BAMAKO — Tuareg-led Mali rebels who seized the north of the West African country in April declared Sunday they had dropped claims for a separate state after the rebellion was hijacked by Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists now holding sway in the north. “We are seeking cultural, political and economic independence but not secession," Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, a senior member of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), told Reuters by telephone. Azawad is the name which the MNLA gives to the northern territory of Mali in which it declared an independence that has been ignored by a world more concerned with the threat of Mali become a launch pad for radical activities. A second MNLA official, Hama Ag Mahmoud, told Reuters in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott: “Independence has been our line since the start of the conflict but we are taking on board the view of the international community to resolve this crisis." Islamist groups including the local Ansar Dine have imposed strict Shariah across the north and destroyed UNESCO-listed sites in the ancient town of Timbuktu. Contacted by telephone in Timbuktu, Ansar Dine spokesman Sanda Ould Boumana said he was not aware of any change in the MNLA position but added: “What I can tell you is that it is us who control the three regions of the north." Meanwhile, a witness and a combatant affiliated with radicals in northern Mali say the group has enlisted new fighters from a tribal militia to strengthen its grip on the region. A resident of Douentza town told The Associated Press Sunday that some 400 combatants of the government-backed Gandakoy militia appear to have broken ranks and joined the Islamists, bolstering the radicals' edge over ethnic Tuareg rebels in the area. The witness declined to be named for fear of reprisals by the Ansar Dine group. One of the group's Timbuktu-based fighters, Oumar Ould Hamaha, confirmed the resident's observation, saying the Gandakoy militants in in Douentza are “100 percent with Ansar Dine." The group's spokesman, Sanda Abou Mohamed, also confirmed that the Gandakoy “who respect our principles" arrived in Douentza, some 250 kilometers south of Timbuktu. — Agencies
