This week, the RFI offers you a series of four reports on the unparalleled ceasefire agreement reached on March 14 over a one-month period between the jihadists in Katiba Macina, linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Dozo’s fighters who confronted them. try to protect some villages, especially Farabougou, in the district of Nionos (region Ségou). The Malian state, which mandated the negotiators, still has to comment at the end of the week on a specific point in this agreement.
From our special correspondent,
It has not been easy. But to put an end to more than six months of deadly clashes, the traditional dozo hunters in the Niono circle accept certain demands from the jihadists in Katiba Macina – affiliated with the Iyad Ag Ghaly Islamist and Muslim support group – linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb .
Concessions that Nama Traoré, the president of the hunters in the Ségou region, return to. “Coming to preach in your mosque with weapons is a form of threat to the population. It was difficult for them, but after all, they accepted and turned to the past. There are those who have lost their own families, wives and children and forget that it is difficult. They agreed to forgive for peace and live it together. ”
Dozo’s hunters also validate the obligation for women to wear the veil in areas controlled by Katiba Macina, as well as a division of traditional court decisions between local ulama and the jihadists themselves – especially in cases of discrimination against Fulani society, the conflict between jihadists and Dozos has shifted to past conflicts between societies.
For their part, the jihadists accept that the Dozo hunters circulate with their traditional clothing and weapons throughout Niono’s circle and undertake to release their prisoners. “During the last meeting, the jihadists were happy. They ate and drank together. The jihadists made it clear that they were happy with the meeting,” said Oumar Bouaré, an intermediary between the High Islamic Council mediator and Katiba Macina.
But one point remains unanswered: the case that has become symbolic of the village of Farabougou, subjected by the jihadists to an almost total blockade for six months, despite the presence of Malian soldiers stationed inside the village. The jihadists demand that these soldiers leave Farabougou. The agreement stipulates a period of one month for this.
The High Islamic Council of Maliqui was asked for one month to transmit their request. The agreement reached concerns Dozos and the local people. The soldiers did not leave “, confirms Moufa Haidara, head of the mediation – at the request of the transitional authorities – of the High Islamic Council of Mali.
The decision is now in the hands of the transitional authorities. Preserve ceasefire by withdrawing soldiers from Farabougou? Or assert state authority over the entire territory? The dilemma is real. The answer is expected at the end of the week.
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