Mali:
Radisson Blu Hotel Attack Meant to Thwart Peace Accord
by Amb. John Price
Special to IPT News
November 30, 2015
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The Nov. 20 terrorist
attack at the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital city of Bamako shows
that radical Islamists continue to be active in Mali. Reportedly, the
attack was to thwart the peace accord between the Azawad National
Liberation Movement (MNLA) seeking autonomy, and the Mali government. I
believe the Islamists embedded in the northern region want to hinder the
peace process so they can create an Islamic caliphate.
The Islamists reportedly affiliated with Moktar Belmoktar's
al-Mourabitoune militia killed 18 hotel guests and one local guard. Two of
the Islamist gunmen were also killed. I had stayed at the Radisson Blu
hotel in the past and found it popular with foreign business people,
diplomats, and airline personnel.
In March 2012, Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure was deposed in a
military coup due to his lack of support for fighting the northern Tuareg
separatists who had become affiliated with radical Islamists and
continually put the Malian soldiers under siege. The Islamists took
advantage of the poorly equipped military and seized control of the towns
of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal.
Instituting Sharia law, the Islamists brutalized the townspeople,
destroying radios, TV's, musical instruments and modern conveniences not in
accord with their strict interpretation of Islamic tenets. To add to the
instability, massive amounts of weapons came back from Libya with Tuareg
fighters after the fall of Muammar Gadhafi. With the arms also came an
influx of jihadists. Northern Mali, the size of Texas, became the epicenter
for Islamists from as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some of the
Islamists had been involved in the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S.
diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
I first visited Mali in January 2000 with an archeological group,
visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa and the Middle East. Mali was
a highlight with its ancient mud mosques in Djenne and Timbuktu. A center
of education and religious learning Timbuktu's importance dated back to the
15th century; home to a vast collection of historical manuscripts which the
radical Islamists tried to destroy.
I was in Mali again on Sept. 18, 2012, shortly after the Benghazi
attack, and chatter indicated al-Qaida affiliates were involved. My visit
was for the dedication of an elementary school that our foundation helped
fund for my friend Yeah Samake, who was the mayor of Ouelessebougou, a town
located 50 miles south of Bamako. Yeah arranged for me to meet with
government and religious leaders, and to visit the Mintao refugee camp in
neighboring Burkina Faso where we met with Tuareg elders. The Malians I met
with were moderate and very concerned about the radical Islamists who had
taken control of the northern region displacing 400,000 ethnic Tuaregs and
Arabs.
In January 2013, acting President Dioncounda Traore called French
President Francois Hollande to ask for military assistance, since al-Qaida
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other Islamists had descended south of
Konna just 300 miles from Bamako. France immediately sent ground troops and
Mirage jets from neighboring Chad to support the Malian military.
Within weeks, the Islamists were driven from Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal,
scattering them into the vast desert and frontier mountain region near the
Algerian border. The French forces, however, should have destroyed the
Islamist militias when they had the chance since the concern was that they
would return. Today, the French and U.N. peacekeeping forces are still
fighting these radical Islamists, with over 40 soldiers killed since 2013.
AQIM was the outgrowth of a dissident group in Algeria that in the 1990s
attempted to overthrow President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's regime. In 2003,
they moved into Mali and became affiliated with Ansar al-Dine, a terrorist
group composed of Tuareg fighters that had left the MNLA. The region soon
became a safe haven for Islamists including Movement for Oneness in Jihad
in West Africa (MOJWA) and other foreign insurgents.
The Tuaregs were pushed aside in a power struggle with the Islamists. In
a dispute with al-Qaida leaders, Moktar
Belmoktar broke away and formed his own militia, which in January 2013
was responsible for the attack on an Algerian natural gas plant, killing 39
foreign workers.
When I visited Mali in March 2013, the French had driven the Islamists
from the three northern towns. Yeah arranged for me to meet the French
ambassador, who was confident the Islamists would be defeated. French
troops would stay until after the national elections could be safely
undertaken. Planning to visit Timbuktu, I met with Yeah's friend Mahamadou
Alou Toure, the mayor of Bourem Sidi-Amar, a town located 30 miles from
Timbuktu. Knowing the area well, he agreed to travel with us and arrange
for meetings with village elders, and Tuareg dissidents in Timbuktu.
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Destruction at former
Islamist base. Photos courtesy of John Price.
