After several hours of traveling through the Azawad desert, we finally met Billal Ag Acherif, president of the Azawad Liberation Front. This meeting was held discreetly for security reasons.
Upon our arrival, we found Billal Ag Acherif with his men.
He agreed to grant us an exclusive interview, sitting on a carpet, surrounded by his bodyguards. After our interview, we followed Bilal, who went to his security team to encourage them and strengthen security measures in preparation for the days to come. This comes in the context of the merger of movements within the CSP-DPA, which will become the Azawad Liberation Front, with Bilal Ag Acherif as secretary general.
Director: Souleymane Ag Anara.
Questions:
Since the 1990 rebellion, you have been a privileged witness. Relations have always been tense between the different components of the rebellion and the Malian government and between you and these governments. What are the demands that constitute sticking points and that motivate you to continue the fight between the people of Azawad and the central government of Mali?
Bilal Ag Acherif:
First of all, what prevents the normalization of relations between the Malian state and the people of Azawad is that this “rebellion” has never been understood in its context. The Azawadians have never seen themselves as an integral part of Mali, contrary to what many observers are led to believe.
The Azawadians have never accepted being an integral part of the Malian state. I am of course talking about the leadership, the tribal chiefs and even the confederal structure that the French colonizers found there when they invaded the country.
The agreement at independence between Mali, Senegal and the leaders of Azawad was that the inhabitants of Azawad would remain autonomous in a group where they would keep their culture, their specificity and their internal management. This is what the leaders had agreed to. A tripartite relationship of equals between Mali, Senegal and Azawad.
But all this was thrown in the trash when the power of Bamako was put in place, and as soon as it felt being in a position of strength. The proof to support this is that Mali became independent in 1960 and 1963, the first rebellion began. Even before that, the leadership of Azawad was not associated with the validation of the agreement on the federal entity (Senegal-Mali-Azawad), we all have in mind the 1957 letter signed by all the notables of Azawad in which they asked to keep their specificity. So the Mali-Azawad partnership was never done on truthful bases.
It is a fabrication of France without any basis and without any consideration for the opinion of the natives. There have never been political exchanges between Bamako and Azawad. There have been commercial exchanges, cultural exchanges, but there have never been exchanges of governance between the North and the South in their history. All the resolutions and all the exchanges between the stakeholders or mediators that have occurred for the settlement of this conflict have never taken this aspect into account.
They have always focused on the economic aspects, on unemployment issues, ignoring the political dimension which is the framework of the problem.
So this abstraction means that the struggle continues because the real solution has never been put in the spotlight. This struggle therefore continues because these people are seeking their right to self-determination. This right is recognized by international law, the African Union and history but all agreements and mediations have ignored it.
But as long as this right has not been taken into account, this struggle will continue regardless of the agreement concocted.
Since 1960, the Malian government has never made any efforts to resolve this crisis. It has used force, forced displacement abroad, without ever thinking of bringing back the displaced people; on the contrary, fleeing abroad has always been its preference. This is obvious to the populations who see clearly that the Bamako government cultivates hatred for these people, even if it often makes declarations of appeasement. In the minds of Malian leaders, this territory is theirs, some populations do not belong to the country and they must leave it. Ignoring the attachment of these populations to their territory in which they lived before the existence of modern states, before colonization and before the successive governments that ruled the country. This is what complicates the resolution of this crisis. Unfortunately, the Security Council resolutions of 2012 and those that followed have taken the same path as all the other attempts that preceded them by favoring the vision of the Malian government, and this has only worsened the crisis until today.
Today, for there to be a satisfactory solution for the people of Azawad, which brings peace to Mali and promotes development, stability in the area and its security, it is imperative that a response be found to the key demand of the people of Azawad. As long as this aspect is ignored, the war will continue in several ways, always changing names for the same objective.
Today, Mali, like its neighbors and all their partners, have understood that we cannot make this people disappear, who have their identity, their culture, their history, who cannot live in a system that is not favorable to both parties. This is a reality that my people have always experienced and in which I was born. The enemies act so that my people live in this reality of combat.
