Mali’s Tuareg rebels declared independence yesterday in the north, a move shot down by Islamist insurgents and the international community, as fears loomed of a humanitarian disaster.
Africa and Europe roundly rejected the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad’s (MNLA) declaration of independence as a chorus of calls mounted for a solution to the crisis which has split the coup-wracked nation in two.
Britain said it was temporarily closing its embassy in Mali due to the “unstable” situation and “lack of constitutional rule”.
A democratic success since its last coup 21 years ago, Mali is now roughly divided into a rebel-controlled north and junta-controlled south and a group of radical Islamists have exploited the chaos to swoop in and install sharia.
The Islamist group, Ansar Dine, moved in alongside the MNLA but has given short shrift to their independence plans.
“Our war is a holy war. It’s a legal war in the name of Islam. We are against rebellions. We are against independence. We are against revolutions not in the name of Islam,” Ansar Dine military chief Omar Hamaha said.
He was speaking in a video obtained by AFP and France 2 television filmed on Tuesday and Wednesday after the Islamists’ takeover of the fabled city of Timbuktu.
The video showed one group of rebels loitering outside a military camp, with their black flag draped over the name of the barracks above the entrance. In other scenes in the video, small groups of women walked along the city’s streets. Some wore full face veils but most simply covered their hair with scarves.
He said they had “more than 120 prisoners” including thieves.
“We have tied them up and taken their weapons. We beat them well and it’s likely we will slit their throats,” he added in unedited footage, while it was not clear if this threat was aimed at all prisoners.
In the city of Gao, Ansar Dine kidnapped seven Algerian diplomats, according to witnesses and the Algerian foreign ministry.
While the Islamists appeared to have the upper hand, the separatist MNLA yesterday morning declared the independence of their desert homeland which they call Azawad, where several rebellions have played out in past decades.