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Early the next morning, we started our long drive to Douentza, a town
400 miles north of Bamako, where an army escort would take us through the
desolate desert to Timbuktu. Earlier that day we stopped at the Islamist
base in Konna that was destroyed by the French. Burned out gun-mounted
pickup trucks, armored vehicles, and ammunition bunkers indicated a fierce
battle had taken place, with many Islamists being killed.
 Our military escort
consisted of 20 soldiers and four pickup trucks with mounted machine guns.
The route covered 120 miles over the rugged terrain. The concern was that
Islamists could still be embedded in the area, especially near the Niger
River crossing. Mahamadou made arrangements for a ferry to take us across,
arriving in Timbuktu after midnight; encountering only two flat tires in
the twenty-hour trip.
We met the next morning with Col. Keba Sangare at Fort Elbekaye. Sangare
noted security had improved dramatically since a year earlier when Timbuktu
was under siege. More than 1,000 Islamists had been driven out of the area
since January. However, Sangare noted that if the French troops were to
leave it would be difficult to keep the region secure since the Islamists
would return.
With six added military vehicles and more than a dozen soldiers, the
caravan traveled to Mahamadou's village, Bourem Sidi-Amar. Hundreds of
people lined the narrow dirt road waving Malian and French flags and
cheerfully dancing, singing songs, and playing musical instruments which
were not allowed under Islamist control. Sangare told the villagers that
they could count on the military to protect them. The village elders said
they were thankful the Islamists were gone and free of their brutal acts.
Timbuktu felt peaceful, with shops open again and people mingling
around. On a street corner, young boys huddled around a radio listening to
music, which was forbidden under Sharia law. The Hotel Colombe where we
stayed barely managed to remain open, the manager told me. Without the foreign
journalists and government people they could not survive. He was hopeful
that security in the area would continue so tourists could again arrive at
the airport, the main access to Timbuktu.
I was awakened at 4 a.m. the next day by several explosions. At first I
thought it was a dream. Then reality set in as the continuous gunfire
lasted several hours. At daybreak, Mirage jets traversed overhead. A knock
on the door summoned me to meet at the neighboring military base where Col.
Sangare gave us a briefing. He noted that at a checkpoint five miles from
Timbuktu a vehicle drove past without stopping. In the firefight that
ensued, five insurgents were killed and one was captured. An insurgent in
the vehicle detonated his suicide vest, killing one soldier and injuring
six others. At the airport, two suicide bombers were killed before they
could detonate their vests. Timbuktu was under tight security, and leaving
would be difficult since no military escort would be provided.
In the hotel lobby, the next morning a Swedish TV producer alerted me
that a U.N. Humanitarian Air Service plane was coming to pick up 10
journalists. He suggested I call to see if I could get on the flight since
there were no other evacuation plans. With the help of the U.S. embassy in
Bamako, the U.N. dispatcher luckily had a seat available. Under tight
French security, the plane departed mid-morning for the town of Mopti,
where I arranged for an SUV to drive me back to Bamako, a grueling
fourteen-hour journey.
The attacks in Timbuktu were the first in several weeks. A few days
after we left, the Islamists came back and attacked the military base,
coming over the back wall of the hotel where we had stayed. The liberation
of Mali's northern towns may be short-lived since Islamists continue their
hit-and-run attacks. The insurgents' tactics now include suicide bombers
infiltrating the towns and villages, scaring people and their freedom. The
attacks at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, and in Kidal last weekend have
further shaken Malians.
With limited French and U.N. peacekeeping forces and a stretched Malian
military covering such a wide territory, the recent attacks will not be the
last by the Islamists. If France could not stop the Islamists from creating
the carnage on Nov. 13 in their own backyard, then attacks in Mali will be
even more difficult to stop since intelligence resources are limited. If
Moktar Belmoktar was behind the Radisson Blu hotel attack, it could have
been in retribution for the French military incursion in northern Mali, and
to show support for the Islamist attacks in Paris.
Disrupting the peace accord between the Tuareg separatists and the Mali
government could also give the Islamists more time to
reach their goal of an Islamic caliphate in northern Mali.
John Price served as Ambassador to the Republic of
Mauritius, Republic of Seychelles, and Union of Comoros from 2002-2005.
Related Topics: , Mali,
Radisson
Blu attack, Azawad
National Liberation Movement, Moktar
Belmoktar, AQIM,
Amadou
Toumani Toure, Yeah
Samake, Dioncounda
Traore, Tuaregs,
Keba
Sangare
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