Kidal – Hundreds attended a youth-led rally in Kidal city, the headquarters of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, to denounce the remarks by Nigerian President and chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mahamadou Issoufou describing the city of Kidal as a “terrorist region”.Â
During a joint conference with his Malian counterpart, Saturday Sept 7th, Mahamadou Issoufou declared that, Kidal’s current status under the Tuareg “rebels”, is a big threat to Niger’s stability, as well as the entire ‘Sahel’ region.
In response to President Issoufou’s remarks, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) announced Tuesday that will suspend its participation in the national dialogue due to violating of article 65 of peace agreement signed in Algiers on 2015.
Background
In 2012, Azawad was declared an independent state by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad MNLA after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Army from the territory ending up with establishing an independent Saharan state in northern Mali with a secular and democratic government. These developments went under reported by the mainstream media until the recent French intervention in Azawad, in which over one hundred people were killed on its first day.
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