[ 2012-06-30 ]

Mali Islamists threaten nations that join intervention force
BAMAKO (AFP) - An Islamist militant group in
northern Mali, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad
in West Africa (MUJAO), on Friday threatened
regional countries who would join a military
intervention force.

MUJAO said its branches "in several countries are
ready to strike the interests of countries that
intend to participate in the force of ECOWAS",
warned spokesman Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui in a
written message to an AFP correspondent in the
capital Bamako.

Mali has been gripped by chaos since disgruntled
troops swarmed Bamako on March 22 and ousted the
elected president of what had been seen as one of
Africa's model democracies.

In the ensuing weeks, Tuareg rebels and Islamist
hardliners have taken over a stretch of northern
Mali the size of Afghanistan. Extremists have
since imposed an austere version of sharia law in
northern Mali.

The Islamists, also including Ansar Dine and
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the Tuareg
have since fallen out.

Witnesses told AFP earlier that Tuareg rebels left
the historic city of Timbuktu on the orders of the
armed group Ansar Dine.

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African
States, or ECOWAS, were meeting in Ivory Coast
meanwhile in a bid to end the crisis. The grouping
is considering sending a military force to Mali.

Source - AFP

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