Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh is a Malian Tuareg politician. He has served as member of the National Assembly of Mali. During the early phases of the

Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

he served as

National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement (Tamasheq: '; ar, الحركة الوطنية لتحرير أزواد ''al-Ḥarakat al-Waṭaniyat Litaḥrīr ʾĀzawād''; french: Mouvement nati ...

(MNLA) external relations representative, before starting his own party, the

Coalition for the People of Azawad A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

(CPA) (French:Coalition du peuple pour l’Azawad), in March 2014, after a fallout with MNLA leader Bilal Ag Acherif.

Career

Assaleh has served as member of the National Assembly of Mali for the Bourem constituency. Assaleh was active as a mediator in kidnapping for ransom cases in Northern Mali. He led the talks for the MNLA with ECOWAS leaders and Burkinabé President Blaise Compaoré in Burkina Faso in June 2012. At the meeting he declared that the MNLA was willing to negotiate with the Malian government with the ECOWAS mediators. He had a Malian government arrest warrant until October 2013, when it was lifted due to his work in the reconciliation process of the country. On 18 March 2014 the

(CPA) was declared with Assaleh as its chairperson. It was declared in the name of political and MNLA cadres and it claimed a council with 32 members was established. Though shortly thereafter one of the named members was surprised by his appointment and declared his loyalty to the MNLA. The reason for the establishment of the CPA was impatience with the hardline approach of MNLA leader Bilal Ag Acherif in the negotiations with the Malian government. At the creation of the CPA it apparently had Algerian support. Assaleh claimed the independence of Azawad was not a goal for him and the party. At the time of his departure he argued that 70% of the militants were following him. In September 2014 the CPA led by Assaleh started the second round of negotiations with the Malian government and other rebel groups. The CPA was said to be closer to the Malian government's view than three other parties, including the MNLA. Assaleh promoted an Iraqi Kurdistan type of autonomy for the Azawad region within Mali.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assaleh, Ibrahim Ag Muhamed Living people Tuareg people Members of the National Assembly (Mali) Members of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad Year of birth missing (living people) People from Gao Region 21st-century Malian people