Bamako: Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaeda in north Mali have driven Tuareg rebels from their final stronghold, according to witnesses, as the country grapples for solutions to win back territory from the jihadists, media reported on Thursday.
According to reports, a local government official in the town said “The Tuareg rebels were driven out by the Islamists from their last bastion, Ansogo, situated 100km north of Gao.”
He said that while the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) had still 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.”
The information was confirmed by Malian doctor Albert Djigue, who on Wednesday drove to the city 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 Movement for 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.
This latest defeat means the Tuareg rebels no longer control any town in northern Mali, and are moving through the Islamist-controlled area in small groups, seeking survival rather than combat.
The MNLA was formed in late 2011, including members of separatist rebel groups who were active in the 1990s.
Boosted by the return of heavily armed Tuareg who had gone to fight for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the rebels launched their rebellion in January and quickly overwhelmed a demoralised and poorly equipped Malian army.
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