A top al-Qaeda commander in North Africa has urged the people of Mali to reject foreign intervention as a way of solving the country’s conflict. “To the great and proud Muslim people of Mali we say, the problem in your country is an issue between Muslims,” said Abu Mosaab Abdulwadood in a videotaped message obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera. “It can be solved internally, through reconciliation between Muslims, without having to shed a single drop of blood.” Various groups, some with links to al-Qaeda, have been fighting for control of the North for the past eight months, after the army overthrew the government in March. The Tuareg rebels, a secular group, stepped into the security void, declaring a separate state after the rebellion was hijacked by fighters. But rifts soon appeared between various rebel groups, each of which currently claims control of parts of the region, with the Tuareg’s being pushed out of major border towns. Framing the struggle Phil Rees, a writer on Islamic movements, said that al-Qaeda intended to frame its fight as “a national liberation struggle”. “‘Listen, there’s going to a foreign army, OK, it’s going to be from ECOWAS, the West African group, but they are a foreign army, coming to your soil. We now stand as national liberators of your country,’” said Rees, explaining al-Qaeda’s line. “Al-Qaeda’s ultimate goal – and indeed most of the Islamists there – is to create a Caliphate,” said Rees. He added that al-Qaeda has become more opportunist, “playing political games” by trying to play to what is acceptable to “Muslim public opinion”.
