The BBC's Martin Vogl in Mali's capital Bamako says the Malian and Algerian governments will both be pleased to have Tuareg forces as part of their offensive against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The Tuareg know how to operate in the desert perhaps better than anyone else and could be the government's best hope of beating al-Qaeda in the region, he says...
Under the deal, special units of fighters from the Alliance for Democracy and Change (ADC) are to be sent to the desert to tackle al-Qaeda.
Although the ADC signed a deal to end its rebellion three years ago, one of its factions is still active.
The Tuareg, a historically nomadic people living in the Sahara and Sahel regions of North Africa, have had militant groups in Mali and Niger engaged in sporadic armed struggles for several decades.
They have argued that their region has been ignored by the government in the south of the countries.
But there has been a history of animosity between the Tuareg groups and al-Qaeda.
I haven't seen this covered much in the usual insurgency/terrorism roundups, but this is both a really good example of how different insurgent groups can be turned against one another. Hopefully, we can keep going with this type of tactic in or CT efforts against al-Qaeda.
While it may be naive on my part (for starters, i dont know a whole lot about Tuareg insurgencies), this also seems to be a case where CT collaboration may help ease other cleavages in the society that lead to insurgency. Given that participation in military efforts are going to require that money and equipment from the government make it out to the desert, these operations may be able to ease the resource gap that is perpetuating the conflict. or it may be another Sons of Iraq program, in which little real integration or resource distribution is achieved.
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