Amazighs Appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Morocco and Spain to Stop the Genocide Against Tuareg Populations in the Azawad Region
Honourable Ministers,
- Mr. Nasser BOURITA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Residing Abroad of the Kingdom of Morocco,
- Mr. José Manuel ALBARES BUENO, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain
Subject: Counterterrorism in the Sahel and Request for Mediation to Stop the Genocide Against Tuareg Populations in the Azawad Region
Honourable Ministers,
The recent dismantling of a terrorist cell linked to the Daesh organization in the Sahel region deeply alarms us, as it highlights the imminent danger posed by jihadist groups proliferating in this vast desert area of the Great Sahara. This represents a real threat to the peace and stability of North African countries, as well as to those of the European Union. The weapons confiscated from this terrorist cell were wrapped in newspapers published in Mali, dated January 15 and 27, and were discovered near Boudnid in the province of Errachidia [1]. This strongly suggests the manifest complicity of the Algerian military services in allowing these weapons to cross Algerian territory to target sites within Moroccan territory!
We are fully aware that this imminent threat is pushing your respective governments to cooperate with the Malian authorities—a cooperation that the Spanish Minister of Defense, Mrs. Margarita ROBLES, has reportedly expressed interest in, according to revelations from El Confidencial [2].
In this context, we hope that this cooperation between your governments and the transitional government of Mali will not come at the expense of human rights. We urge your governments to work toward ensuring peace between the Malian authorities and the Tuareg and Moorish rebels of Azawad.
Honourable Ministers,
We hope that your diplomatic efforts will lead to the cessation of the serious human rights violations and genocidal crimes being committed with impunity against the Tuareg, Moorish, and other ethnic populations in northern Mali by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA), with the assistance of their ruthless Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group.
We inform you that our NGO, the Amazigh World Assembly, has been tirelessly warning about this unjust genocide. We have previously appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron [3], Russian President Vladimir Putin [4], Mr. Abdelhamid DBEIBEH, Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity, and the foreign ministers of North African and Sahelian states [5], the European Union [6], Turkish President Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN [7], and Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh EL-GHAZOUANI, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and current Chairman of the African Union (AU) [8], as well as South African President Matamela CYRIL RAMAPHOSA [9]. However, we have not yet received a favourable response from them to stop this crime against humanity.
The people of Azawad are victims of serious human rights violations: executions, arrests, abductions of their sons and daughters, massacres of their livestock, and looting of their property. These are heinous crimes specifically targeting civilians in the Azawad region, causing the forced displacement of thousands of women, children, and elderly people to refugee camps in Mauritania and regions bordering Algeria. In 2024 alone, according to the Observatory for Citizen Vigilance in Defense of Human Rights of the People of Azawad, the following atrocities were recorded:
- 1,084 executions and attempted executions,
- 522 arrests, enforced disappearances, and kidnappings,
- 165 cases of destruction, looting, and theft of property,
- 95 cases of torture,
- 9 rapes…
The Franco-Malian researcher Niagalé BAGAYOKO has rightly pointed out that the Russian mercenary group Wagner was recruited by the Malian military junta not primarily to combat jihadists but rather to fight the Tuaregs, with Kidal being an obsession for them. After Wagner’s defeat in Tinzawatine on July 21, these mercenaries have primarily targeted Tuareg nomadic civilians. As she emphasized on France 24, the Wagner mercenaries are no longer fighting jihadist groups, having fled in the face of Islamic State fighters in the Greater Sahara in Kobé, leaving the civilian population to be massacred!
Honourable Ministers,
We urgently call on you to intervene to find a political solution to the Azawad issue and to intensify diplomatic efforts to restore security and stability in the Sahel and the Great Sahara region. If your primary concern is the fight against the persistent threats of extremist Salafist groups in the Sahel, please be aware that to effectively combat them, the active involvement of the indigenous Sahelo-Saharan populations—the “Blue Men,” the Tuaregs—is essential and unavoidable.
Indeed, Mr. Romano PRODI, former President of the European Commission and former UN Special Envoy for the Sahel (2012–2014), was asked by Jeune Afrique whether an independent Azawad state was viable. His response was: “I hope for an acceptable agreement between Bamako and the armed groups because, without an agreement with the North, there will never be peace in Mali.” [10]
This solution was echoed in the December 4, 2012, meeting in Ouagadougou, initiated by former Burkinabé President Blaise COMPAORÉ, where the Malian government and representatives of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) agreed on “rejecting terrorism” and “respecting territorial integrity,” while acknowledging the “need to create a framework for dialogue to achieve a ceasefire.” In this agreement, the MNLA renounced the independence of the North in exchange for guarantees of “broad autonomy,” similar to Morocco’s 2007 autonomy proposal to the UN for resolving the Western Sahara issue [11].
However, the Malian military junta unilaterally annulled the Algiers Peace and Reconciliation Agreement of May 14, 2015. Therefore, we call upon you to prioritize dialogue, mediate to ease tensions, and propose an alternative agreement that would pave the way for lasting peace in northern Mali. A pragmatic new agreement should encourage the Malian military leadership (FAMA) and the Tuareg independence movement Front for the Liberation of Azawad to come together at the negotiating table. Only by working together can they effectively confront the jihadist terrorist groups, which, unfortunately, are supported by the infamous Algerian military intelligence services!
We also urgently request, Honourable Ministers, that you intervene to provide humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the hundreds of thousands of Azawadian refugees in Mauritania.
Awaiting your response, please accept, Honourable Ministers, our highest regards.
Rachid RAHA, President of the World Amazigh Assembly
Notes :
[1]- https://lematin.ma/nation/cellule-terroriste-liee-a-daech-les-precisions-du-bcij/265716
[9]- https://amamazigh.org/2024/10/les-sud-africains-sont-ils-vraiment-des-africains/
[12]- https://www.maroc.ma/fr/system/files/documents_actualite/initiative_marocaine.pdf
