VZCZCXRO5605
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #1356/01 3301622
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 261622Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8440
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0359
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 001356 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017 
TAGS: ASEC PINR ML
SUBJECT: POLICE IN GAO FOIL ALLEGED ASSASSINATION PLOT 
 
REF: BAMAKO 01175 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako, for 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.(C)  Summary: On November 8 security forces in the northern 
city of Gao disrupted an alleged plot to assassinate the 
Governor of Gao, the Algerian Consul resident in Gao, the 
town's public prosecutor and the director of a Malian 
government development program.  Police arrested seven 
individuals who allegedly belong to the former Patriotic 
Gandakoy Movement, which was a largely Songhrai militia group 
responsible for killing Tuaregs and others during the 
rebellion of the 1990s.  Reports indicate that the accused 
may have been angered by the Malian government's decision to 
negotiate with the Tuareg bandit Ibrahim Bahanga. End 
Summary. 
 
------------ 
Plot Details 
------------ 
 
2.(C)  Police arrested seven individuals in Gao on November 8 
for allegedly plotting to assassinate the Governor of Gao, 
the city's public prosecutor and the director of a Malian 
government program to reintegrate ex-rebel combatants into 
local society.  Police reportedly seized six hand grenades, 
three automatic pistols, some ammunition and canisters of a 
substance described as "knock-out" gas.  The arrested 
individuals are Seydou Cisse, Mohamed N'Tissa Maiga, Bouba 
Hangadoumbou Toure, Aliou Moussa, Mohamed Djougou, Soumeila 
Seydou and Sidiya Mahamane.  They are all ethnic Songhrai. 
Malian officials claim the seven belong to the former 
Patriotic Gandakoy Movement, or MPGK, a largely Songhrai 
self-defense militia that clashed with Tuareg rebels and 
others during the rebellion of the 1990s.  Rumors of the 
Gandakoy's reconstitution circulate periodically in Mali. 
Former Gandakoy members or other individuals seeking to 
revitalize the Gandakoy movement may be reacting to the 
Malian government's decision to negotiate with the Tuareg 
bandit Ibrahim Bahanga, who has held several dozen Malian 
soldiers hostage for the past three months. 
 
------------ 
Plot Motives 
------------ 
 
3.(C)  Motives for the assassination plot, if indeed such a 
plot existed, remain obscure.  Mohamed ag Akiline, the 
Director of the Malian Agency for Northern Development (ADN), 
linked the plot to Songhrai dissatisfaction over the Malian 
government's decision to negotiate with Bahanga and other 
Tuaregs.  Ag Akiline is an ethnic Tuareg whose name figured 
on the list of assassination targets.  He said he may have 
been targeted due to disagreement over ADN's distribution of 
funds designed to help former rebel combatants reintegrate 
into Malian society. 
 
4.(C)  Governor (and Army Colonel) Ahmed Baba Toure is 
regarded as a close confident of President Amadou Toumani 
Toure and recently traveled, along with the Governors of 
Kidal and Timbuktu and the Minister of Territorial 
Administration Kafougouna Kone, to Algiers for further 
consultations on the Bahanga crisis.  Like President Toure, 
Governor Toure is believed to favor a peaceful, negotiated 
settlement with Bahanga over a military solution. 
 
5.(C)  There are conflicting reports as to whether the 
plotters intended to assassinate or kidnap the Algerian 
Consul in Gao, Mohamed Bachir Babaci.  The Algerian Consulate 
is located in the Quartier Quatre neighborhood of Gao. 
Babaci said Malian authorities told him he was the target of 
an assassination plot.  According to Ag Akiline, the plotters 
intended to kidnap representatives of "countries friendly" 
with Mali in order to negotiate directly with the Malian 
government - a move apparently intended to mimic the strategy 
of Bahanga.  Babaci may have been targeted as a response to 
Algeria's ambiguous role in resolving the Bahanga hostage 
crisis and apparent support for Bahanga and other Tuareg 
rebels (reftel). 
 
6.(U)  On November 15 the Bamako based newspaper 
"L'Independent" published the text of a communique, 
purportedly from Gandakoy leaders in Bamako, stating that 
while the Gandakoy awaited further clarification from Malian 
authorities regarding the supposed assassination plot, its 
leaders "say no to government authorities' lenient treatment 
of the so-called Tuareg rebellion." 
 
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BAMAKO 00001356  002 OF 002 
 
 
Comment: Northern Mali's Forgotten Non-Tuareg Population 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
7.(C)  Comment:  While many Malians disagree with their 
government's decision to negotiate with Bahanga - a man who 
in addition to being a chronic military deserter is 
responsible for several military and civilian deaths and the 
introduction of land mines in northern Mali - most realize 
that a comprehensive military solution is beyond the means of 
the Malian military.  Although details of the Gao plot remain 
sparse, the incident may point to the broader risk of 
negotiating with bandits like Bahanga and "rewarding" 
violence with peace agreements, non-aggression pacts and 
increased development aid.  It also highlights the risk of 
focusing solely on the development and political demands of 
northern Mali's ethnic Tuaregs at the expense of non-Tuareg 
groups like the Songhrai.  Other groups, whether Songhrai in 
northern Mali or different ethnic groups from elsewhere, have 
taken note of the Tuaregs' success in wringing concessions 
from the central government and may consider violent acts of 
their own. 
McCulley