A normal life has been forbidden to several successive generations. I and all the others were born there. In 1990, I entered it like all the children of that time, I was under 14 years old.
Since then, we have evolved without interruption in this revolutionary system made of hostilities, cessations of hostilities, unimplemented agreements, studies of revolutionary logics until today.
The objective of the revolution now is to ensure future generations a better future than the one in which their predecessors lived and to guarantee them a life that puts them on the same level as all the other citizens of the world. Those who lead the struggle today, those who participate in it, those who maintain it must have as their objective to definitively stop the cycle of “war, repression, exile”.
Our vision for Azawad:
Azawad already has foundations on which it is built. It exists, it has a national writing, a culture of stability, a civilization firmly anchored for millennia. We are not building from scratch. Whether those who are opposed to it or those who recognize it, all agree on the fact that we are an old civilization. If we refer only to today’s Azawad, there was the Iwillimiden confederation, the Tadamakkat whose ruins are still visible, Tinbuktu which was founded by the Azawadians.
It is this same people who are today seeking to achieve the affirmation of their identity on their territory, on the basis of their history. When the people of Azawad had the management of their territory in hand, they constituted a link and exchanges with all the rest of Africa: Egypt, Libya, Nigeria. It was a center of commercial and cultural exchanges. All of Africa came to learn in Tinbuktu. It was a center of education, culture, mixing of civilizations and trade.
Today for us, bringing back security, stability and living together is to return to this situation of yesteryear. That Azawad becomes again a zone of trade, of industry based on local wealth, the control of space and its management by its natives, this will even strengthen international security.
The people of Azawad are not numerous but its territory contains enormous wealth. There are immense quantities of water, gold, agricultural areas, immense possibilities for solar energy in addition to oil and other riches. So the definitive stability of Azawad is first the rebirth of its people, its well-being and its security and then contribute to the security of its territory and that of the international community.
Others’ vision of Azawad is based on communication. The Malian state and all those who work in concert with it, fight so that Azawadians are perceived as bandits, rebels. We do not recognize ourselves in the term rebels. The term rebel applies to someone who revolts against a regime of which he was a member. However, we have never been part of the Bamako regime. Today, Mali can be considered as being made up of two or three zones: the South, Macina and Azawad. These are the three zones that the French put together to make Mali.
This is a construction that Azawadians have never accepted. So we have never been rebels. We are a nation that resists against a humiliation that was imposed on it. Currently, a revolution is underway in Azawad and not a rebellion. This revolution has several facets: that of identity, that of culture, that of stopping aggressions and many other things. Those who have not taken the measure of the problem of Azawad here inside, it is difficult for them to understand it through the communication of the Malian government or the resolutions of the United Nations.
Our first duty is to make our struggle understood by as many people as possible. And that is why we invite everyone to come here, to see, listen and understand the Azawadians.
Our commitment does not only concern Kidal.
We have noted that what has most affected our capacities was the multiplication of movements, political actors intervening on the ground. Today we have created a unique political and military structure: the Azawad Liberation Front, whose goal is to be a political, economic tool of resistance and reconquest of Azawad ordered under a single command unlike in the past, without much hierarchy.
The establishment of the FLA is the first step of our new configuration before engaging in the new conquest of the territory. We are in Azawad, we have not left it. We were kicked out of Kidal not by the Malian army but by the Russians, the Malian army no longer exists. The officers who lead in Bamako and those they sent came out of a desire for revenge for all the defeats they suffered against the Azawad fighters in 2007, 2012, and 2014.
To achieve this goal, they went abroad, looking for foreigners to take revenge on the Azawadians. But this act produced the opposite result which proves that they are not qualified to manage Azawad. They have thus demonstrated to the international community that they cannot manage Azawad. To keep it in their fold, MINUSMA and Serval or the Russians must assist them.
This is proof that the Malian authorities do not have a solid anchorage in Azawad. Neither cultural, nor economic, nor social, nor political. Currently Mali is under the thumb of international mercenaries, terrorists and criminals, because that is how they are labeled by all the governments of the world. They have proven it by their actions, since they have been here, they have only assassinated, poisoned water points, plundered citizens’ property, and the Malian army that accompanies them does the same. So today the Malian army does not exist. There are the criminal activities of Wagner supported by Turkish drones.
Before it was the disorganization of the Azawadians that constituted the strength of the Malian army, because of the multiplicity of movements. Currently we are very clear on this, there is no question of our enemies occupying and living on our territory despite what it will cost us, this is the commitment on which we have agreed.
For us, Kidal is only a part of Azawad, there is also Gao, Tinbuktu, Ménaka, Taoudenni, Douentza, this is all Azawad. Our strength is the determination of our people. We do not hold any of these places at the moment, but Wagner is Russian and one day or another, he will leave. The Malian army has the South, it can retreat there. We only have here.
So our determination is based on the fact that we have nowhere to go and our right to live there is inalienable, we have no other choice. It is with this in mind that we are working to strengthen the capacities of the Azawad army in all areas, whether it be training, organization or armament. We believe that all those who support the law, freedom, or international justice must provide assistance to Azawad in its fight against Wagner’s terrorists.
The putschists who took power in Bamako have imposed humiliations even on the Malian people, and even more so on the Azawadians. We are counting on God and the determination of our people in the continuity of our struggle until the liberation of Azawad. Our only financial means is the determination of our people. The Azawad revolution has never benefited from external support.
From 1960 to the present day, Azawad has fought alone without any external support.
And it has always won military victories, then comes politics and the signing of agreements that have never been negotiated by neutral mediators, then comes the fragmentation of the parties due to the absence of advisers and legal assistance. Today the war is fought on the ground. Wars are no longer won from the air. We can weaken the troops with air or drone strikes, but positions are only taken on the ground.
In this area, we have total confidence in our men. The fighting spirit of the Azawad fighters, their capacity, their commitment are our assurance for victory. It is true that those opposite have air superiority ensured by drones, we will see how to remedy this tactically on the ground. We consider that it is our territory, of which we control the terrain, it is there that we were born, it is there that our ancestors and those who preceded them were born, it is there that they led all the battles against the various aggressors. All those who came as aggressors, despite the superiority of their weapons have always been defeated. We are still in the same logic.
I have said it previously, no one helps the Azawadians in their fight. We have the same fight as the Ukrainians. Wagner mistreated the people there, killed them and committed atrocities, then Wagner came to reproduce the same things in Azawad as in many other areas of the globe. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So our wish is that the Ukrainians are victorious and free to live on their territory.
We know that the Ukrainians feel the same way about us. Ukraine has its own fight, and we have ours. We do not share the same geography, they cannot help us, because they are under the pressure of the war that is imposed on them. We are confident in our abilities. We believe that this enemy is within our reach. The help we are asking for from Ukraine is the same as that requested from America, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and all those who recognize that a wrong has been done to us, Wagner is made up of criminals. But we only rely on the capacity of the Azawad army and the determination of its people.
We have never received financial support from Ukraine. We have been very clear, we do not need Ukraine’s support. Our relationship with Ukraine is a relationship of knowledge, cooperation, communication, but Ukraine has its own problems that we know and understand. We believe that what binds us to Ukraine is more important than any aid and it is very strong since we have a common enemy that imposes a common struggle on us. The goal of the merger is the union of all the movements of Azawad, all the cadres, notables as well as all those who hesitated to get involved, those who did not want to decide or take a position because of the multiplication of movements. Today, all the movements that were within the CSP, the CMA, the Platform and all their components as well as all the personalities of Azawad and the communities have taken the decision to merge into a single political entity, the FLA, which is supposed to lead the struggle of the people of Azawad.
That it organizes foreign policy with one voice, and that the internal struggle is led by a single army. That it guides the people of Azawad for a common internal struggle in unity. And that the Azawadians have a single partner with regard to Azawadian politics. I am talking about the movements that have political demands within the framework of the self-determination of the people of Azawad. This is our objective, the reason for our struggle and our merger.
04-01-24
Billal Ag Acherif, president of the Azawad Liberation Front.
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