The Peace Process in Mali: Oiling the Works?

1 Robin-Edward Poulton and Ibrahim Ag Youssouf define civil society as `those citizens who form themselves into associations to promote an interest which does not include seeking or exercising political power'. (Robin-Edward Poulton & Ibrahim Ag Youssouf, A Peace of Timbuktu - Democratic Governance and African Peacemaking. (Geneva 1997), ch. 5.1.) In the case of Mali, it is appropriate to include village leaders, clan leaders and religious leaders, as well as NGOs, as leaders in `civil society'.

2 This analysis is published as Civil Society Takes Responsibility: Popular Involvement in the Peace Process in Mali, PRIO Report 5/97 (Oslo: International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, October 1997).

3 Alhassane Ag Mohamed, Cheibane Coulibaly & Gaoussou Drabo: NORD du Mali - de la Tragédie à l'Espoir, published by three NGOs: ACORD, NOVIB and OXFAM (Bamako, July 1995), pp. 5-21.

4 Ann Maymann, `Staten og Tuaregerne i Mali - konflikt eller samarbejde?' University Center of Roskilde, Denmark, 1996, pp. 67 and 78.

5 The rebel organizations call themselves `movement', `front' or `army'. In general the people of Mali refer to them by the term `movements', and I will follow that usage here. `Azawad' (French Azaouad) is a name that traditionally designates a huge zone north of Timbuktu. As used by the `movements', it means the three Northern regions (Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu), which cover some two thirds of the national territory of Mali. In the National Pact this area is referred to by the neutral expression of `the North of Mali'.

6 `Les affrontements entre Touaregs et Armée Malienne (July-November 1990)' is a non-signed and non-dated document considered reliable by Tuareg leaders.

7 Interviews in Mali, May 1997.

8 Ambeïry Ag Rhissa, `Problem du Nord - Brève Genèse Historique' (unpublished paper, Bamako 1991), pp. 5-7. In November 1995, I was in the area that Ambeïry describes. I spent a night in a camp close to the village of Tin Aouker in which every house was still in ruins. The same was the case in the village of Tiguerwen, which I passed through the next morning. Interviews in Mali, May 1997.

9 Alhassane Ag Mohamed et al., p.17. Interviews in Mali, May 1997.

10 Gaoussou Drabo & Alhassane Ag Mohamed, Nord-Mali: Le Processus de Paix et de Réconciliation - Etude d'une Démarche exemplaire (Bamako: OXFAM, 1997), pp. 34-38.

11 Poulton & Ag Youssouf, A Peace of Timbuktu, ch. 5.1.

12 Historically `Gourma' is the area on the right bank of the Niger from the village of Douentza in the west to the border of Burkina Faso in the south. People in the North usually use the term in this sense. Outsiders often confuse this with the administrative subdivision of Gourma Rharous which includes only the central part of Gourma. The left bank of the river is called Haoussa.

13 Interviews in Mali, May 1997.

14 `A Joint Action Peace Forum on Sierra Leone, 7 March 1995', document issued after a meeting of the Peace Forum, London 1995, p. 5. Andrea Riccardi, Sant'Egidio Rome et le Monde (Paris 1996), p. 78.

15 Abdoulaye Macko, Rencontre Intercommunautaire de M'Bouna du 8 au 11 Septembre 1995, report presented in Bamako by the German Cooperation Programme for the North of Mali, September 1995, pp. 2-3. Barbara Rocksloh Papendieck & Fatimata Bintou Touré-Diallo, Fatimata Bintou, Eindrücke vom Aussöhnungstreffen in M'Bouna - Kreis Goundam, Region von Timbuktu vom 8. bis 11. September 1995, report presented in Bamako by the German Cooperation Programme for the North of Mali, September 1995, p. 6.

16 The Commissariat for the North is a formal administrative structure agreed upon in the National Pact. It depends directly on the President of the Republic. The Commissioner, appointed for a renewable term of five years, is responsible for the implementation of the National Pact.

17 Journal Officiel de la République du Mali - La Décentralisation: Textes législatifs et règlementaire, Special issue no. 3, Bamako, October 1995, pp. 3-56.

18 Rapport d'Etape no 4 de la Mise en oeuvre du Plan d'Action des Resolutions de la Rencontre de Tombouctou, pp 1-3; Situation du Fonds d'Affectation Speciale (Trust Fund) 13.09.1996. (Both Bamako 1996.)

19 Interviews in Mali, May 1997.