Plans for Tuareg rebels and hardline Islamist group Ansar Dine to join forces and proclaim an Islamic state in northern Mali have been blocked by deep difference, the two sides said Tuesday. "We have refused to approve the final statement because it is different from the protocol agreement which we have signed," said local official Ibrahim Assaley, a member of the Tuareg rebel National Liberation Front of Azawad (FNLA).
Moussa Ag Asherif, close to Ansar Dine head Iyad Ag Ghaly, confirmed the impasse in talks.
In the controversial statement, Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) speak of applying "pure and hard" Islamic Sharia law and of banning non-Muslim humanitarian groups from Mali's restive north, Assaley said.
"It is as if they want us to dissolve into Ansar Dine," complained the representative from the secular Tuareg rebels.
"That is unacceptable," he added.
The original declaration of a separate Islamic state in Mali's vast desert north had come at the weekend.
Mali's embattled transitional government swiftly rejected the embryonic rebel alliance's declaration, which had plunged the nation closer to break-up two months after a coup.
"The government of Mali categorically rejects the idea of the creation of an Azawad state, even more so of an Islamic state," Hamadoun Toure, information minister in the transitional administration, told AFP on Sunday.
The West African bloc ECOWAS on Monday also rejected the rebel declaration of independence and repeated an earlier threat to take "all necessary measures" to keep the country intact.
Regional and Western leaders have long feared a breakaway state in Mali's remote desert north could become Al-Qaeda's main safe haven.
Mali's transitional leaders have stressed their wish to restore the country's territorial integrity but seem unable to guarantee their own safety, let alone mount a credible challenge against the north's new masters.
The uncertain security situation was highlighted by the recent assault on 70-year-old interim president Dioncounda Traore.
His entourage said tests had revealed nothing alarming and that Traore was expected back in Mali in the coming week following a trip to Paris to receive medical attention. Tweet Bookmark Print Badge the Comments! Give badges to the best comments you see! You will get four badges a day 0 Comments To have full access to the interactive features available in Haveeru Online please register or sign in. or Post a Comment Loading comments... Please wait
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