Malian military government offers $3.5M for Sahel Al Qaeda leader
The Malian military government announced to offer $3.5M to anybody capable of delivering information leading to the arrest or killing of Iyad Ag Ghaly on June 6th. According to DW, smaller rewards are offered for other suspects, such as Tuareg separatists from the FLA present in Mali.
Iyad Ag Ghaly leads the Sahel branch of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, otherwise known as JNIM. The group launched a coordinated major offensive attack in April, joining forces with Tuareg rebels to launch a targeted attack against Malian officials, killing Defence Minister Sadio Camara. JNIM leaders such as Ghaly are wanted by most military Juntas in Sahel, while also being wanted by the US and the International Criminal Court.
It is the most important and virulent terrorist group currently in the Sahel. Iyad Ag Ghaly is a former Malian diplomat and Tuareg rebel. The Tuareg are a semi-nomadic group of indigenous people who live in countries across the Sahara.
In another order signed by Mali’s security and civil protection minister, Major General Daoud Aly Mohammedine, the ministry also offered 2.5 million for one of his deputies, Amadou Kouffa, as well as cash for information on 2 Tuareg rebel leaders.
Mali has been ruled by a military junta since 2020, and the last 15 years have been marked by extremist Islamist violence and separatist insurgencies.
Under the orders of General Assimi Goita, the junta has cracked down on opposition and the free press, with the arrest of two newspaper directors on the 8th and 9th of June, as well as human rights violations denounced by many NGO’s.
Mali’s new government changed its diplomatic stance, expelling French troops from its territory while welcoming Russian forces instead.
A pledge to hand over power to a civilian government by March 2024 was originally made, until the authorities announced a five-year presidential term for Goita in July 2025, which can be renewed “as many times as necessary” without holding elections.
DW, Maghrebi.org
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