ALGIERS: Malian Islamist group Ansar Dine has said it is prepared to distance itself from Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch, a newspaper said yesterday, a day after sending a delegation to Algiers for peace talks.
Ansar Dine’s leader Iyad Ag Ghaly “would be ready to officially distance himself from AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and play the ‘democracy’ game,” El Watan reported, citing an Algerian official.
A statement from Ghaly could be expected in “the next few days,” the “credible” source added, saying that the Islamist leader would cut ties with AQIM and instead support international dialogue on the Mali issue.
Ansar Dine is one of the radical Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, having hijacked a separatist rebellion by the secular Tuareg that caused a coup earlier this year.
The group destroyed ancient shrines in Timbuktu and has applied brutal interpretations of Islamic law in the areas under its control. A source close to the extremists said on Friday Ansar Dine had sent a delegation to Algiers and another to Ouagadougou.
“We are in favour of peace, and dialogue is necessary for peace. That is why we have sent these delegations,” he said. The envoys may also make a stop in Nigeria, another source within Ansar Dine said.
The UN Security Council on October 12 approved a resolution urging a joint African union military force to speed up preparations for a force of more than 3,000 troops that would attempt to help recapture the occupied Malian north.
AFP
