Bamako: An Islamist group that is competing with Tuareg nationalists for control of northern Mali is stepping up efforts to provide law and order as it tries to gain recruits and the support of local residents.
They’ve even set up a telephone number that residents can call in case of an emergency.
“They went to see the young people who are already very religious and told them they need people to help ensure security in the town after they leave,” a resident told The Associated Press by phone from the northern city of Gao. The resident asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals.
he retreat of government soldiers from Mali’s north quickened rapidly last month after mutinous soldiers in the south overthrew the country’s democratically elected president, who had been criticized for his handling of the Tuareg uprising.
The power vacuum allowed the Islamists who want to impose Shariah law in the region to flourish. It’s unclear which of the factions has the upper hand, though increasingly it appears that Ansar Dine, the Islamist group, has greater sway.
When bus passengers called the emergency telephone number in Gao a week ago after attackers attempted to rob their bus, the Islamists came, repelled the attack and cut the throat of one of the bandits.
Competing with the Islamists’ efforts to win over the population are Tuareg rebels who have declared an independent state in northern Mali.
On Saturday, the fighters from the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad held a public meeting in Gao to try to explain their goals to the population, according to the NGO worker. The militants offered people two liters of free fuel and free T-shirts during the meeting.
The NGO worker said local people came to the meeting because of the free goods, but that it is the Islamists, Ansar Dine, who appear to be winning the battle for win hearts and minds.
“People prefer the Islamists,” the NGO worker said. “They are the ones who are acting like the police and making sure that there is no more theft. I think that even if they wanted to leave people would ask them to stay.”
Internationally, however, Ansar Dine has a problem with its reputation. The Malian government has accused it of having links with an al-Qaida-linked group that has been responsible for dozens of kidnappings of Westerners in the Sahel region over the last five years.
The NMLA is saying they are helping Westerners avoid that.
A Swiss woman was kidnapped in Timbuktu on Sunday. Switzerland’s foreign ministry said Monday that it is working toward her release, and the NMLA said they would have protected her had they known she was there.
Almost all Westerners have left the north of Mali since the Tuareg fighters and the Islamists took control.
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