Mali’s ruling military junta has offered a $3.5 million (about €3 million) reward for information leading to the arrest or killing of Iyad Ag Ghali, the head of al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch, the terrorist group that carried out a major attack in April.
Ghali, head of Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen (JNIM), is wanted in several countries in Africa’s Sahel region, many of which are ruled by military junta.
In April, JNIM, along with Tuareg rebels, launched the largest attacks against the Malian government in more than a decade. Several people, including Defense Minister Sadio Camara, were killed in the almost simultaneous attacks.
JNIM is the largest Islamist group fighting the junta in the Sahel, where many extremist Islamist and separatist groups operate.
Who is Iyad Ag Ghali?
Ghali, the region’s most wanted man, is a former Malian diplomat and Tuareg rebel. The Tuareg people are a semi-nomadic indigenous ethnic group who live primarily in countries spanning the Sahara Desert.
Ghali is also wanted by the United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mali’s security ministry has offered 2 billion CFA francs ($3.5 million) for information that could help “capture or neutralize” Ghali.
In an order signed by Mali’s Minister of Security and Civil Defense, Major General Daoud Ali Mohamedin, the ministry offered $2.5 million for one of his deputies, Amadou Kouffa, as well as cash for information on two Tuareg rebel leaders, including separatist Algabas Ag Intalla.
“These individuals are being actively sought by the authorities for their alleged involvement in planning, organizing and carrying out terrorist acts that threaten the security of people and their property within the national territory,” it said in a statement broadcast on national television.
Mali’s history of violence
Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta since a coup in 2020, has been battling extremist Islamist violence and a separatist insurgency for the past 15 years.
The unrest is led primarily by JNIM and affiliates of the so-called “Islamic State” group, but criminal gangs and Tuareg rebel groups are also active.
Mali’s military rulers seized power, vowing to restore security in the Sahel nation.
Under the leadership of General Assimi Goita, the junta has cracked down on critics and dissolved political parties. It has also expelled troops from its former colonizer and later security partner France and welcomed Russian forces instead.
After initially promising to hand over power to a civilian government by March 2024, military authorities in July last year gave Goita a five-year presidential term that can be renewed “as many times as necessary” without holding elections.
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Edited by: Zack Crellin