Breaking news: Tuareg rebels declare independence in north Mali.

[Relentless]

Jacaylbaro;815379 wrote:

Even if the subject is about Mars or Jupiter, they still keep talking about Somaliland ....

dadkan maskaaxda Somaliland ba ka gashay:cool:

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Moonlight was right

 

 

AU rejects Mali rebel independence call

Fri Apr 6, 2012 11:15am GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]

ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Reuters) - The head of the African Union Commission rejected on Friday a declaration of independence by rebels in the north of Mali and called on the rest of the world to shun their secession bid.

 

"(AU Commission chair Jean Ping) firmly condemns this announcement, which is null and of no value whatsoever. He calls on the international community as a whole to fully support this principled position of Africa," the continental grouping said in a statement. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; writing by Mark John; Editing by Jon Boyle)

 

 

source reuters

[Jacpher]

uchi;815298 wrote:

omg I'm shocked & surprised they didn't name thier brand new country 'Maliland'.

 

Very disappointing~

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

The experience acquired by the African continent shows that separatism is of no help in settling problems – if any. We see that the emergence of the Republic of South Sudan has not led to the cessation of violence. On the contrary, it has intensified there. I agree that it is necessary to take into account the lawful and well-substantiated demands of the Tuaregs concerning their security and the settlement of social and economic difficulties that emerge, showing respect for their traditions and customs. I believe that the best way for settling the problems of the Tuaregs is the broadening of their autonomy, which will lead to the peaceful coexistence with the other peoples of Mali, as well as with the peoples of the neighbouring countries of the Sahel."

wise word.

 

source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_04_06/70890698/

[Liibaan]

United States, Department Of State

 

The Political and Security Situation in Mali

 

Press Statement

 

 

Mark C. Toner

Acting Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

April 6, 2012

 

We do not recognize the statement by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (MNLA) announcing independence as valid, and we reiterate our support for the territorial integrity of Mali. We stand by the African Union, France, and others in their statements rejecting the MNLA’s announcement and calling for the unwavering commitment to the national unity of Mali. A separate Azawad state will only exacerbate the grave problems challenging the Malian state. We also call on the MNLA to cease all military operations.

 

We urge all armed groups to engage in dialogue with civilian leaders in Bamako to find a nonviolent path forward for national elections and a peaceful coexistence.

 

 

 

PRN: 2012/526

[Liibaan]

Worldwide Rejection For Tuareg Secession In Mali

 

AU, US, France Reject Mali Rebels' Independence Declaration

 

By REUTERS

 

Published: Apr 6, 2012 20:14 Updated: Apr 6, 2012 20:14

 

BAMAKO: Mali’s desert Tuaregs proclaimed independence for what they call the state of Azawad on Friday, a secession bid swiftly rejected by its African neighbors and foreign capitals from Paris to Washington.

 

The nomadic people has nurtured the dream of a Saharan homeland since Mali’s independence in 1960 and has come closer than ever to attaining it by seizing key northern towns this week while the capital Bamako was distracted by a coup.

 

Neighbours fear the creation of a new state could encourage separatists elsewhere, while the presence within the rebellion of Islamists with ties to Al-Qaeda has sparked wider fears of the emergence of a new rogue state threatening global security.

 

“The Executive Committee of the MNLA calls on the entire international community to immediately recognize, in a spirit of justice and peace, the independent state of Azawad,” Billal Ag Acherif, secretary-general of the Tuareg-led MNLA rebel group MNLA said on its www.mnlamov.net home page.

 

The statement listed decades of Tuareg grievances over their treatment by governments dominated by black southerners in the distant capital Bamako. It said the group recognized all borders with neighboring states and pledged to create a democratic state based on the principles of the United Nations charter.

 

It was datelined in the town of Gao, which along with the ancient trading post of Timbuktu and other northern towns fell to rebels in a matter of 72 hours this week as soldiers in Mali’s army either defected to the rebellion or fled.

 

Reuters Television pictures from Gao taken hours before the overnight website declaration showed jubilant MNLA soldiers celebrating in the local governor’s residence, decked with an MNLA flag and re-christened “The Palace of Azawad.”

 

The territory claimed as Azawad roughly corresponds to the three northern regions of Mali which make up a zone larger than France. The term is thought to have linguistic links to the dried up Azawagh tributary of the giant Niger river which snakes through West Africa from Guinea to Nigeria.

