Ag Said to Echorouk: “No talk about Azawads' Autonomy without Dialogue”

Azawads are ready for dialogue with Mali authorities, about the country’s crisis, and the way to find a solution to the demands of Azawad citizens,Moussa Ag Said, member of the transitional Assembly at the Azawad Liberation Movement, in charge of the Communication said in a phone conversation with Echorouk on Monday.

“There is no talk about autonomy or full independence from Mali, unless the Azawads are sitting in the dialogue table with Mali authorities”, he added.

“Azawads are not aware of what is proposed by the countries of the Economic Community of West Africa, which works with France to grant autonomy to the Azawad territory in the north of Mali, admitting the existence of pressure on everyone in order to resolve the crisis politically and diplomatically before the declaration of war on terrorist groups, that are operating in the region.

There is pressure on everyone, the issue of Azawads is watched all over the world, so that the Security Council took two decisions about them, and today we know that there are a lot of countries which work to find an amicable solution to the problem between Azawads and Mali central authorities”, he explained.

“Negotiations with mediators, including a number of my assistants, fall within restoring Azawads’ “violated rights”. Azawads are ready for dialogue and negotiation with Mali authorities, at the time mediation did not know any progress. Malians did not meet Azawads’ representatives since last January when the crisis broke out”.

Regarding the statements of the FM, Mourad Medelci, who revealed on Monday, in a statement to media on “a close meeting which would bring together all the parties concerned with Mali crisis to find a solution,” AG Said said, as a representative of a party to the conflict, that he has no idea about this issue, adding that he has not been contacted,nor Azawad representatives, for this meeting; “However, we are ready to open a dialogue that would restore Azawads’ rights”.

At the level of the confrontations in Menaka region, between Azawads Liberation Movement and Jihad and Tawhid in West Africa, the spokesman said it is still ongoing, and Azawads are determined to remove terrorists from their homeland in GAO, after the movement obliged them early this year to get out of the region.