{"id":61479,"date":"2020-02-11T09:31:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T01:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61479"},"modified":"2020-02-11T09:31:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T01:31:09","slug":"pro-government-arab-militant-leader-killed-in-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61479","title":{"rendered":"Pro-government Arab militant leader killed in Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/4-2.jpg\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/4-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>BAMAKO, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; A senior officer in a pro-government Arab armed group was gunned down in northern Mali, officials said,<br>casting a shadow over efforts to reassert state control over the strife-torn<br>north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The killing comes as Mali\u2019s army is due to redeploy to several cities in<br>the north of the West African country, after rebels captured much of the vast semi-arid area in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two unidentified assailants on a motorbike killed Yoro Ould Daha near<br>Tamkoukat, in the north, said Moulaye Abdallah Haidara, the permanent<br>secretary of the pro-government Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daha was the chief of staff of a branch of the MAA allied to the government<br>in Bamako, according to officials, and was involved in implementing a peace deal between Mali and some rebel groups struck in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among other things, the pact provided for former rebels joining the army,<br>which would eventually return north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jihadists overtook the anti-government rebellion in 2012, and have since<br>spread the conflict to central Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the presence of foreign troops, the government has been struggling<br>to contain the jihadist insurgency, which has killed thousands of soldiers<br>and civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of northern Mali remains outside state control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in a sign of renewed momentum, the Malian army said that it<br>would redeploy to the northern city of Kidal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The army is due to return to Kidal with units comprised of regulars and<br>former rebels \u2014 one of the key components of the 2015 peace plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These new units are also due to deploy to other northern cities such as Gao<br>and Timbuktu after they reach Kidal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daha, the killed MMA officer, was associated with Gao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He left the city on Sunday to check on his livestock, according to MMA<br>member Aziz Ould Dida, before getting shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ousmane Maiga, a local leader in Gao, said Daha\u2019s body was in the town\u2019s<br>morgue where members of the local Arab community were also in attendance. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BAMAKO, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; A senior officer in a pro-government Arab armed group was gunned down in northern Mali, officials said,casting a shadow over efforts to reassert state control over the strife-tornnorth. The killing comes as Mali\u2019s army is due to redeploy to several cities inthe north of the West African country, after rebels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61479"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}