Jihadi fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are training Islamist groups in northern Mali, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou alleged on Thursday, as world powers discussed military intervention.
“We have information on the presence of Afghans and Pakistanis in northern Mali… They are believed to be working as instructors,” he told the France 24 news channel. “They are the ones who are training those who have been recruited across various west African countries,” said Issoufou, whose country shares a long and porous desert border with Mali. Mali, once considered a beacon of democracy in western Africa, has plunged into chaos since the collapse of Moamer Kadhafi’s regime in Libya last year scattered mercenaries and weapons across the Sahel.Tuareg rebels rekindled their decades-old struggle for independence in January and conquered the entire northern half of Mali virtually unopposed in March, after renegade soldiers, who accused then-president Amadou Toumani Toure of failing to do enough to fight the rebellion, toppled his regime.
