VZCZCXRO1692
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0822/01 3550645
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 210645Z DEC 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0982
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0708
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK//DOAM// PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000822 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2019 
TAGS: KISL PINS PTER PGOV ML
SUBJECT: DAWA MEETING IN KIDAL NOT MUCH TO TALK ABOUT 
 
REF: A. 09BAMAKO695 
     ¶B. TD-314/079710-09 
     ¶C. IIR 6 958 0009 10 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Peter Newman for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
 (d) 
 
¶1. (S/NF) Summary:  In early November the Dawa movement - 
also known as Jama,at al-Tabligh - hosted an international 
meeting in Kidal, Mali.  Dawa arrived in Mali in the 
early-1990s and has not been able to attract a significant 
number of adherents.  While a fundamentalist ideology, Dawa 
in Mali has not preached or incited to violence against 
non-Muslims or Westerners.  Two northern Malian sources, and 
POLFSN, all present in Kidal when the conference took place, 
say the Dawa meeting in Kidal attracted only a few hundred 
participants and lasted only one day.  This contradicts a 
previous report (TD-314/079710-09) that the meeting lasted 
two days and attracted 1,000 attendees.  Two sources  worried 
the Malian military and intelligence services would attempt 
to use the Dawa meeting to link AQIM to the Kidal Tuareg 
communities.   Others sources also questioned the political 
acumen of the conference organizer, Iyad ag Ghali, a 
prominent Kidal Tuareg politician and currently Malian Consul 
General in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.  Overall, Malians, Tuaregs 
in particular, do not/not consider Dawa to be a threat to 
Malian culture or the traditional Malian practice of Sufi 
Islam.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (S/NF) In early November 2009, the Dawa movement - aka 
Jamaat al-Tabligh - held an international conference in 
Kidal, Mali.  This conference was neither the first of its 
kind in Mali nor will it be the last.  Dawa has been present 
in Mali since the early-to-mid-1990s.  Embassy sources 
acknowledge that Dawa espouses a fundamentalist ideology, but 
qualify that by specifying that the Dawa preachers in Mali, 
to present, have not incited to violence.  One source noted 
that even the Algerian Government had decided to permit Dawa 
to set up shop in Algeria in recent years.  Despite heavy 
recruitment efforts in Kidal, Gao and Mopti regions, Dawa 
still appears to have a very small following in Mali. 
Embassy contacts  all note that Dawa and similar 
fundamentalist ideologies do not fit well in  Malian culture. 
 Although 90 percent of Malians are Muslims, the vast 
majority follow one of three Sufi sects , mixed for many with 
some level of  traditional cultural belief and practice. 
 
¶3. (S/NF) Most Tuareg sources said that even though early 
recruitment efforts in Kidal and Gao met with some success, 
when  Tuaregs discovered that Dawa required a very austere 
lifestyle most--  including Intallah ag Attaher, the Amenokal 
(traditional chief) of Kidal, and his sons Mohammed, 
Alghabass and Atiyoub --left the organization.  Some imams in 
northern Mali, e.g. Moussa ag Ali, keep one foot in the door 
of Dawa, in part to keep an eye on the organization. 
Overall, Tuareg sources  consistently reiterate that although 
they are Muslims, they are Tuaregs first and hold fast to 
their culture.  Among other aspects anathema to 
fundamentalist Islamic practice,  Tuareg culture places women 
squarely in control of households and highly values cultural 
expressions such as music and dance.  Tuaregs prefer to worry 
about enjoying this life rather than worry about ensuring the 
perfect afterlife. 
 
¶4. (S/NF)  Two National Assembly deputies (MPs) ) one from 
Kidal and one from Gao ) expressed concern that the Malian 
military and intelligence services would use the Dawa 
conference to attempt to link AQIM to the Kidal Tuareg 
population, branding them broadly as Salafists.    The two 
deputies said  if such a link between AQIM and the general 
Tuareg population were to gain credibility, it would damage 
current northern Malian efforts toward a rapprochement with 
the GOM.  The MP from Gao Region, and  a Malian National 
Guard officer present in Kidal at the time of the Dawa 
conference,  separately told Emboffs the Dawa conference only 
attracted a few hundred participants, many of whom were 
foreigners, and that the conference only lasted one day. 
This contradicts a previous intel report (TD-314/079710-09) 
that the meeting lasted two days and attracted 1,000 
attendees. 
 
¶5. (S/NF)  The MPs and the National Guard officer also noted 
unease among many Tuareg leaders regarding the return of Iyad 
 
BAMAKO 00000822  002 OF 002 
 
 
ag Ghali from his posting as Consul General in Jiddah, Saudi 
Arabia, to host the Dawa conference.  Although Iyad only 
returned temporarily for the conference and other meetings, 
the two contacts said that many Kidal leaders saw Iyad as a 
polarizing element and a potential threat to both the 
traditional leadership and the local population's current 
desire for calm in Kidal.  An MP believed Iyad hosted the 
conference not only due to his Dawa membership but also to 
return to Kidal in grand form to reinforce his relevance to 
the Kidal leadership after over a year spent in Jiddah.  From 
the conference, Iyad travelled to Bamako for business 
meetings and then returned to Jiddah. 
 
MILOVANOVIC