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 19th 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’.
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
[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.
