Western big business seek ethnic cleansing of Mali Tuareg: Analyst

In the background of this, Malian Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra has resigned along with his government hours after he was arrested by the forces of the junta, which led a recent coup in the country.

An interview with Moeen Raoof, a defence consultant, to further discuss the issue.

Q: Pretty tough times, I think, all around in parts of Africa, which you’ve been specializing in, I know, at the moment. First of all, your view on Susan Rice; possibly not or possibly will become the next secretary of state in the Obama administration?

Raoof: She probably will but, you know, very belligerent like Condoleezza Rice before her, like Hillary Clinton. You find that American women are more belligerent than everyone else.

Q: I think that’s completely sexist point on foreign affairs, but what we possibly agree with here on Double Standards. I know you’ve been covering a lot in your work recently. Journalists aren’t covering Libya but your work about countries bordering Libya.

Raoof: Mali, Algeria: the southern border of Algeria, the northern border of Mali, as we know, is the Ansar Dine and the Tuareg problem. And then in Niger there’s a Tuareg issue as well. In Southern Libya, the Tuaregs live all around these areas. There’s been uranium linked to all this.

Q: People know Niger for Valerie Plame, the outing of the CIA agent.

Raoof: Yeah, her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, was investigated when Bush stated that Saddam Hussein had sought from British sources that he got this apparently in the State of the Union Address.

Q: But what was true in all of that was there is a huge resource of uranium in this region.

Raoof: Oh yeah. It’s all over. It’s in Libya, south of Libya which borders Niger, and it’s in Mali. There’s a rich, rich uranium-rich resource but also oil’s been discovered there.

So, this is all about natural resources. It’s not about al-Qaeda affiliation or al-Qaeda linked issues. Those are excuses to go in and ethnically cleanse.

The Tuaregs unwittingly live in very resource-rich areas, but they migrate. They’re nomads. They don’t really stick in one place for too long. You know, they pack everything up on their camels and off they go.

Q: This is a country, Mali, with a first ever university, I think, Timbuktu…

Raoof: Timbuktu, yes.

Q: …And all that famous history. But now, what is your take on what is exactly happening Mali?

Raoof: They want to clear areas. You see, the Tuaregs, since the 60s, have been demanding a share of the proceeds from the natural resources, uranium in this instance, but there’s also oil being discovered. And what they’re doing in Somalia and elsewhere…

Q: Who’s “they”?

Raoof: Well, shall we say the corporations, the big oil companies, the big mining companies: more than likely Canadian, British, Australian and American mining companies.

They’re paying by-proxy local groups to clear areas so these people don’t make a claim on these natural resource-rich areas.

Others, you know, you find a small village and all of them are multi-billionaires, which really doesn’t make sense. It should be spread out in the country.

But the problem is when these people are there then they make all sorts of demands and then there’s pollution in the water and people start dying, as happened with Tullow Oil in Uganda, you know, the Irish company. They’ve been dumping oil into the water and this is the reason for the…

Q: Aside from the familiar to some people on Double Standards, the multi-national corporate involvement of exploiting mineral resources in Africa, what about al-Qaeda, whatever “al-Qaeda” is, in that area - I mean, al-Qaeda plus uranium - in that region?

Raoof:

    The easiest way, if you want to go in like AFRICOM, the US African Command, the easiest way to clear an area or to go in with, shall we say, NATO forces or United States forces, the best excuse is to say there’s a terrorism problem and you’re going in as advisors and you’re helping other countries to clear out. Like in Northern Mali is Ansar Dine, they claim. These are the al-Qaeda affiliated or al-Qaeda linked or franchise.


Q: Burning mosques down, burning churches down?

Raoof: But the Tuaregs are not people who do that, traditionally. The Tuaregs have never burned mosques down, they’ve never burned schools.

Q: No, but these Salafis groups are being blamed for it.

Raoof: They’re extremists, yeah, but how do we know they’re really there? This is what we’re told.

Q: Well, you yourself said that the groups like that are starting to rise up in Libya or certainly on the border, post-Gaddafi.

Raoof: They are very small in number. They are not a significant group that you need a whole NATO or AU force - and you know, the AU force has just been approved. Thousands of troops are going into northern Mali to try to clear the problem or to try to go in northern Mali. What I’m saying is that’s their excuse.

Q: When are they arriving?

Raoof: They are already starting to arrive in southern Mali. I think it’s a contingent of 3,500 to start with - approved by the UN, NATO advisors and NATO assistance.

Q: So, NATO is in Mali right now?

Raoof: Oh yeah. They’ve been in Mali, Niger and Algeria and all sorts for years. They haven’t just come in now.

But now they’re coming in officially under UN umbrella because the UN has given its blessing, shall we say, to the African union forces to go in to try to clear this problem. But it’s a Tuareg issue.

It’s not really an al-Qaeda issue because al-Qaeda issue is a minor issue in comparison. They can clear that. You need government forces to go in and clear it. That’s not a major issue.

The real issue is the land the Tuaregs occupied traditionally for thousands of years. It just happens to be resource-rich; in this case, uranium and probably oil. So, they need to ethnically cleanse these areas.

    Same as south Sudan; they ethnically cleansed South Sudan and then blamed it on the north. In effect what’s happened is they’ve cleared the oil rich areas so these villagers couldn’t lay claim or deny them exploration rights. That’s what’s really happening.


Q: I’m interested in the uranium, not just because any militants watching this program wanting some sort of briefcase. But if we consider what Joe Wilson said to his wife, Valerie, about the uranium, is there a possibility of yellow cake disappearing from this region?

Raoof: No, it can’t be and I’ll tell you why; very simple reason. French foreign forces and French intelligence monitor that location. It’s a location called Arlit.

Q: But today, from Mali with all this uranium being mined?

Raoof: No way, no chance. There is no way uranium could leave even if it’s under Tuareg, shall we say, control. Uranium could not leave the border areas. Algeria is on high alert. Niger is on high alert. Burkina Faso in the south is on high alert.

All the countries bordering - and they have drones; they have thousands of drones. US, Africa Command have thousands of drones flying daily, 24 hours, all over Mali, Niger and Bali.

Q: Well, you seem to be presenting a case where, I don’t know, the Saudis could be involved here of creating this scare of al-Qaeda in the region to enable NATO to protect private, multinational companies.

Raoof: Yeah, Qataris because it’s Qatari investment, again. So, they’re getting involved but they’re proxies, again. Yes, you’re absolutely right.

It’s probably a bit of Saudis but the Qataris are the main, shall we say, players in this.

Q: Does that mean that the Tuaregs will just take it lying down?

Raoof: They will fight. The Tuaregs are not people who lay back. They’re armed. They will fight but they will be murdered. I believe they will be ethnically cleansed from the oil rich areas.