Guida in encounters with Jihadists and Malian Army..

Guida Landoure  landed himself in trouble the other day when he visited Central Mali for a family wedding. I have translated –with some abridging and paraphrasing- once more his Facebook report of a potentially lethal encounter. (Picture above for illustration only) When first reading his account, I confess to being a little dismayed at what seems like a sympathetic response to the terrorists. But Guida here is not in favour of terrorism, he is high-lighting the reasons for the defection to these groups – poverty and ideology- the last of these being  persuasive, since the Malian Army is very corrupt, undoubtedly, the state is weak and the Macina group seems to offer an alternative: a purer vision of existence, however narrow to our Western eyes. Central Mali is not alien to these purifying movements: they were not invented by AQMI or Al Quaida. The ‘Macina’ (the Niger Inland Delta) experienced two great such movements in the 19^th century, the first being Sekou Amadou’s Fulani Empire, followed by El Hadj Umar Tall and his Toucouleur Empire.

Guida’s conclusion, after his trials, is once again a plea for dialogue.

So, the day before the departure for the wedding we find Guida arriving in Djenne:

“As usual I went to play cards with my friends at night. There was no mention of insecurity although the threat is clearly there, nearby. Perhaps they were preoccupied by other problems such as the approach of the dry season; the increasing price of rice or the lack of fish because of the drop in water levels this year.
In the morning we got on our way to cross to the other side of the Niger. After about 75 km, we arrived close by the river. We needed to get out of the vehicle to avoid the risk of getting stuck. Walking in the sand, a motorcyclist came towards us. He asked us where we came from, where we were going and why. We answered calmly and politely. But once he had passed, I noticed Arabic writings on the back of his long beige coat. I did not need to dwell on the words that were written to understand what they said.   I knew that the unspoken rule was that I did not see or hear anything.  When we arrived at the edge of the river, he came back with another motorcyclist, this one armed. The same questions were put to us and the same answers given. We were instructed to tell no one what we had seen.  Of course we had  seen nothing...
 

We now thought that the problem had passed but soon another group of three men heavily armed and carrying their black flag approached from the other side of the shore in a canoe. We were all made to sit on the sand; they took up the sitting position they used when they were talibés in the Koran school. The leader put his weapon over his shoulder and shook our hands. The same questions were asked again and the same answers given. He checked our identity documents. He asked us to excuse him for a moment while he called his leader "since we are only envoys". He went behind our vehicle and phoned his boss. Moments later, he came back and asked one of the others to accompany him to check inside the vehicle. We heard this last one say that he was a witness that our vehicle had been checked without touching anything.

This control over, their leader came back to us to explain the reason for their struggle. He

 insisted that their fight is not ethnic and that it is not for the conquest of territory. Their only 

fight is the "dina": the establishment of Sharia- religious law. He rebuked my older brother for 

having filled up a vehicle to go and celebrate a wedding and all of us for being dressed like 

Jews or Christians: no one could tell the difference between us and the enemies they try and 

root out: those who are out to kill them too. 

He told us that we had taken a great risk in entering this area without due precaution and that 

this action could in fact be considered suicidal. When he had finished his sermon he gave us

 back our identity cards and said that he could not guarantee our safe arrival at our 

destination because he did not know if we were going to meet others on the way who may not

 be so understanding. Before leaving us, he asked us to forgive them for stopping us three 

times. His attitude was not one of indifference- he did not want to leave without apologizing.

When he went to mount his motorcycle I approached him, asking him if I could give them my 

point of view. He replied: "No problem". I could not let this opportunity slip by: I had dreamed of

 it, just like I had dreamed of meeting Ras Bath[i] –this has now also happened- to tell them 

what I think. 

I said that I think they are wrong to treat people on outward appearance. Whether men shave

 or not or wear short or long clothes does not reflect their piety. Such matters are just details 

and unworthy of so much opposition. I told him that their insistence on appearance is back 

firing on their intentions. He smiled and said "salam lafia" (peace and relax) I now wanted to go

 onto deeper matters, but my companions, happy to be able to escape without incident, were

 summoning me to come, Also, the ferry had arrived. I hope to have another opportunity and

 then to meet those at the top. 

From these meetings, I retain 3 personalities who could throw some light on the situation we

 are experiencing:

1.      The leader, the one who was in charge of the control seemed very convinced, he

 preached with faith and was trying to convince us of the merits of their fight. He remained 

courteous and amiable : he wanted to seduce us.

2.      One of the two who were stationed in front of us with a handgun kept moving

 restlessly, often replying to my brother who was saying that we had no bad intentions

 and that we were not representative of the state. He seemed to be praying that something

 would go wrong in order to be able to satiate his hatred which was almost palpable.  When

 he answered my big brother, the chief told him to shut up. He did not utter another word. 

A sign of discipline.

3.      The 3rd, very calm, remained silent, as if he were praying that nothing would go 

wrong. Possible all that mattered to him was his salary: that was  the only reason he was

 there at all. 

 After this checkpoint, no further worries.

Once we arrived at our destination, a town that has experienced many attacks, there was no 

check point control at the entrance although the army was there: we saw a few 100-200m 

behind a barricade of tyres. In the town the tension was palpable. ‘They’ were there, we saw it 

in the eyes of some and others went so far as to mutter  "the dogs have arrived to town": words

 they attribute to all who do not look like them. 

The wedding took place behind closed doors, there was not even the traditional cries of the 

‘griots’[1]. 

For our return to Djenne we decided to go through a town controlled by the Malian army. At the 

entrance of this town, on seeing the Malian soldier advancing, I was more afraid than at the 

sight of the "jihadists", maybe for fear of reacting badly considering all that I have seen of the

 military’s behaviour. But now an unfortunate event diverted us from a full check point control

 since our engine was pouring out oil. But we saw the soldier searching our vehicle alone

 inside, unlike the "jihadist" who wanted a witness. (Sorry, I only make observations here).

In Koutiala, in a hurry to return to the calm of the south, our driver did not pay attention to the

 checkpoint stop and we were stopped by policemen. We explained our misadventure and our

 behaviour but they still wanted us to ‘give them the price of tea’. The "jihadists" asked for

 nothing, only to ensure our identity. We refused the police men's  try for a bribe and wanted

 to pay the fine (which involves going to their superiors in company with one of them)  but they policemen

refused  to leave. We now threatened to tell their boss and they mockingly  encouraged us

 to go tell their minister. Here too, the opposite of the "jihadist", respectful of his superior. One

 could start wondering  who are  terrorizing us!

My idea is that we should not be afraid to talk to them and that war is not a solution especially

 since we do not know who exactly we are dealing with. We can silence them for a moment, but this

 war, which is fought for reasons of ideology and religious belief cannot be won by arms. They

 have points on which we can agree. For example the great cost and waste of money in 

weddings; the cessation of taxes that certain notables are enforcing for the grass grazed on

 the plains. etc 

But there are certain things that are not negotiable, such as the impossibility of  abolishing the

 school system. 

Again I reaffirm that these tensions will only be eased by dialogue and the restoration of social 

justice. We did not recognize that with the rebellion and now we have to negotiate back to the

 wall.

As soon as I am President, I will start direct negotiations. 

They are Malians, not monsters.

Have a good day!

Guida Landoure

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[1] The traditional West African’minstrels’ or Praise Singers.

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[i] Ras Bath is a Malian Rasta DJ, a whistleblower for government corruption and malpractise-  a very controversial figure and a thorn in the flesh for the Malian elite.