# Rebel Groups merge in Mali and agree on Islamic State



## Sunni Man (May 26, 2012)

The two rebel groups that seized control of the northern half of Mali announced Saturday that they have agreed to fuse their movements and work together to create an independent Islamic state on the territory they occupy, a signatory to the agreement said.

Alghabass Ag Intalla, one of the leaders of Ansar Dine, which is fighting to create an Islamic state, confirmed that his movement was joining with the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, a secular rebel group led by Tuareg separatists. They signed the agreement in the northern town of Gao on Saturday evening, and celebratory gunfire rang out in both Gao and Timbuktu, another town under their control, as fighters heard the news.

"I have just signed an accord that will see an independent and Islamic state where we have Islamic law," Ag Intalla said.

Rebel Groups Merge in Mali, Agree on Islamic State - ABC News


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## Mad Scientist (May 26, 2012)

I wonder if any Islamic rebel groups were backed by the US?


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## High_Gravity (Jun 1, 2012)

Most of the world don't seem to be falling in step with this.


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## waltky (Jan 26, 2013)

Islamists forcin' lil' kids to fight in war...

*Child soldier's tale illustrates Mali's dirty war*
_Jan 26,`13  -- The boy sits with his knees tucked under his chest on the concrete floor of the police station here, his adolescent face a tableau of fear. He's still garbed in the knee-length tunic he was ordered to wear by the Islamic extremist who recruited him._


> It's these same clothes, styled after those worn by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, which gave him away when he tried to flee earlier this week. They have now become his prison garb.  Adama Drabo is 16, and his recruitment into the ranks of a group designated as a terrorist organization, followed by his violent interrogation at the hands of the Malian army, underscores the obstacles faced by France as it tries to wash its former West African colony clean of the al-Qaida-linked fighters occupying it.  "In terms of the rules of engagement, you have to think to yourself, what will you do if a child comes up to you wearing an explosive vest? What do you do if a 12-year-old is manning a checkpoint?" says Rudolph Atallah, former director of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon during the Bush administration. "It's a very difficult situation."
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> France, which now has around 2,500 troops on the ground, plunged headfirst into the conflict in Mali two weeks ago, after the Islamist groups that have controlled the nation's northern half since last year began an aggressive push southward. The French soldiers are equipped with night vision goggles, anti-tank mines and laser-guided bombs. However, their enemy includes the hundreds of children, some as young as 11, who have been conscripted into the rebel army.
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See also:

*Mali's road ahead: Reprisal fears and desert warfare*
_26 January 2013 - "If I could I would get rid of this skin. It's like I have 'terrorist' written on my forehead," said a Tuareg friend of mine - let's call him Boubou - here in Mali's capital, Bamako, as he pinched the light brown skin on his arm.  "It is not safe here for us."_


> We had first met a few years ago in Timbuktu, well before the ancient town, along with the rest of northern Mali, had been overrun by a Tuareg separatist rebellion and a loose coalition of Islamist militant groups early last year.  Now Boubou, like many Tuareg people, fears a terrible backlash from darker-skinned soldiers and civilians as French forces enable Mali's vengeful army to recapture Timbuktu and other northern towns in the months ahead.  "We Tuaregs are finished," he lamented, angrily blaming the MNLA rebels who he insisted had no support among the Tuaregs - themselves a minority group in the north - whom they claimed to represent.  But is he right?
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## waltky (Jan 28, 2013)

Granny says dat's `cause the economy is recoverin' so dey gonna spend dat money...

*US may give $32M to train African troops in Mali*
_January 26, 2013   The Obama administration is seeking an additional $32 million to train African troops to fight Islamic extremists in Mali._


> State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday the request had been made to Congress.  The United States is not providing any direct aid to the Malian government because the democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup last year.
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> However, it has been providing aid to the French-led mission, transporting French troops and equipment to Mali.  France has some 2,400 forces in the West African nation but says it wants African nations to take the lead in fighting the extremists who rule northern Mali.
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## waltky (Feb 8, 2013)

UN wantin' to put peacekeeping force in Mali...

*UN Considering Peacekeeping Force for Mali*
_ February 06, 2013  The U.N. Security Council has begun discussing the possibility of deploying a U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali, once Malian and French forces have stabilized the country._


> In December, the Security Council authorized the African-led International Support Mission to Mali [AFISMA], to consist of about 3,000 troops from the region. The force was to be dispatched in September or October for a period of one year to help take back northern Mali from Islamist militant groups.  But with the Islamist offensive in January and the French military intervention that drove the militants out of their strongholds, diplomats say the situation has changed. They will now seek to transition the nascent AFISMA force, which accelerated its deployment and began arriving in Mali last month, into a mission that is under full U.N. control.
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> Frances U.N. ambassador, Gérard Araud, told reporters after Wednesdays private meeting that before the mission can become a peacekeeping force, the situation on the ground must stabilize.  We are not yet deploying a peacekeeping operation. There is the prospect of a peacekeeping operation," said Araud. "It was the first time that I was raising the issue in the Security Council and I was insisting on the fact that the deployment will be possible only when the security circumstances permit. So I think we have to wait several weeks before assessing the security environment and taking the decision of deploying a peacekeeping operation.
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## waltky (Mar 8, 2013)

Pepe le Pew strikes again...

