Colonel Major Ismaël Wagué, Malia’s Minister for National Reconciliation, met with the leaders of the Dogon militia Dan Na Ambassagou on Tuesday. A militia, however, accused of several assaults. The meeting took place in Bandiagara at the initiative of the Minister and in the presence of the military leader of this armed group, Youssouf Toloba, who did not hesitate to criticize the action of the transitional authorities. In particular, tensions between the communities and the fight against jihadist groups in the center of the country were discussed.
Encouraging to some, shocking to others, it is, to put it mildly, a remarkable encounter. Youssouf Toloba is the military leader of Dan Na Ambassagou, a Dogon self-defense group made up of traditional hunters who strive to secure villages in central Mali living under the yoke of jihadist groups.
But this militia is also accused by many human rights organizations and even by a UN expert report published in August 2020 of abuses against civilians in Fulani. It’s especially accused of having massacred more than 150 civilians in the village of Ogossogou, March 23, 2019. Officially dissolved in 2019, Dan Na Ambassagou has never complied with this decision and remains very much present on the pitch.
As such, many are demanding that Youssouf Toloba be prosecuted. This did not prevent him from publishing a video in December 2020 to criticize the transitional authorities’ management of the security crisis in the center of the country.
“Not a deposit”
“This is not a guarantee,” immediately assured a member of the Malian Ministry of National Reconciliation, specifying that similar meetings would also take place with other self-defense groups, both Dogon and Fulani. “We want to enter into dialogue with all armed groups to ease tensions on the ground: between the army and the peoples, between the army and these groups and between these groups themselves.”
The authorities’ stated goal is to put an end to the hostilities and to initiate a process of disarmament and reintegration in the center of the country according to the model of the one that began in the Nordic countries. “We did not make an agreement. At the moment, we want to prepare them for this process, to convince them to lay down their arms “, further specifies this close collaborator from the Minister of National Reconciliation, Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué – who was previously Minister, had been Minister of National Reconciliation .one of the greatest leaders of the coup from 18 August 2020.
“There is no question about it,” said Mamoudou Goudienkilé, president of Dan Na Ambassagou, who attended the meeting. “For that, there should already be security!” Before we disarm, we must already disarm the jihadists who are killing our people, stealing our cattle and burning our villages! ”
Mamoudou Goudienkilé confirms that, moreover, there was no disarmament during this meeting, which he considers “greeting” and “fruitful”, because it enabled his armed group to confirm its support for the Malian state. soldiers in certain zones, “by agreement with Dan Na Ambassagou”.
Screen?
On the side of the Fulani Tabital Pulaaku Association, the reaction is necessarily less enthusiastic. “We were surprised,” explains its Vice President Boureima Gnalibouny Dicko, who regrets that the state has so far “always protected” the militia. “We want to believe that today there is a real will to disarm them, but we fear that this is only a display.”
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