Suspected Tuareg rebels attack convoy in north Mali
Thu 20 Mar 2008, 17:36 GMT
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By Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO, March 20 (Reuters) - Mali's military said suspected Tuareg rebels ambushed one of its convoys in the northeast of the country early on Thursday, wounding at least four soldiers.
The attack, which triggered a fierce gunbattle, was in the northern sector of the Kidal region close to the Algerian border, where al Qaeda kidnappers are reported to be holding two Austrian tourists seized last month in Tunisia.
The supply convoy was ambushed 18 km (11 miles) from the remote border garrison town of Tin-Zaouatene, which was briefly besieged in September by fighters led by Malian Tuareg leader Ibrahima Bahanga.
"A first vehicle hit a mine, seriously wounding four (soldiers), and then the rest of the convoy was fired on. Our men fired back and there were intense exchanges of fire," a Malian officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
He said Bahanga's group, whom authorities accuse of trying to control traditional Saharan smuggling routes between Algeria and Mali, were thought to be responsible for the attack.
One of the convoy vehicles was wrecked.
The attack took place as Mali's government worked to help diplomatic negotiators from Austria try to obtain the release of tourists Andrea Kloiber, 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, 51, who went missing while on holiday in Tunisia last month.
Algerian-based al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb says it seized the two, and Malian military sources said they were being held at an Islamist hideout somewhere between the town of Kidal and the Algerian border. There was no suggestion of any link between Thursday's attack and the kidnapping of the Austrians.
DESERT NOMADS
In Web postings, Al Qaeda has demanded a ransom and the liberation of 10 militants held in Algeria and Tunisia. It had set a deadline of midnight last Sunday for its demands to be met, but has extended this by a week.
Malian authorities have appealed to Tuareg community leaders in the Kidal region who might be able to act as go-betweens or mediators with the kidnappers of the Austrian hostages.
"Mali is going to let Austria freely negotiate the terms of release of the hostages ... offering its help where it's needed," a Malian official said.
Mali straddles the Sahara and the arid Sahel belt, a desolate expanse roamed by smugglers, rebel groups and nomads.
Last year, the rebels led by Bahanga carried out raids and ambushes in parts of the Kidal region, which to the east adjoins Niger, where anti-government Tuareg fighters have been waging their own one-year-old insurgency.
The nomadic light-skinned Tuaregs in northern Mali and neighbouring Niger have long complained of being marginalised by black-dominated governments far away in the south. They staged an uprising in the former French colonies in the 1990s.
The Tuareg rebels demand more autonomy and a greater share in their Saharan region's wealth, which includes deposits of uranium and gold. The Niger and Malian governments dismiss them as bandits involved in trafficking arms and drugs. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit:
http://africa.reuters.com/) (Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Andrew Roche)
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