Mali asks local group to open peace talks with al Qaeda affiliate

Malian troops are pictured among soldiers from the new Takuba force near The Doorongo Circle, Mali August 23, 2021, near Niger border in Celali Circle, Malian soldiers. BAMAKO, Oct 19 Reuters - The Mali government said on Tuesday that it asked the country's local group to open peace talks with leaders of al Qaeda's main Islamic affiliate in an effort to end a decade of conflict.

Malian authorities have previously endorsed the idea of talks and have quietly backed local peace initiatives with the militants as security deteriorates and Islamist groups expand beyond their traditional strongholds.

Such an approach is vigorously opposed by Mali's chief military ally France, whose president Emmanuel Macron said in June that French troops will not conduct joint operations with countries which negotiate with Islamist militants. The minister of religious affairs asked the Hi-Islamal Council HCI to open negotiations with the leaders of Jama a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin JNIM ministry spokesperson Khalil Camara told Reuters.

The minister had met the High Islamic Council for the last week to inform them of their desire to negotiate with all the radical malian groups, including Iyad Ag Ghali and Amadou Koufa, Camara said.

Ag Ghali is JNIM's chief and Amadou Koufa is the most active affiliate of JNIM in Central Mali. Mohamed Kimbiri, a senior HCI official, confirms the body had been tasked with negotiating with foreign JNIM leaders but was not instructed to negotiate with Malian Islamists. Another HCI official said no talks had yet taken place.

The HCI mediated discussions in central Mali's historic area Niono Circle - quietly backed by national authorities - led to a peace deal between JNIM militants and traditional hunters that oppose them in March.

The deal broke down in July but violence - in the area has surged since then.

The government's actions come with relations between Mali and France, which intervened in 2013 at a low point against militants.

Macron announced in June that France would begin drawing down its 5,000 - contingent mission in the Sahel, which led Mali to accuse France of abandoning it and float the idea using Russian mercenaries.