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April 13th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
If they did not, he said, “we will not hesitate to wage a total and relentless
war.”
The Group of Eight rich nations voiced “deep concern for the deteriorating
situation in northern Mali and the implications the current crisis has for
the wider Sahel region, including the impending humanitarian crisis.”
The G8 foreign ministers, meeting in Washington, said they had “reinforced
their support for the territorial integrity of Mali… and urged all parties
to ceasefire and engage in political talks.”
A US State Department spokeswoman said the United States welcomed Traore’s
inauguration as a positive step in the country’s political transition
process, urging “all parties to facilitate the swift and complete
restoration of civilian rule through free and fair elections.”
The African Union also applauded the handover of power to Traore.
The State Department however expressed deep concern at reports of human rights
violations in the north.
Meanwhile ECOWAS foreign ministers met in Abidjan Thursday to consider sending
a regional force into northern Mali.
The rebellion there “constitutes a real obstacle to the peace process,” said
Ivorian Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan after the meeting of the
15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which mediated
the Mali power transfer.
On the possibility of sending in a force, Duncan said “the resolutions will be
handed over to the ECOWAS heads of state,” as fears rose that the rebel-held
region could become a haven for radical Islamists.
The coup leaders, Malian politicians and ECOWAS mediators are scheduled to
meet in Burkina Faso this weekend to clarify the still murky management of
the transitional period.
In Mali, five ministers and four other politicians of ousted president Amadou
Toumani Toure’s government were released on Thursday, according to Captain
Moussa Dindo, who is close to the junta, and family members.
The nine had been held at the coup leaders’ headquarters, a military camp at
Kati, near the capital Bamako.
The junta is expected to retain some influence, with observers saying coup
loyalists could be named to key ministerial posts, notably those linked to
security as the army tries to reverse the massive rebel gains.
Many of the Tuareg rebels, who have fought several separatist campaigns over
the years, are heavily armed and battle-hardened from last year’s Libya war
where they fought as mercenaries for slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi
Joined by Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), they made unprecedented gains in the weeks since the coup.
The main Tuareg rebel group, Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), has
declared an independent state, a call rejected by the international
community and by the MNLA’s former Islamist allies.
Ansar Dine, the Islamist group that controls several key towns, has imposed
sharia law in some areas under its influence and distanced itself from the
Tuareg nationalist cause.
The UN Security Council has warned of the growing “terrorist threat” in
northern Mali, while the world body’s rights chief Navi Pillay said
violations could be worsening in the rebel-held north.
Reports “suggest that civilians have been killed, robbed, raped and forced to
flee”, she said in a statement.
Both Ansar Dine and AQIM are recruiting children in a bid to boost their
forces, a local elected official and a journalist in the region told AFP.
Ansar Dine, backed by AQIM, meanwhile took control of Timbuktu’s renowned
centre of historic manuscripts which keeps between 60,000 and 100,000
documents, sources said.
Source: agencies
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