Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                  Near Timbuktu, a Fragile Calm Follows Unrest

   by Nancy Palus

   Calm has returned to the town of Goundam in Mali's Timbuktu region
   after Saturday demonstrations prompted Islalmist militiamen to bring in
   reinforcements and round up protesters.
   According to local residents, Ansar Dine, which alone has controlled
   the Timbuktu region since seizing the northern two-thirds of the
   country with other rebel groups in late March, detained and beat about
   90 people following the unrest.
   Ansar Dine leaders then called Goundam's imam and other elders to the
   nearby city of Timbuktu for talks, after which the detainees were
   released.
   The region's predominantly Muslim population has watched in shock as
   Ansar Dine has publicly flogged residents and destroyed ancient
   shrines.
   One Goundam resident who took part in the talks said the group
   expressed indignation at protesters, particularly those who tore up
   Ansar Dine's flag.
   The Islamist group, he said on the condition of anonymity, has
   instructed traditional and religious leaders to warn residents not to
   rise up as they did over the weekend, during which demonstrators
   vandalized some buildings used by Ansar Dine, and reportedly took arms
   and munitions.
   "Ansar Dine was intensely angry about the uprising," he said of the
   meetings. "They warned that in order to avoid an even harsher
   crackdown, local leaders must call for calm in Goundam and urge people
   to act according to the strict version of Islamic law that Ansar Dine
   imposes."
   Demands to observe such a severely stringent form of Sharia, with which
   most Goundam residents aren't accustomed, leave many of facing a stark
   choice: submit to the commands or flee.
   "We don't constitute an opposition force," he said. "We don't have an
   army. We don't have a state. We're pretty much defenseless."
   One 19-year-old Goundam resident, Aboubacar, said some young people
   have already fled south since the protest, and that many who remain,
   having witnessed the beatings, are afraid and unlikely to rise up
   again.
   "We want either the Malian army or the regional bloc ECOWAS to come and
   liberate us," he said. "We can't take this anymore."
   One Timbuktu native based in Bamako, however, said he does not expect
   everyone in Goundam to remain quiet, explaining that some youths from
   the region see this as only the beginning of a people's revolt.
   One resident of the northern city of Gao, which is controlled by
   al-Qaeda splinter group Mujao, agreed: "The uprising you saw [in
   Goundam] -- eventually you're going to see it everywhere in the north."
   The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has proposed
   military action to take back northern Mali from Islamist groups, but is
   currently awaiting a formal request from Mali's interim government and
   approval by the United Nations Security Council.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/mali_timbuktu_region_goundam_ansar_di
   ne_protests/1416645.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/mali_timbuktu_region_goundam_ansar_dine_protests/1416645.html