By Mohamed AG Ahmedou – Mehari Consulting
The problem? This terrorist leader doesn’t exist. The name itself is a linguistic joke dreamed up by two Tuareg internet users, Walid Le Berbère and Iknane Ag Hamad, in the Tamasheq language: “Amazor Nachedh” literally means “donkey excrement,” and “Abou Bahou” translates as “the father of lies.”
The satire was taken literally by several digital platforms close to the regime, which relayed the information without verifying it. “When we tell you that Malikoura isn’t playing, you don’t believe it,” one read. The propaganda went into overdrive, blinded by its own thirst for military legitimacy.
Civilian victims ignored
Meanwhile, families are grieving. In Zouéra, the strike destroyed the shed of Rahmatou, a local restaurateur. She herself was seriously injured in the legs, and saw her three daughters perish: Fadmata (14), Oumalhassane (5), and Fadimoutou (13 months). Jiddou Ag Aloud, a customer, also died instantly. Five other people, including a child, were injured. One could not even be transported to Timbuktu due to lack of resources.
“Why attack a fair in broad daylight, when everyone knows it’s held every Tuesday in Zouera? There were only traders, families, and children there,” complained a local civil society leader. According to several witnesses, the Malian drones only targeted a vehicle containing empty barrels belonging to a known trader, and not a terrorist convoy as the army claimed on ORTM, the national broadcaster.
A strategy of terror and lies
In Goundam, the testimonies also converge. Thirteen men, all of Fulani and Tamasheq ethnicity, were reportedly summarily executed by Malian soldiers and their Russian allies. The gruesome execution was allegedly preceded by orders to dig their own graves near the Inkorkor dunes.
“This is nothing new,” explains a local expert. “The Malian army has long used disproportionate force against nomads. What is changing is the scale of the propaganda that accompanies these crimes.”
The deafening silence of institutions
Neither international partners, nor the African Union, nor even human rights organizations have commented on these incidents. In Bamako, the General Staff speaks of “information warfare” and continues to portray its military operations as successes, sometimes relying on jokes transformed into facts.
Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), joked on Facebook: “Colonel Eched, killed by a Malian drone, means donkey, and his alias Abou Bahou means father of lies… Walid really got them. Tikounen (well done)!”
But for the bereaved families, there’s nothing funny about it. And perhaps most tragically, in this conflict where the lines between lies, war, and cynicism are blurring, it is still innocent civilians who pay the price for silence.
15-07-25