Islamist fighters have pushed Tuareg rebels of the MNLA out of Timbuktu and Gao. A convoy of Islamist forces is now headed for Kidal, the remaining town in Mali’s breakaway north where the MNLA maintains a foothold.
US Africa Command chief Gen. Carter F. Ham said the Pentagon is entering a “new military-to-military relationship” with Libyaâwhile hundreds remain detained without charge since the fall of Qaddafi last year.
New French president François Hollande warns that Mali’s breakaway north is harboring “terrorists.” He spoke in a meeting with Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufouâwho says he will seek UN approval for military action.
With the International Criminal Court and new Libyan regime at odds over the fate of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, four ICC staff members were arrested on suspicion of espionage while attempting to visit the late dictator’s son.
The deal between Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the jihadi faction Ansar Dine for creation of an “Islamic state” in Mali’s northern breakaway region has reportedly collapsed.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, in a renewed push for democratic reforms. The march, organized by trade unions, was the largest since a new government took office in January.
The Tuareg rebels of the MNLA announced that they are merging with the most significant of the jihadist factions operating in northern Mali, Ansar Dine, to form the Transitional Council of the Islamic State of Azawad.
With reprisals continuing against Tuaregs in Libya, similar reports are now emerging from regime-controlled Mali after the Tuareg uprising in the country’s north. But supposedly liberated “Azawad” provides no refuge, as Islamist factions vie for power.
Qaddafi’s ex-intelligence chief, wanted by the International Criminal Court for organizing mass rapes and other human rights abuses, will first be charged with immigration violations in Mauritania, where he has taken refuge.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in northern Mali and dozens have been subjected to arbitrary detention, extra-judicial executions or sexual violence including rape, Amnesty International reports.
While Tuareg rebels continue to claim to hold Timbuktu, an attack on the revered tomb of a Muslim saint by Ansar Dine militants shows jihadist factions have a free hand. UNESCO has issued an urgent appeal to protect the city’s cultural sites.
Sahelian governments and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing the fighting in northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region.