 

The 54-state African Union rejected the independence call as “null and of no value whatsoever,” urging the rest of the world to shun the secession bid. Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said his country could never accept a break-up of its neighbor.

 

The US State Department rejected the MNLA independence call and ex-colonial power France said it was now up to Mali’s neighbors to see whether talks were possible with the MNLA - a move that could target an autonomy deal short of independence.

 

“The demands of the northern Tuareg population are old and for too long had not received adequate and necessary responses,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, while stressing that any deal should leave Mali’s borders intact.

 

A Gao resident told Reuters the city had become a ‘ghost town’, patrolled by a few dozen Tuareg fighters in four-wheel-drive vehicles with machine guns. Most of the other Tuareg forces had withdrawn but it was not clear why.

 

Shops, banks and administrative buildings had all been smashed or burned since the weekend, said the resident, who did not want to be named for his own safety.

 

Many residents were fleeing in cars, buses and trailers for Niger, Burkina Faso or Bamako. “Half the population has left the town,” the resident said. “Everything is smashed and burnt, it’s dramatic ... If humanitarian organizations don’t intervene in a week, it will be a catastrophe.”

 

Initial reactions in Bamako were of dismay.

 

“This is really a bad joke,” Toure Alassane, a 42-year-old native of Timbuktu said at a gathering of about 200 northerners protesting against the move in the capital.

 

“It will never work. You don’t just declare independence when people don’t have food to eat and nothing is functioning in the north,” he said. Widespread food shortages caused by the failure of last year’s rains have been aggravated by insecurity.

 

In the northern town of Kidal, one resident said control was not in the hands of the MNLA but of the Ansar Dine Islamist group which wants to impose sharia, Islamic law, across Mali.

 

“Nothing goes without their say,” the resident said.

 

The advance capitalized on confusion in Bamako after a March 22 coup by mid-ranking officers whose main goal had been to beef up efforts to quash the rebellion.

 

In a sign of growing foreign concern, Britain said it was temporarily closing its embassy and pulling embassy staff out of the country, “given the unstable and unpredictable situation in Mali and the continuing lack of constitutional rule.”

 

Mali’s worried neighbors see handing power back to civilians as a precondition for moves to help stabilize the country and have imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions aimed at forcing junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo to step down.

 

On Thursday a team of mediators expressed hope Sanogo would soon announce steps that would allow them to drop the sanctions on Africa’s third largest gold miner, which include the closure of borders and the suspension of its account at the regional central bank. There was no immediate response from the junta.

 

ECOWAS, the 15-state West African bloc, is preparing a force of up to 3,000 soldiers which could be deployed in Mali with the dual aim of securing a return to constitutional order and halting any further rebel advance.

 

French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet put the MNLA’s fighting strength at a maximum 3,000, and that of Ansar Dine at about one tenth that number. He said France could provide an ECOWAS force with logistical help including transport.

‎

[MoonLight1]

Maliland is buried.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Moonlight the question is can they hold ground when things are sorted out in malis capital that will be interesting will they be defeated like north yemen defeated south yemen.

[Peacedoon]

The tuureg make no chance.

Sl have their own border, army and govt but is looking for independence for like 20 years.

They are close, really close.

South Sudan waited more than 30 years.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Actually south sudan fought close to 50 years.Eritrea more than 30 years. O'gadenia is fighting now close to 28 years.

[MoonLight1]

Xaaji Xunjuf;815842 wrote:

Moonlight the question is can they hold ground when things are sorted out in malis capital that will be interesting will they be defeated like north yemen defeated south yemen.

Xaji I believe they have no chance of holding, the key players are the neighboring countries, and they are all dead against the idea of secession-ism as it will backfire on them. These bunch of Tuaregs seem to be in a hurry and just declared independence from one sided, they never held referendum like the case of Eritrea and South Sudan as it would've given some sort of legitimacy. and now we are hearing that Bamako the capital is coming back to normal and the military junta heeded to ECOWAS countries pressure and agreed to hand over the rule to a civilian president. So the Tuaregs have no chance, all they will do is continue their guerrilla war in the desert.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

They should atleast fight for Autonomy that's the best thing they can do and drop the secession claim after being pressured