Ansar Dine aims to reach peaceful settlement with Mali government

The Islamist militant group Ansar Dine, which took over parts of north Mali several months ago, said on Sunday that it aims to reach a peaceful settlement with Mali's central government over the situation in the north with Algerian mediation. In a press release on Sunday, the group's spokesperson Sindah Ould Amama said that his group wants Algeria - the biggest country of the Sahara region - to have a leading role in helping to find a solution to the crisis in north Mali. Amama stressed that the Algerian mediation is expected to close the gap between the conflicting parties in Mali and the western powers which seeks to carry out a military offensive against north Mali's Islamists and want to distance Algeria from this issue. Ansar Dine sent a delegation to Algeria last Friday to negotiate the group's vision for a political solution for the situation in north Mali. Amama said that his group's vision is based on dialogue with Mali's central government, to reach a solution which will guarantee peace and national rights for the people of Azauad who reside in the north. The Ansar Dine spokesperson lashed out against western powers, particularly France, which he said have ambitions  to loot the treasures and resources of the Sahara region and do not care about the security and rights of the people of the Sahara. The leader of Ansar Dine, Eyad Ag Gali earlier denied any links between his group and al-Qaeda, adding that Ansar Dine can provide evidence that these "alleged links" are non-existent. Gali's statement was seen by observers as supportive to the Algerian stance towards the crisis in north Mali, as the Algerians are seeking a deal with Ansar Dine, a national political group which has a popular base in Mali's north. This stance is substantially different to that of the French when President Francois Hollande recently said that his country sees no considerable difference between militant Islamist groups of the Sahara region and al-Qaeda - adding that France considers military intervention as the most effective solution to uproot these groups from the region.