Malian army attacks Islamist rebels in the north

Groups linked to al-Qaida come under fire as observers predict the government will try to regain control

Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine near Timbuktu, in rebel-held northern Mali. Observers believe the government's attacks on rebel forces may be the start of a war to try to regain the north. Photograph: Romaric Ollo Hien/AFP/Getty Images

Islamist rebels in northern Mali are coming under heavy fire from the Malian army, in what some observers say could be the beginning of a war to bring the country back under government control.

Al-Qaida-linked Islamist groups, which have controlled the entire desert in the north of Mali since April last year, were attacked by rocket and artillery fire, sources told the Guardian, after they attempted to advance towards the government-held south.

"The Malian army fired rockets at the Islamists – it was enough to stop them and they have retreated," a senior diplomatic source in Bamako said. "They are still there, but at the moment there is no fighting."

The fighting took place near the town of Kouna, 55km from Mopti – the northern-most city under government control. Since rebel groups Ansar Dine, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) seized control of the northern two-thirds of Mali last April, Mopti has become a de facto border between north and south.

In November, Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghali, the former Tuareg leader and Malian diplomat who joined fundamentalist rebels during a consular posting in Saudi Arabia, agreed to a deal that would see a halt in rebel advances and the safe passage of humanitarian groups working in the region.
But increasingly belligerent rhetoric by the Malian government in recent weeks and mounting public pressure to reclaim the north is reported to have angered the group, which last week told journalists that they would no longer honour the terms of the deal.
Sahel-based Sahara Media reported Ag Ghali as saying in a statement that his group "put on hold an offer we've previously made to the Malian government to stop hostilities in northern Mali".
Ag Ghali accused the Malian government of preparing for war during peace talks, including "large-scale recruitment of fighters, including former mercenaries from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast".
Reports that the group might attempt to capture Mopti have caused panic in the town.
"Everyone has been getting very nervous and panicking and wants to leave the town," said Mopti resident Issa Ballo.
"We are really tired of this," said Ballo. "Mopti has become a dead town. All the young, all the old, are doing nothing. We wake up in the morning and do nothing. It has become hard to even feed our families because of these problems. Anything that will end these problems will be welcome – we want an intervention as soon as possible."
But there are suggestions that the army's offensive in Kouna could be the beginning of an attempt by the Malian army to unilaterally recapture the country.
Although the UN Security Council last month gave its backing for an African-led military operation to help Mali's government retake the north, a planned international intervention is now unlikely to take place until September, prompting frustrations that could see the Malian army advancing on its own.
Sources say the army is now better equipped, and morale has been boosted by the release of key vehicles and equipment from Guinea, where it had been impounded under an embargo.
"The army has been recruiting and training people, and bringing back deserters. Armoured vehicles and equipment that were impounded in Guinea under an arms embargo have finally been released, and morale in the army has been boosted," the source said.
"The military has based itself in Kouna, we have seen many military vehicles moving from Mopti to Kouna in the last few days," said Ballo. "They have placed Kouna under a curfew – we think that Ansar Dine are currently positioned about 20km away from the town."
Despite a large military presence in Mopti, many Malians have distrusted the army since soldiers abandoned the battle against Tuareg insurgents last year, paving the way for al-Qaida-linked groups to seize control of northern Mali. A faction of soldiers then toppled the democratically elected civilian government in the capital, Bamako, in a coup on 22 March last year, and recently intervened in politics again, forcing the interim prime minister, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, to resign.
Islamist groups linked to al-Qaida have taken advantage of the power vacuum in Bamako – with the current interim government widely regarded as illegitimate and ineffectual – to consolidate control over the north of the country.
The groups – which claim to be proponents of a strict version of Sharia law – have carried out public whippings, amputations and executions, as well as destroying ancient shrines in the world heritage site of Timbuktu and other cities in the north.
Although the Islamists have not engaged in fighting with the Malian army since capturing the territory last year, they are widely known to have sleeper cells in towns in southern Mali, including Bamako.
"The main concern if the Malian army begin fighting the Islamists is the potential for a backlash in the south," said the diplomatic source. "You could find terrorist cells activated around the country."