*French troops 'dismantle al-Qaeda base'*
_8 March 2013 - A major al-Qaeda base has been dismantled by French forces in the remote mountains of northern Mali, France's defence minister has said._


> Jean-Yves Le Drian said a "very impressive" arsenal of weapons had been recovered from the site, called Ametetai, in the Ifoghas mountains.  He also said a French national fighting with the militants had been captured.  French President Francois Hollande said earlier this week French troops would begin withdrawing from Mali next month.  He said the final phase of military intervention would continue throughout March and be scaled down in April.
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> 'Face-to-face combat'
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See also:

*French Forces Uncover Huge Weapons Stash in Mali Mountains*
_ March 08, 2013 - French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says French troops have discovered a huge arsenal of weapons in the mountains of northern Mali._


> Le Drian said at the end of a two-day visit to Mali Friday that it appears al-Qaida-linked extremists were looking to turn the area into a terrorist sanctuary.
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> He told French radio that the militants established a terrorist war network in Mali aimed at attracting radical-minded youngsters, such as what has been done in Afghanistan and Syria.
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## waltky (Apr 8, 2013)

Sound familiar?...

*Mali crisis: France in big offensive against Islamists*
_8 April 2013 - French forces have launched one their biggest offensives against militants in northern Mali, officials have said._


> About 1,000 troops are sweeping through a river valley believed to be a logistics base for the armed Islamists near Gao, AFP news agency reports.  This is said to be the last major French-led operation before France starts reducing its military presence.  The militants have been driven out of northern cities and towns since France intervened militarily in January.  However, the Islamists have carried out several suicide attacks in Gao, about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) north of the capital Bamako, and the ancient city of Timbuktu.
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> Nomad camps
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See also:

*Timbuktu fears French troops withdrawal from Mali*
_8 April 2013 - Malian soldiers advance anxiously in the streets of Timbuktu, a historic Muslim city freed from nine months of Islamist militant rule by French forces in January._


> They are on board six pick-up trucks, but they are effectively alone and exposed.  They know they are the primary targets for suicide bombers, who have been targeting several towns in the north that were rapidly recaptured in the first phase of the French-led intervention.  None of the soldiers crammed onto the vehicles wear a bulletproof vest, and fewer than half have a helmet on.  They are sitting amidst drums of fuel, sleeping mats and cooking pots.
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## blackcherry (Apr 9, 2013)

You are simply seeing a further type of US invasion .
American Political Strategy defined Nigeria as a top 10 countries target many years ago .
Mali and other near nations are simply part of the softening up exercise the US has devised for NATO 

Though there is only one permanent U.S. military base in Africa -- in Djibouti -- smaller drone hubs exist across the continent. A key hub of the spy-drone program is stationed in Burkina Faso, one of the world's most impoverished nations; and a Predator-drone base was recently approved for Niger, an oil-rich country north of Nigeria. Several hundred Special Forces already operate in Niger, and according to the Pentagon, the drones are only meant to conduct surveillance of al-Qaida-linked organizations. Yet drone-launched missile attacks have not been ruled out.
Don't overcomplicate what is essentially simple situation , imho .
It's just Terrorist America on the march again and using other countries as fronts in their destabilisation programmes .


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## High_Gravity (Apr 9, 2013)

blackcherry said:


> You are simply seeing a further type of US invasion .
> American Political Strategy defined Nigeria as a top 10 countries target many years ago .
> Mali and other near nations are simply part of the softening up exercise the US has devised for NATO
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Can you read faggot? the French are the ones in Mali not the US. Go suck a dick and shut the fuck up, grown folks are talking.


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## waltky (Oct 3, 2013)

23 prisoners with ties to rebels freed...

*Mali Leader Dissolves Army Reform Panel*
_October 03, 2013  The president of Mali dissolved a committee that was formed to reform the army and the government has freed 23 prisoners with rebel ties, in a move that could reopen negotiations with the MNLA rebel group._


> Clashes this week in the Malian rebel stronghold of Kidal, and a mutiny at the Kati military camp outside the capital, forced President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to cut short an official visit to France. The president had harsh words for the unruly soldiers and rebels but said he remains committed to reform and dialogue.  The flare-ups at Kati and in Kidal served as bitter reminders that, while France may have declared victory against jihadist groups once in control of the north, the rebellion and subsequent military coup of early 2012 that sunk Mali into crisis still hang like shadows over the country.
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> Members of the former junta at the Kati military camp fired their weapons and took an army colonel hostage Monday, saying they were passed over during a recent round of promotions.  Keita told the nation he will "not tolerate indiscipline and anarchy."  The president said an investigation is under way and called the mutiny a "slap in the face to the country" at a time when soldiers from other countries are "coming to our soil to defend us, some of them to the point of ultimate sacrifice."  Keita, who has broad-based support in the military, said he remains committed to overhauling the armed forces which analysts say are severely dysfunctional and undertrained.
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## ScienceRocks (Oct 10, 2013)

The key towards success for Africa is Education, infrastructure, science and tech.

People need to study and learn how to build a economy.


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