is that it considers the Tuareg issue as a security issue, rather than a political one.
He added the Malian Government evaded its responsibility in terms of the non implementation of peace agreement sealed in 21 July that Algeria brokered between Bamako and the Tuaregs.
The same source further indicated that Bamako still has not withdrawn its troops from the northern regions of Mali, as well as establishing a finding fact panel to investigate assassinations of Tuareg citizens. He concluded by saying: “for all the abovementioned reason, we think that such recurrent meetings are, in fact, useless.”

Quelle: El Khabar

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Alexander

Four Tuareg civilians killed in Mali
02.09.2008 - AFP

BAMAKO (AFP) — The Malian army began searching for suspects Tuesday after four nomadic Tuareg civilians were found shot dead in the northern Gao region, military and other sources said. A military source contacted by AFP said four bodies had been found in the area near the border with Nigeria, but did not give any details on the circumstances of the deaths or exactly where they were found ... mehr

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Tuareg rebels in Mali free last hostages
10.09.2008 - AFP

BAMAKO (AFP) — Tuareg rebel chief Ibrahim Ag Bahanga has released the last 44 hostages held by his renegade group in the north of Mali, the government has said, in an important step forward towards peace. In return, the Malian government announced it had freed "all Tuareg prisoners" in its custody, said officials in the territorial ministry and the Kidal regional government. The 44 hostages -- all government soldiers -- were turned over Tuesday to the care of a Libyan diplomat in the Kidal region, in the vast desert frontier between Niger and Algeria ... mehr

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Tuareg rebels hand over Libya 44 Malian prisoners
Kadhafi jams Algeria’s efforts to bring peace in Mali
11.09.2008 - El Khabar

The Malian Government has announced yesterday that it has reached a compromise with Tuareg rebels in terms of exchanging prisoners following a mediation of Libya. This successful step is likely to open the door to official peace talks to resolve the rebellion issue.
Libya said yesterday that Tuareg rebels have released Tuesday 44 Malian soldiers used to be detained in Kidal locality, northern Mali, adding that the Malian Government has released, in exchange, detained Tuareg rebels.
The two dispute parties have managed closing a thorny and essential issue in their marathon peace talks with Algeria’s mediation. Yet, nobody expected that Libya would be involved in the negotiations, as another mediator, as the leader of the rebel Democratic Alliance for Change has already disclosed that the issue of prisoners has been handed over to the Libyan Leader Muammar al-Kadhafi for a month.
AFP quoted a high Malian official that the prisoners being released are the last bunch detained by the Tuareg rebels’ squad led by Bahanga. The re-implication of Kadhafi in the Tuareg issue gives impression that Libya “is not concerned” with efforts being made by the Algerian diplomacy, which likely to affect negotiations made in the frame of Algiers Meeting this summer. Furthermore, observers wonder whether Algeria is to pursue her facilitative role amid these developments, noting that another peace talk rounds have been scheduled in mid and later this month.

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Birgitt

Some Malian soldiers still held by Tuareg rebels, says official
11.09.2008 - AFP

BAMAKO (AFP) — Three or four Malian soldiers were still in the hands of Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, a government official said Thursday, two days after 44 troops were freed. "It is a question of practical organisation that they have not been freed with the others. They will be released soon," a Malian defence ministry official told AFP. However, a source close to the Tuareg rebel group which was holding the soldiers said the failure to release all the hostages was in order to "put pressure on the Malian government to speed up the resolution of the crisis, the application of the peace accords." ... mehr

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Algeria’s Ambassador to Bamako, Abdelkrim Ghrib to El Khabar:
“Algeria not disturbed by Libya’s parallel mediation between dispute parties in Mali”
15.09.2008 - El Khabar

The Ambassador of Algeria to Mali said the Algerian mediation between the dispute parties in Mali, namely the Malian Government and Tuaregs rebels, is not disturbed by the efforts made recently by Libya in terms of persuading the rebels releasing Malian prisoners.
Abdelkarim Ghrib has further denied the existence of any “crisis” between Algeria and Libya on the backdrop of the parallel negotiations led by Libya. The Algerian Ambassador to Mali, also the mediator between the dispute parties, told El Khabar in a phone call that “Algerian Authorities welcome any humanitarian initiative up to bring peace to northern Mali.” He made allusions to parallel negotiations parented by Libya between the Malian Government and the armed opposition, concluded, last Thursday, by releasing 44 hostages from the Malian Army. A Libyan diplomat has moved to Mali to hand over the released hostages to the Malian Authorities.
On another side, the Algerian Ambassador to Mali further told El Khabar that the first unit of the joint military troops between Mali and Algeria to be deployed today in borders between the two countries. The project targets securing borders from weapon traffickers and terror groups.

Quelle: El Khabar

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Birgitt

Malian army attacks anti-Tuareg militia, 2 killed
19.09.2008 - Reuters

BAMAKO - Mali's army killed one member of an illegal militia and arrested 31 other members of the group blamed for killing Tuareg nomads in the northeast of the West African country, the Malian military said on Friday. One soldier was also killed in the army assault on Wednesday against the village of Fafa in the Ansongo region, which served as a base for the anti-Tuareg group calling itself Ganda Izo (Sons of the Land) led by a former army officer, Amadou Diallo. Malian officers said Diallo recently created the Ganda Izo militia, consisting mainly of members of the Peulh and Sonrais ethnic groups, to confront Tuareg nomadic fighters who last year launched a rebellion in northeast Mali. The Tuareg rebels have been demanding greater rights and more jobs for their people ... mehr

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Bahanga taking a step back ?
14.10.2008 - temoust

Mali’s main rebel leader has moved to Libya with his family, marking what may be a positive development in the West African nation’s peace process, an informed source said on Sunday. "Ibrahim Ag Bahanga has moved to Libya with his family... Some think he has decided to take a step back," said a source close to the peace process between the Malian government, Tuareg rebels and Algerian mediators. "This information will strengthen the peace process," said the source ... mehr

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Algerian Ambassador to Mali gathers dispute parties in a step to restore peace

A meeting gathering the Malian Government and Tuareg rebels will be held today, in view of calling on the dispute parties to comply with peace agreement reached in Algiers, which has been breached recently, said the Algerian Ambassador to Mali, Mr. Abdelkrim Ghrib.

In a phone call with El Khabar, the Algerian Ambassador said he is making efforts at the aim of resuming talks between representatives of the Malian Government and the Coalition for Change in northern Mali, in a meeting scheduled today in Kidal, northern Mali.
According to Mr. Gherib, the objective of the meeting is to gather both dispute parties around the table, following the resumption of fights, while calling them to respect Algiers peace agreement, as it is the only option leading to restore peace in Mali.
The Algerian peace mediator between the disputed parties in Mali said the Tuareg leader Ibrahim Bahanga will not attend the meeting. However, Mr. Hama Agh Sid Ahemd, the Coalition’s Spokesman, said in a phone call with El Khabar that the Coalition has not received any invitation to attend the meeting, “so we are not concerned with such talks, which will, in fact, gather the Malian Government representatives, and local authorities in Kidal, northern Mali.”

Quelle: El Khabar

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Alexander