three more

BBC News - Mali kidnapping: One dead and three seized in Timbuktu

Brief details of where the attack took place:

Witness says 1 European tourist killed, 3 others kidnapped from a Timbuktu restaurant in Mali - Brandon Sun

This is getting out of hand - kidnapped in a restaurant in downtown Timbuktu.
I hear one Swede (that was a first), one Dutch and one South African were abducted. One German shot and killed while resisting.
Willt there be a Festival in January?

I know this has been noted in another thread, but I think it might help to keep track of news in a seperate thread.

Claims of 2 Dutch and one South African, and a German shot dead

Witness' reckon authorities took off after them:

UPDATE 2-Three Westerners kidnapped in Mali, fourth killed | News by Country | Reuters

Very sad.

Don't know if it's connected with Hombori, but you do wonder if some pact has been broken or a turf war broken out in Timbuktu - perhaps caused by recent arrivals from Libya? I would assume they could have grabbed tourists from Timbuktu any time they wanted in recent years.

I calculate that adds up to 13 captives of at least 5 nationalities from 5 separate abductions.

Ch

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I think what we are seeing is people coming back from Libya looking for lucrative action.
The Hombori kidnappers were tuaregs (they spoke tamasheq) and Malians believe they came from Burkina, and went back that way.
According to maliweb.net: Trois Européens enlevées
the victims in T'too were two Australians and one Dutchman and the man who was shot American... soon enough we will know their correct nationalities.
The restaurant where they were taken is on the square by Flamme de la Paix monument; from there it is a beeline to the dunes. Still it was a bold action, almost stupid - similar to the kidnapping in downtown Niamey. Are they trying to make a statement?
If these kidnappers think they can start selling hostages wholesale to Aqim, think again. The logistics for keeping a large number of hostages (like in 2003) must be a daunting task, with negotiations going on in all directions.
If they are running this as a business for themselves, that is very different story. And perhaps it can be dealt with internally?

Video on France 24 is now reporting that 5 tourists were targeted, but 1 woman managed to escape.

To clarify, from a phone call I received shortly after the Timbuktu kidnaps had happened, the victims are a Swede, a Dutch man and South African with a British passport. The Dutch guy's wife managed to hide and was left behind. An elderly German who wouldn't get in the vehicle was shot.

I would encourage anyone reading this to read Andrew Lebovich's excellent blogpost.

Terrible sad week for Mali.

Richard

Definitely related to Libya -- a lot of people have returned from Libya to the Adrar Ifoghas. Word on the street is there's loads of people in the mountains, with guns. Everyone in Kidal is a bit shaken up right now, the town is dead, no concerts, people are laying low. A faction of the returnees are seeking to restart the rebellion -- the old idea of an independent state of Azawad.

It's not unlikely though, when you have a flood of people coming into the country, right out of fighting a war, they're young, they're hyped up, and they have weapons, that there's a few bandits in the bunch -- that either hooked with AQMI or are snatching up tourists to sell to AQMI. What's most curious about this is tribal divisions. If they are Tuareg who do this, they don't have any alliance to the Kel Ansar of Timbouctou -- this is kind of a direct action against the Kel Ansar -- who basically run the Festival Au Desert -- because it's going to destroy the festival, at the very least for this year (the festival is held a five minute walk from Hotel Amanar).

It's unfortunate that this is happening, and hopefully after awhile things will settle down back into that normalcy. For the moment, travel in the North is going to be difficult -- all the foreigners were evacuated from Timbouctou, flown to Bamako, and I imagine anyone trying to gallivant around the desert is going to run into similar problems (I was held in Niafounke for a few hours in June -- I'll be back in a few months with more updates).

Rule of thumb and take home message is: if you have a gun pointed at you, do what the kidnappers say. Especially these kids from Libya -- they've just seen action, and apparently they wont hesitate to shoot you. So go along, and hope for the best.

chris

This could be so, but I think it's common to blame such events 'on bandits from over the border' - especially if it's locals (Malian's) saying so. Me, I don't see crossing the Niger river as that huge an obstacle, and if they were French agents/PMCs as is suspected, then you'd think it would be the north who wanted to get their hands on them. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.


I was wondering what could be the motivation for returned Tuaregs from Libya to do what they did in Timbuktu - if that was indeed the case. I never really understood if these 'returnees' were a long time living in Libya - embedded in the losing army and so had to flee but now had few connections back home. Or if, as we read, they were among the many sub-Saharan mercenaries flown in this year to do a job because the regular Libyan army could not be relied upon to turn on its own.

In some places I read they are causing fear in north Mali (as described in Kidal). Someone else (from Mali) told me a few weeks ago returnees were being met at the border, relieved of their arms and given payouts. It sounded a bit far-fetched. (He also said there was no way there'd ever be a hit in Timbuktu for the 'alliance/pact' reasons mentioned).

I suppose if you explain it as a few young and audacious mercenaries-turned-crims, fresh from a war they may not have got paid for, then it sounds plausible. But you'd think they'd appreciate there are easier and less risky ways to make money than grab tourists from Timbuktu.

Sounds like a tribal/gang feud may be the result up there.

Ch

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I dunno who did the Timbuktu kidnapping, but in time we will know. Like you say, one couldn't imagine tuaregs destroying the festival and thus ruin business for the locals.
But some of the young returnees from Libya don't even speak tamasheq - only arab! They never lived in Mali. They grew up to be mercenary soldiers.
The audacity of the strike and the killing makes me think it was MBM but...

I only just read he was said to be behind the failed Niamey grab in Jan. But in Timbuktu, did he (an Algerian) not get married into the local Berabish or/and Tuareg clans precisely to make an alliance and gain local support?
Seems too much on his doorstep ('70km away') to be him.

We said it many times here, but you'd hope it might bring about some sort of decisive action. Only now there are more armed people in the Ifoghas than ever.

As someone in Kidal puts it: "Qu'allah preserve l'azawad d'un bain de sang"

All we do is speculate, but I think it helps to try and make sense of it all.

Ch

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I just don't know about that. If it did happen, I would desperately make a run for it. I would never let me be taken gently for what could be a long and miserable black hiatus in one's life.
I do think you are much safer having a nicely secluded bivacq behind a small dune rather than staying in one of those hotels.
Then of course there is bad luck.
And if you can be kidnapped sitting in a restaurant in a city in broad daylight, then what?