Mali should be under UN mandate, says Bouteflika adviser

One of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's close advisers on terrorism and trans-national crime, Kamel Rezag-Bara , has issued a stark warning to the states involved in the military intervention in Mali, saying that the tensions in the region could destroy the state of Mali if political dialogue between rival camps is not reestablished as a matter of priority.

 

Speaking at a seminar, he also said that the number of parties involved in the conflict should be reduced urgently and the dossier be handed to the UN to avoid the exacerbation of the crisis. Arguing that Touareg demands had grown while the government in Bamako ignored them, Bara said political dialogue between the Malian government and the tribal groups in the north, Algeria's favoured policy all along, offered the only way out of the conflict. It is not often that the president's close advisers speak publicly on major policy issues.

 

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