The Tuareg Mujahideen from Al-Qaeda and their allies have driven Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (NMLA) from their final stronghold in the north of Mali, AFP reports citing eyewitnesses.
While the puppet "government of Mali" is discussing ways to protect the pagan shrines, destroyed by the Mujahideen in Timbuktu, Islamic fighters rapidly expand control over territories in the north.
In Nouakchott, the ringleaders of military puppets from Mauritania, Algeria, Mali and Niger met on Wednesday to look at ways to deal with the "jihadist threat" and return to Malian puppet regime an area larger than France.
Some time ago the nationalist gunmen from the NMLA controlled the north of Mali together with the Mujahideen. An agreement was signed by the Al-Qaeda and NMLA, assuming that both parties will follow Sharia in their actions.
However, in late June the rebels had violated the agreement by killing one of the Mujahideen of Ansar al-Din and shot at the demonstration of Muslims angry with behaviour of nationalists in the town of Gao. After that, the Mujahideen came to the defence of protesters - fightings broke out, during which the Islamic fighters managed to push all the rebels out of the town of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, taking control of several airports, including international.
"The Tuareg rebels were driven out by the Islamists (Tuaregs) from their last bastion, Ansogo (see map), situated 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Gao", said a local puppet official in the town.
According to him, before that the Nationalists controlled part of the zone:
"Now it's finished, they have run off into the bush... Now our whole region is in the hands of Islamists", he added.
The information was confirmed by Malian doctor Albert Djigue, who on Wednesday drove to the town of Gao from the Niger border.
"From the Niger border, passing through Ansogo before arriving in Gao, I didn't see a single MNLA fighter. They have all left. It is the Islamists who are in charge", he said.
Djigue said the ally of al-Qaeda, the Movement for Tawhid, or Oneness, and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), had reinforced their positions, taking over the municipality's public works building as well as the Centre for Educational Organisation.
As reported by AFP, this means that the nationalist rebels no longer control any town in northern Mali and move through the liberated territories in small groups, running to escape.
"For us in the Ansar al-Din movement, our principle is very clear, which is to live in peace with all those who wish to do so, meaning anyone who accepts the rule of God, said Ansar al-Din spokesperson Sanda Ould Bouamama, quoted by African media outlets. - As for those calls and demands that worship the West and are closer to it, we are against them and reject them dictating our policies".
Meanwhile, experts believe that the NMLA rebels had no choice other than joining international occupation forces, preparing invasion of Mali:
"The terrorist movements and MNLA are opposite sides and this armed conflict that occurred between them is merely an indicator of the depth of their differences and cross-purposes, said a local analyst Abdul Hamid El-Ansari. - I think the opportunity is now suitable for the MNLA to get rid of terrorist groups in alliance with the Western powers, which will inevitably intervene in the coming days".
The nationalist rebels need to "waive some radical demands for secession", according to the analyst, and "extend a helping hand to the world".
Meanwhile, the international community urgently conducted several meetings. According to Reuters, the foreign powers are likely to take military intervention in Mali with the aim of overthrowing the Sharia system.
African and Western governments have compared the situation in this African country to Afghanistan in 90s, when the Taliban ousted in a similar manner various groups and established Sharia.
"In the north (of Mali), at one moment or another there will probably be the use of force", said on Thursday French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, adding that the occupation of Mali could be carried out under the leadership of the African puppet regimes supported by international forces.
"It's a serious situation because it is the first time terrorists have taken root in important cities and could be in a situation to implant themselves in an entire country", Fabius told members of the diplomatic press in Paris.
"They have a lot of money, heavy weapons, they are ready to die and their main enemy is France... And threat that what is happening in northern Mali can happen in other areas. There is a type of franchising of these terrorists in other areas", said the foreign minister of France.
Nevertheless, he said, Paris is not going to carry out the direct intervention because of the colonial politics, led by France in Mali in the past, because it may encourage locals to resist the foreign forces.
Instead, the European Union and the United States are prepared to provide the necessary support and training to local African regimes.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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