An April 29, 2012 French-language article on the website of the news agency Toumast Press reported on the First National Congress of Azawad, held in Gao April 25-26, 2012. Speakers included Colonel Muhammad Ag Najim, chief of staff of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), who called for unity among all Azawadian. He urged the region's armed groups to give up their arms, asking them to leave Azawad's security to the MNLA's military forces. Ag Najim was followed by various tribal leaders, who called on those who opposed Azawadian independence to leave the area, stressing that Azawad's civilian population would not hesitate to join the ranks of the MNLA's army in order to defend that independence.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
Source: http://www.tamoudre.org/geostrategie/resistance/conclusions-du-premier-congres-national-de-lazawad.html/attachment/tribune-congressistesgao-mnla
"More than a Thousand Delegates Participated in the Event, in this Awe-Inspiring and Historical Conference"
"Azawad, in all its ethnical, traditional, cultural, religious, socio-professional, and generational diversity, took part in the [first National Congress of Azawad] held [in Gao, transitional Azawad's capital] between Wednesday, April 25, and Friday, April 27, 2012 [sic]. All in all, more than a thousand delegates participated in the event, in this awe-inspiring and historical conference.
"Colonel Muhammad Ag Najim, MNLA's chief of staff, delivered the opening speech, welcoming all the delegations of Azawad. With his particular leadership and charisma… he reassured the participants by telling them… that Azawad doesn't belong to any [specific ethnic] group, [but] to all Azawadis, who will build up the country democratically…
"Muhammad Ag Najim denounced the maneuvers of certain international press organs, whose favorite game is to reduce Azawad to a [simple] territorial claim [made by] the Tuaregs (the Kal Tamasheq). He recalled that Azawad is simultaneously Songhai, Peulh, Arab and Tuareg, and that no ethnic group desires to rule any other, so as not to repeat the behavior of the Malian colonizer. On behalf of the MNLA, Ag Najim invited all the populations of Azawad to forget the difficulties and rifts of the past and to unite and work together, hand in hand, towards the common goal of all Azawadians, namely the construction of a prosperous and democratic Azawad.
"From a military perspective, Colonel Muhammad Ag Najim stressed that there still exist armed groups that, for different reasons, continue to delay the construction of Azawad. He called on these groups to immediately relinquish their arms and join the ranks of the MNLA, as there is no reason for any group that claims to be Azawadian and to pursue the same goals as the MNLA to differentiate itself from MNLA and operate as a lone soldier. In his view, only the MNLA's military personnel should carry weapons, in order to ensure security and protection of property. Among the [armed] groups, obviously, there are the foreign groups AQIM and Boko Haram, the drug dealers of the FNLA [National Liberation Front of Azawad] and Ansar Al-Din, the personal project of Iyad Ag Ghaly."
"Tribal Chiefs and Traditional Dignitaries Spoke and Reiterated Their Adherence to the Independent Republic of Azawad"
"After the MNLA chief of staff's address, tribal chiefs and traditional dignitaries spoke and reiterated their adherence to the independent republic of Azawad… Patriarch [amenokal, the local title for the traditionally highest-ranking Tuareg chiefs] Intallah Ag Attaher, supreme chief of the tribes of Adagh (Kidal region) went even further and asked once more that all the non-Azawadian armed groups (such as AQIM) immediately leave the territory of Azawad. The patriarch [also] asked the other Awazadian groups, such as Ansar Al-Din and the drug dealers of the FNLA, to drop their weapons. He told them that if it was Mali that created them, and if they were [truly] working for Mali's sake, they should leave Azawad for Mali. Patriarch Sheikh Baba Ould Sidi Elmoctar Elkounty, supreme chief of the Kounta tribes, endorsed the position of Intallah Ag Attaher.
"On the military level, it should be noted that prior to the congress and before the arrival of the Azawadian delegations, the MNLA took security measures throughout the city of Gao. Shortly before the congress commenced, a group of terrorists claiming to belong to MUJAO [the French acronym for the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, Jamaat Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Garbi Afriqqiya], which is actually a splinter of AQIM and which cooperates with drug kingpins such as Muhammad Ould Awainat, tried to blow up Gao's airport. They have [since] been neutralized and pushed out of the city by the MNLA.
"The grim Iyad Ag Ghaly and his dismal group, Ansar Al-Din, did not participate in the congress. The absence of this bearer of misfortune and Malian-Algerian agent was due to the fact that he is against the independence of Azawad and against the will of the Azawadi people.
"During the congress, delegates recalled that the independence of Azawad, proclaimed on April 6, is irreversible and that nothing will turn it back and revoke this independence. It is [also] an occasion to affirm that the ECOWAS's [Economic Community of West African States] threat to send 3.000 soldiers to invade Azawad does not constitute a serious threat, considering that Azawad pushed back the Malian army, which has 10 times as many troops. It was also reiterated that in order to defend the independence of Azawad against any external aggression, civilian populations will not hesitate to join the ranks of the Azawad national army, with the sole aim of defending Azawad's sovereignty and indivisibility.
"M'Beyri Ag Rhissa read a declaration [in which], on behalf of traditional representatives and dignitaries, he called on the international community to recognize Azawad as a sovereign state. Traditional representatives and dignitaries [also] asked Mali to acknowledge its failures and to be pragmatic in accepting the outcome of the long struggle of the people of Azawad for independence. In other words, he asked Mali to be a good neighbor to Azawad.
"Azawad's delegates asked the MNLA to ensure the security of the people and [their] property throughout the territory [of Azawad] and to spare no effort in continuing to reassure and unite [its] civilian populations."
Endnote:
[1] Toumastpress.com, April 29, 2012.
