Crisis in Kidal, Mali, Affecting Tuareg Musicians
Thursday, May 25 2006 @ 09:30 PM EDT
Contributed by: WMC_News_Dept.
Mali - Andy Morgan, manager of Tuareg band
Tinariwen has reported on the development of a crisis in the
African nation of Mali. According to his account, the northeast of Mali is in
turmoil following attacks on military and police installations in the towns of
Kidal and Menaka. On the morning of 23rd May, at around 06h00 local time, an
armed rebel Tamashek ('Tuareg') group under the command of Hassan Fagaga
attacked two military barracks near the regional capital Kidal and held them for
the next 24 hours. Fighting continued for some hours as civilians, women and
children for the most part, fled into desert.
A number of soldiers, national guardsmen and police took refuge in the old
fort of Kidal and continued firing on rebels and civilians in the streets below.
There are reports of four fatalities, two soldiers and two rebels. In Menaka,
Moussa Bah, a Tuareg army officer stationed in the local barracks mutinied and
fled into the bush with a number of other deserters, having taken a quantity of
arms and ammunitions from the camp arsenal.
At around 14h00 today, May 24, an armored division of the Malian army, which had
traveled overnight from Gao in the south, retook Kidal. The rebels have fled
north, and the situation is apparently tense but calm.
These events follow a period of mounting regional tension. The politics of the
southern Sahara are extremely complex. Simmering disagreements between certain
local Tamashek leaders and the Malian government have persisted since the
signing of the National Pact which put an end to last Tuareg rebellion in 1996.
The recent opening of a Libyan consulate in Kidal, the strategic rivalry between
the Ghadaffi regime and the Algerian government, the discovery of large oil
reserves in northern Mali, the presence of renegade fundamentalist militias in
southern Algeria and the arrival of US military advisors have all fueled a
welter of speculation and rumor.
Kidal is the hometown of the Tamashek group
Tinariwen, who are currently on tour
in Sweden and following events anxiously from afar. Various members of the group
have managed to call friends and family in Kidal. They are very concerned for
the welfare of their families, who are camping out in the desert in the hottest
and driest season of the year.
There is also a concern that this story will remain largely ignored by the
western media, or even worse, that events will be misreported and that rumor
will mutate into fact. "We call on all friends of the desert and of
Tinariwen
to help raise awareness of the situation
amongst media organizations in their country," said Morgan.
Tinariwen's
manager also called for "any NGOs and humanitarian organizations who have a
presence in the region to help alleviate the suffering of the civilians caught
up in this conflict."
Other
Tinariwen stories:
World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20060525193034342