The Permanent Strategic Framework for the Protection of the Azawadu People (CSP-DPA ) issued a press release sharply criticizing the position of ECOWAS and Senegal on the recent clashes in Tinzawaten in northern Mali.
The CSP-DPA is a coalition of Arab, Tuareg and Fulani tribes fighting for the independence of Azawad, the historical homeland of the Tuareg in what is now Mali. The group accuses the Malian authorities and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC of attacking civilians and violating previous peace agreements.
After the military coup in Mali in 2021, the new government turned to Russia for military assistance, which led to the appearance of Wagner PMC fighters in the region. The CSP-DPA accuses them of fighting against the rebels and ethnic cleansing.
In its statement, the CSP-DPA expresses surprise at the position of Senegal and ECOWAS, which condemned the rebels’ actions, calling them “an attack on the Malian armed forces.” Representatives of Azawad claim that they were actually defending themselves against an attack by Russian mercenaries and the Malian army.
The organization calls on the international community not to ignore human rights violations by the Malian authorities and the Wagner PMC, and to help return the country to constitutional order.
Below is the full text of the CSP-DPA press release:
Press release no: 09/BE/CSP-DPA/2024
Regarding the respective statements by Senegal and ECOWAS on the clashes in Tinzawaten on July 25, 26 and 27.
The CSP-DPA has watched with great confusion and questions the chain reaction to the clashes in Tinzavaten on July 25, 26 and 27, in particular from the Senegalese and ECOWAS authorities, who have condemned the “attack on the Malian armed forces” without prejudice.
The Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the Azawadu People, consisting of the signatory movements of the former Algiers Agreement, is a political and military organization whose main mission is to defend the rights and interests of the Azawadu people.
It rejects and condemns any malicious intent to tax it or confuse it with other entities or formations with different ideologies in a Machiavellian intent to undermine its legitimate struggle for the legal and political status of AZAWAD.
The CSP-DPA wishes to clarify that its forces, while on a mission to protect displaced civilians who had settled in Tinzawaten, were deliberately attacked and defended against a horde of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group, accompanied by elements of the Malian military junta’s army.
The CSP-DPA is surprised that countries and organizations sufficiently immersed in the political issue that opposes it to the central government in Bamako, as members of the international mediation under the outdated Agreement stemming from the Algiers Process, show such ignorance or denial of reality that they even call its legitimate forces terrorists.
However, the CSP-DPA remains available to cooperate to provide more information on this situation to any state or organization that wishes to do so.
The CSP-DPA deplores the silence of the international community, especially African states and organizations, in the face of all the serious crimes committed against civilians by international mercenaries hired by the Bamako putschists. A practice legally and morally attributable to this junta and its allies, which, if not condemned, contributes to the perpetuation of insecurity and instability in the region.
The CSP-DPA recalls that by refraining from condemning the ethnic cleansing deliberately carried out by the Bamako junta and Wagner’s Russian mercenaries against certain targeted communities in Azawad and central Mali, states and organizations that condemn its self-defense actions are clearly providing moral support to Wagner’s presence in the Sahel and, as a result, issuing a blank check for the extrajudicial execution of unarmed populations.
The CSP-DPA strongly expects Senegal, ECOWAS and all those who wish to advocate for peace and social justice to work to extinguish the fire between the people of Azawadou and the Bamako junta in order to save the lives of innocent civilians, and otherwise refrain from making statements with partisan connotations.
Needless to say, the CSP-DPA went to war against the coalition forces of the Malian Junta Army and the Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group after they expelled MINUSMA, violated the Agreement for Peace and National Reconciliation stemming from the Algiers Process, before announcing its termination by attacking its positions. This record should not be ignored or forgotten by any actor, especially those who were involved in the process from the beginning.
To our brotherly country of Senegal, a state with an inspiring democracy that has had the distinction of contributing to MINUSMA through a strong contingent of senior military and political officials, we ask for a better analysis of the situation to avoid contributing to the confusion that is being sustained at the expense of peace in the sub-region.
Finally, the CSP-DPA reminds ECOWAS that it would be more in its role to work to force the Bamako junta to quickly return to normal constitutional order, release political and prisoners of conscience, and rid the country of Wagner Group mercenaries, rather than supporting it in its momentum of disregard for democracy, confiscation of freedoms, and heinous human rights abuses.
Kidal, August 6, 2024
For CSP-DPA Spokesperson Mohamed Elmauloud RAMADAN
