The Amazigh Call on the Foreign Ministers of Morocco and Spain to Stop the Genocide Against Tuareg Populations in the Azawad Region
Honorable 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, the European Union, and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain.
Subject: Fight Against Jihadist Terrorism in the Sahel and Request for Mediation to Stop the Genocide Against Tuareg Populations in the Azawad Region.
Honorable Ministers,
The recent dismantling of a terrorist cell linked to the Daesh organization in the Sahel region deeply alarms and urgently warns us about the danger posed by jihadist groups proliferating in this vast desert area of the Great Sahara. This represents a serious threat to the peace and stability of North African countries, as well as those of the European Union. The weapons seized from this arsenal were wrapped in newspapers published in Mali, dated January 15 and 27, and were discovered near Boudnid in the province of Errachidia [1]. This suggests the clear complicity of the Algerian military services in allowing these weapons to pass through Algerian territory to attack targets in Moroccan territory!
We are well aware that this imminent threat is pushing your respective governments to cooperate with the Malian authorities (as the Spanish Minister of Defense, Ms. Margarita ROBLES, has expressed her willingness to do, according to revelations by the newspaper El Confidencial [2]).
In this context, we hope that such cooperation between your governments and the transitional government of Mali does not come at the expense of human rights. We would like your governments to commit to ensuring peace between the Malian authorities and the Tuareg and Moorish rebels of Azawad.
Honorable Ministers,
We hope that your diplomatic efforts will lead to stopping the grave human rights violations and genocidal crimes that are being committed with impunity against Tuareg, Moorish, and other ethnic populations in northern Mali by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA), with the help of their ruthless Russian mercenaries from Wagner.
We inform you that our NGO, the World Amazigh Assembly, has been continuously warning about this unjust genocide. We have taken the initiative to call upon French President Emmanuel Macron [3], Russian President Vladimir Putin [4], Mr. Abdelhamid DBEIBEH, Head of the Government of National Unity of Libya, and the foreign ministers of North African and Sahelian states [5], the European Union [6], Turkish President Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN [7], and Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh EL-GHAZOUANI, as President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and current President of the African Union (AU) [8], as well as President Matamela CYRIL RAMAPHOSA of South Africa [9]. However, to this day, we have yet to receive a favorable response to stop this crime against humanity.
Be aware that the Azawadians are victims of severe human rights violations: executions, arrests, abductions of their sons and daughters, slaughtering of their livestock, and pillaging of their properties. These are real crimes specifically targeting civilians in the Azawad region, forcing thousands of women, children, and elderly people to flee to refugee camps in Mauritania and areas bordering Algeria. In 2024 alone, according to the Observatory for Civic Monitoring of Human Rights Defense of the Azawad People, the following have been recorded:
- 1,084 executions and attempted executions,
- 522 arrests, forced disappearances, and abductions,
- 165 instances of destruction, looting, and theft of property,
- 95 cases of torture,
- 9 cases of rape.
The Franco-Malian researcher Niagalé BAGAYOKO rightly stated that the Russian mercenary group Wagner was recruited by the Malian military junta, not primarily to fight jihadists, but to target the Tuaregs, as the city of Kidal was an obsession for them. After Wagner’s defeat in Tinzawatine on July 21, they have been deliberately targeting civilian Tuareg nomadic populations. As she pointed out on France24, these Russian mercenaries no longer combat armed jihadist groups, as they fled from ISIS fighters in Greater Sahara at Kobé, leaving the civilian population vulnerable to massacre!
Honorable Ministers,
We urgently call upon you to intervene to find a political solution to the Azawad issue and to deploy your diplomatic efforts to establish security and stability in the Sahel and Great Sahara region. If your main concern is the fight against the persistent threats of extremist Salafist groups in the Sahel, be aware that an effective fight against them requires the active involvement of the indigenous Sahelo-Saharan populations—the “Blue Men,” the Tuaregs.
Indeed, Mr. Romano PRODI, former President of the European Commission and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Sahel (2012-2014), was asked by Jeune Afrique:
“Do you think an Azawad state is viable?”
To which he aptly responded:
“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]
A similar solution was reached by the parties in Ouagadougou on December 4, 2012, through the initiative of former Burkinabe President Blaise COMPAORÉ, where both the Malian government and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) agreed on the “rejection of terrorism” and “respect for territorial integrity,” while emphasizing the “need for dialogue to achieve a cessation of hostilities.” The MNLA renounced independence in exchange for guarantees of “broad autonomy”, similar to Morocco’s 2007 proposal to the UN regarding the Western Sahara issue [11].
The Malian military junta canceled the 2015 Algiers Peace and Reconciliation Agreement on May 14, 2023. Therefore, we urge you to prioritize dialogue to ease tensions and mediate in proposing an alternative agreement that would promote lasting peace in northern Mali. A pragmatic alternative agreement should encourage the Malian military leaders (FAMA) and the Tuareg separatists of the Front for the Liberation of Azawad to engage in direct negotiations. Only together can they effectively combat jihadist terrorist groups—which, unfortunately, are backed by Algeria’s notorious military intelligence services!
Additionally, Honorable Ministers, we urge you to take immediate action to assist the hundreds of thousands of Azawadian refugees in Mauritania by providing humanitarian aid and medical assistance.
Awaiting your response, please accept, Honorable 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
