* Niger seeks action, Algeria dialogue in Mali’s north
* Confusion prevails in northern zone abandoned by army
By Laurent Prieur
NOUAKCHOTT, April 8 (Reuters) – Sahara Desert states
differed on Sunday over whether to crush or talk to the rebels
who have seized northern Mali – a mix of Tuareg separatists and
Islamists with links to al Qaeda.
At a meeting of regional countries in Mauritania, Niger said
the rebels’ gains should be reversed before any talks, but
Algeria warned that military intervention risked further
complicating the situation.
The rebels, bolstered by guns and fighters from Libya’s war
last year, routed Malian troops, in disarray after a March 22
coup, to carve out a zone the size of France and declare an
independent state of “Azawad”.
Mali’s government had long had a weak hold over its northern
zone, but its neighbours now fear a void that will exacerbate
regional instability, terrorism and smuggling.
Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Mali had set up a joint
military command headquarters before the lightning rebel push,
although it had struggled to coordinate efforts against what
they see as an Islamist threat in the Sahara.
Niger, which has suffered its own sporadic Tuareg
rebellions, said there could be discussion of some of the
demands of the separatist National Movement for the Liberation
of Azwad (MNLA).
But Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum echoed international
rejection of the group’s claim for independence as “absurd and
unacceptable”.
“We need to work to redress the balance of forces on the
ground before we can talk about negotiations,” Bazoum said at
the opening of the meeting in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott.
“We need to organise a confrontation with the terrorist
groups … Mali’s north must be cleared of terrorism and it
seems to me we have the ideal opportunity,” he said.
West Africa’s ECOWAS group had been mulling an intervention
to prevent any further rebel push until the coup meant restoring
civilian rule became the regional bloc’s priority.
The junta pledged on Saturday to leave power within days,
paving the way for the possibility for an intervention but it
remains unclear when boots could be put on the ground.
Bazoum said Niger, Mauritania and Algeria, as Mali’s closest
partners in the north, should engage in diplomacy but be ready
to intervene militarily, if needed.
Algeria, the region’s biggest power, took a different tack,
saying talks were the only way out. France, colonial ruler over
all the states at the table, has also pushed for dialogue with
the separatist rebel movement.
“The solution can only be a political one. It cannot be the
result of a military effort which could instead worsen an
already complex and precarious situation,” Mohamed Messahel,
Algeria’s delegate minister for African affairs, said.
Algeria’s position in Mali has been further complicated by
the kidnapping last week of its consul and six other staff from
its mission in Gao, one of the northern towns seized by rebels.
Algeria’s El Watan newspaper reported on its website on
Sunday that the diplomats had been freed, but Algerian officials
in Nouakchott were unable to confirm that.
Nearly a week after Malian government forces were completely
routed across the north, it remains unclear which groups really
control main towns or swathes of territory.
The MNLA separatists, which are more prominent in Gao than
the Islamists, denied any involvement in the kidnapping.
Ahead of the El Watan report that the diplomats had been
freed, French RFI radio said MUJWA, a splinter group from al
Qaeda’s North Africa wing, AQIM, had claimed the kidnapping.
(Writing and additional reporting by David Lewis; Editing by
Matthew Tostevin)
