Mali: demonstrations by families of soldiers fighting Tuareg rebels
Protestors are blocking the streets of Mali’s capital and soldiers’ families are demonstrating in a nearby town after recent clashes between the army and a Tuareg rebel group
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Mali-demonstrat...
The protesting families gathered Thursday in the town of Kati for a fourth day. They say soldiers are not equipped to fight the rebels. On Wednesday, protesters there attacked the business and home of a Tuareg family.In the capital, Bamako, tires burned in the streets, and shops and businesses were shuttered, according to Maliactu.
In Bamako, an AFP journalist saw young people, including students, not necessarily family ties with the military withdraw from the "soft power" in the management of this crisis, which resulted from January 17 by the attack of several localities in the north-west and north-east: Menaka, Aguelhoc, Tessalit, Lere, Niafounké.
They burned tires in the city center, blocking or disrupting traffic in places. Of police were deployed but did not intervene.
At Kati a garrison town 15 km north of Bamako, wives and children of soldiers chanted slogans against the Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, known as ATT: "ATT, accomplice of the rebels", "Bullets for our husbands! "," News from our husbands! "according to two protesters joined by phone from Bamako.
"Instead of making speeches, President ATT must now take action," said the wife of a sergeant.
Another woman said the event was continuing and that women and children were heading Koulouba, head of the presidential palace about 3 km from Kati. No incidents were reported until about 12:00 (GMT).
In a speech Wednesday night, President Toure called on Malians not to do an "amalgam" between Tuareg rebels and civilians. "Those who attacked military barracks and some localities in the North should not be confused with our other fellow Tuaregs, Arabs, Songhoï, Fulani living with us," he said.
At Segou (204 km north of Bamako), many women and children of Malian soldiers also marched in protest against the management of the crisis, told AFP witnesses and a city official.
"We had women, by the Regional Assembly of Ségou. They said it was empowering to Malian soldiers at the front and inquire about the status of their husbands," he told AFP Alioune Sidibé , a municipal official in the region of Segou. "Women were very angry, we tried to calm them down," he added.
No incidents were reported.This is the third manifestation of anger of military families since the beginning of the week.
On Tuesday in parts of Kati, women were stopped at the entrance to Koulouba by security forces, and on Wednesday in the same city, demonstrators attacked houses and a clinic owned by the Tuareg, who were vandalized, according to witnesses and local media.
" Tuareg families of Kati were evacuated. (...) Many people have left Mali" by air or by road, a Toureg said by telephone to AFP. He said that his parents escaped a lynching .
Tuareg rebels, including those grouped within the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), say that since 17 January lead an offensive to " get the people out of Azawad and the illegal occupation of territory by Mali of Azawad ". Azawad (from west to northern Mali) is considered the cradle of the Tuareg.
In 2009 Colonel Gaddafi brokered a peace between Mali and the Tuareg following a conflict which had been going on since 2007. Algeria, now the leading regional power was reported to be unwilling to take on this role perhaps because of fears about the conflict spreading to its own Tuareg population.It is reported to have temporarily suspended military aid and withdrawn its military advisers (there to help against Al Qaeda) from Mali to avoid involvement in the conflict with the Tuareg. Presidential elections are due in Mali in April and there is concern that they could be affected if the conflict continues.
In Bamako, an AFP journalist saw young people, including students, not necessarily family ties with the military withdraw from the "soft power" in the management of this crisis, which resulted from January 17 by the attack of several localities in the north-west and north-east: Menaka, Aguelhoc, Tessalit, Lere, Niafounké.
They burned tires in the city center, blocking or disrupting traffic in places. Of police were deployed but did not intervene.
At Kati a garrison town 15 km north of Bamako, wives and children of soldiers chanted slogans against the Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, known as ATT: "ATT, accomplice of the rebels", "Bullets for our husbands! "," News from our husbands! "according to two protesters joined by phone from Bamako.
"Instead of making speeches, President ATT must now take action," said the wife of a sergeant.
Another woman said the event was continuing and that women and children were heading Koulouba, head of the presidential palace about 3 km from Kati. No incidents were reported until about 12:00 (GMT).
In a speech Wednesday night, President Toure called on Malians not to do an "amalgam" between Tuareg rebels and civilians. "Those who attacked military barracks and some localities in the North should not be confused with our other fellow Tuaregs, Arabs, Songhoï, Fulani living with us," he said.
At Segou (204 km north of Bamako), many women and children of Malian soldiers also marched in protest against the management of the crisis, told AFP witnesses and a city official.
"We had women, by the Regional Assembly of Ségou. They said it was empowering to Malian soldiers at the front and inquire about the status of their husbands," he told AFP Alioune Sidibé , a municipal official in the region of Segou. "Women were very angry, we tried to calm them down," he added.
No incidents were reported.This is the third manifestation of anger of military families since the beginning of the week.
On Tuesday in parts of Kati, women were stopped at the entrance to Koulouba by security forces, and on Wednesday in the same city, demonstrators attacked houses and a clinic owned by the Tuareg, who were vandalized, according to witnesses and local media.
" Tuareg families of Kati were evacuated. (...) Many people have left Mali" by air or by road, a Toureg said by telephone to AFP. He said that his parents escaped a lynching .
Tuareg rebels, including those grouped within the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), say that since 17 January lead an offensive to " get the people out of Azawad and the illegal occupation of territory by Mali of Azawad ". Azawad (from west to northern Mali) is considered the cradle of the Tuareg.
In 2009 Colonel Gaddafi brokered a peace between Mali and the Tuareg following a conflict which had been going on since 2007. Algeria, now the leading regional power was reported to be unwilling to take on this role perhaps because of fears about the conflict spreading to its own Tuareg population.It is reported to have temporarily suspended military aid and withdrawn its military advisers (there to help against Al Qaeda) from Mali to avoid involvement in the conflict with the Tuareg. Presidential elections are due in Mali in April and there is concern that they could be affected if the conflict continues.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Mali-demonstrat...