With military victory elusive, W.African nations quietly back talks with
Islamists
Send a link to a friend
[June 11, 2021]
By Thiam Ndiaga and Aaron Ross
THIOU, Burkina Faso (Reuters) - Two years
after local emir Djibril Diallo fled his home in northern Burkina Faso
following death threats from Islamist militants, he received an
unexpected request: to return and take part in peace talks with the same
people who wanted him dead.
Adama Ouedraogo, deputy mayor of Diallo's hometown of Thiou, called him
in January to help negotiate an end to years of attacks by jihadists
against local militias and civilians that forced thousands of people to
flee the area.
"I told them that if everyone was sincere, I could return," said Diallo,
a traditional chief to Fulani herders.
For a decade, West African armies and their international allies have
fought against militant groups active in the Sahel region, some linked
to the al Qaeda and Islamic State networks.
They have had limited success. Attacks on civilians still occur most
weeks and large areas remain outside government control. Hundreds of
soldiers have been killed since militants first seized control of
swathes of Mali in 2012.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/11/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
Now, in the worst-hit parts of Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali, local
leaders are pursuing unofficial talks with militants. The governments do
not publicly acknowledge the discussions, but five sources involved in
them told Reuters the authorities have been quietly supportive.
Military ally and former colonial power France, which has 5,100 troops
in the region supporting local forces, says the militants will exploit
truces to regroup, rearm and recruit.
President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his opposition to talks on
Thursday, telling reporters that French troops would not conduct joint
operations with countries that "decide to negotiate with groups that ...
shoot at our children".
Yet there are tentative signs that the outreach may be helping stem
bloodshed in localities where it is happening.
Data collected by the U.S-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data
Project (ACLED) for the Nord, Sahel and Boucle de Mouhoun regions show
significant reductions in conflict-related fatalities, although other
factors, including recent military offensives, could have played a role.
In the Nord, the number of deaths from battles and violence against
civilians dropped from 65 in the first quarter of 2020 to 26 in the
first quarter of 2021. In the Sahel, they fell from 487 to 191 and in
the Boucle de Mouhoun, from 66 to zero.
Mahamadou Sawadogo, a researcher on security issues and former Burkinabe
gendarme, said such truces had led to an easing of violence, but
cautioned that their scope was limited to specific localities.
A June 4-5 attack on Solhan village near the border with Niger, in which
at least 132 people died, underlined how dangerous the region remains.
The village was not known to have negotiated an agreement with
jihadists.
In Thiou, located on an expanse of arid scrubland about 20 km from the
Malian border, Diallo and others struck a truce in February with
militants who say they are connected to al Qaeda's regional JNIM
affiliate.
Commerce is flowing freely again and thousands of displaced people have
returned, Diallo said.
Idrissa Diallo, a restaurant owner in town who is not related to Djibril
Diallo but shares a last name common among Fulanis, fled to Ivory Coast
in 2019 after the jihadists began clashing with local vigilante groups.
He came home following the talks.
"Calm has been restored," he said, shifting small pieces of meat and
onions over smouldering charcoals. "I started to work a little, and
there are lots of clients who come."
SECRET MEETINGS
The first meetings took place in December in the secrecy of a forest
outside Thiou, in Burkina Faso's Nord region, according to deputy mayor
Ouedraogo.
They were organised by Ouedraogo, who said he had kept in touch with
some people who joined the militants. He was accompanied by the head of
a group of volunteer fighters who are backed by the army and oppose the
jihadists.
"At the start of the negotiations, it wasn't at all easy," Ouedraogo
recalled. "The jihadists came with lots of weapons."
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/061121PIX/news_v41.jpg)
Amir Djibril Diallo, chief negotiator in the talks between the
jihadists and the Thiou population is pictured with the displaced
peoples of Koumbri during a visit at the displaced camp of
Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso April 10, 2021. REUTERS/Ndiaga Thiam
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
They met seven times before both sides agreed to more
formal talks. Ouedraogo informed the mayor, village chiefs and
Diallo, an authoritative figure among Fulani herdsmen whom the
jihadists considered a worthy interlocutor despite having threatened
him.
Diallo joined the process and, after another meeting, jihadists
reported back to their superiors, he said.
Thiou's mayor updated the regional governor, a federal government
appointee, according to Diallo and two others who participated in
the talks but asked not be named.
The mayor declined to comment when asked about the contacts, and the
governor did not respond to requests for comment. A government
spokesperson said the negotiations were a local initiative and
declined to respond to specific questions.
Then, in February, about 400 jihadist fighters, including some from
Mali where al Qaeda's powerful JNIM branch is based, came to seal
the peace, said Ouedraogo.
The jihadists' main condition was that the volunteer fighters, whom
the jihadists accused of stealing motorcycles and cattle and killing
civilians suspected of sympathising with the Islamists, cease their
patrols.
The negotiators agreed and allowed the jihadists and their family
members to trade at the market and receive medical care in town,
according to Ouedraogo and Diallo.
The jihadists vowed to cease attacks and to lift blockades.
FRENCH OPPOSITION
Authorities have been constrained by French opposition to
negotiating with militants, said a source involved in talks in
Burkina Faso and Mali, adding that time was of the essence while
contact with militants appeared to be bearing fruit.
At a news conference on Thursday where he announced France would end
its military operation in the Sahel and incorporate its forces into
a broader international campaign, Macron threatened to stop working
with countries that negotiate with jihadists.
"I don't know how to explain to the parents of a French soldier who
fell on the battlefield that I am sending back his brothers in arms
to fight alongside an army that has decided to negotiate with his
assailants," Macron said.
Decrying "ambiguity" on the matter, Macron said one condition for
France to resume joint military operations with Mali's army -
suspended after a coup last month - would be a Malian commitment not
to negotiate with the militants.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/11/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png)
Mali's leaders have publicly endorsed the idea of talks, but they
have kept concrete moves to pursue negotiations quiet.
In the Niono Circle in central Mali, representatives of the High
Islamic Council (HCI), the country's main Muslim body, led
negotiations earlier this year with al Qaeda-linked militants that
resulted in a peace deal in March, said Bocary Diallo, one of the
HCI negotiators.
Diallo said the organisation was given the go-ahead at a meeting
attended by religious leaders and four government ministers, but
that the government never officially signed off on it.
Mali's presidency and the ministry of national reconciliation did
not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga in Thiou, Burkina Faso and Aaron Ross in
Dakar; Additional reporting by Tangi Salaun in Paris; Writing by
Aaron Ross; Editing by Edward McAllister and Mike Collett-White)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |