Tinzawaten refugees (Algerian and Azawadian)
In this thread that I published on my account (X) you will find some elements on one of the most marginalized humanitarian situations in the Sahara.
Inkinane Ag Attaher, commander of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a Tuareg separatist movement. 27-10-24
In March 2022, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara issued a FATWA that made the property and blood of the Tuareg-Doushak populations lawful on the border between Niger and Menaka, the terrorist organization engaged in mass massacre and looting. EIGS took advantage of the ethnic conflict over pastoral resources to administer violence. More than 800 civilians were killed during 2022, and thousands fled to Algeria, Niger and Libya.
Civilians who were unable to go inside Algeria or elsewhere settled in Tinzawaten (Azawad) or in other urban centers such as Menaka, Gao and KIDAL. Several NGOs, including the ICRC and MINUSMA initially, provided a limited humanitarian response, as did the Algerian authorities and residents. The 2022 massacre took place in the presence of UN 🇺🇳 and European military forces on the territory. These forces have not changed their methods and continue their routine operations without paying particular attention to the massacre that was taking place in Menaka and Gao.
The military responses, whether from Malian or international soldiers, are non-existent in the face of this terrorist organization. In addition to driving local populations out of their territories, EIGS occupies and administers the land through the communities allied to it. In 2023, after the forced departure of European troops and UN military forces, the ruling junta in Bamako, supported by the Wagner militia and Turkish drones, launched a war against the AZAWAD movements in August 2023. The Malian military, supported by Russian Wagner mercenaries, is engaging in methods of massacre as radical as those used by EIGS. In addition to the waves of refugees caused by the EIGS massacres, there are now those of the new war in Mali.
The methods used by the Malian army and its Wagner mercenaries are the bombing of towns and villages by attack planes recently delivered by the Russians. After that they return to the villages where they execute and decapitate the men, burn, poison the wells, loot everything that is there and trap the bodies and the houses.
These methods terrorize the civilians (Tuaregs, Arabs …) and push them to exodus. Then large-scale attacks with the support of Turkish drones led by Wagner mercenaries and the Malian military on the positions of the Permanent Strategic Framework CSP which brings together several armed formations of AZAWAD. The regional capitals have fallen and the Tuareg and Arab civilians are exiled by the thousands in Mauritania and Algeria. The ruling junta prohibits NGOs from assisting the displaced in areas that are not under its control.
Refugees in Mauritania benefit from a minimum in the Mbera camp; those who managed to enter Algeria do not benefit from refugee status and are forced to fend for themselves. Those settled on the edge of the border benefit from the minimum of humanitarian aid. In July, Mali sent a Wagner unit to settle in Tinzawaten. Panicked civilians abandoned their tents and tried to enter Algeria. Algerian soldiers were deployed; some civilians managed to enter, others later.
Mali, as part of the new AES alliance, bombed the gold mining site in Inatiyara with drones. Several dozen sub-Saharan, Chadian and Sudanese workers have been killed and injured. This created panic and these workers too were forced to flee the horrible exactions of Wagner and Fama. The displaced people from Menaka and then Tinzawaten settled in extreme conditions on a hill on the outskirts of the Algerian city of Tinzawaten. They suffer from several diseases including malaria and diphtheria.
Algeria, although it turns a blind eye to the settlement of these refugees, does not provide them with the necessary assistance. They are installed on stones under makeshift shelters and do not have access to drinking water or school for their children.
After the defeat of Wagner and the Malian army against the Azawad forces on July 27, 2024 in Tinzawaten, some civilians and traders decided to return to the Azawadian city of Tinzawaten. Following their defeat, Mali decided to target these civilians by drone a few meters from the border line with Algeria, this strike caused the death of several children and the destruction of the only pharmacy that the city has. These punitive drone strikes push civilians to flee to Algeria and the Inatiyara site empties of its workers who lose hope of peace.
On October 20, 2024, the displaced people located on the outskirts to the east of the Algerian city of Tinzawaten receive the ultimatum to vacate the place. The reasons put forward by the Algerian local authorities are security reasons. The refugees, having no other choice, take what they can of their belongings and return to Inaghalwas.
In October 2022 Algeria begins the construction of an isolation wall to separate the two Tinzawaten.
Republished by the Azawad Support Group.
27-10-24
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