Amadou Koufa (Amadou Diallo)

Elsewhere armed men belonging to Youssouf Toloba's Dogon militia Dan Na Ambassagou or Sékou Bolly's Fulani (or Peuhl) self-defence group or indeed the firebrand preacher Amadou Kouffa's Force de libération du Macina engaged in violent acts which have caused an estimated 700 000 Malians to flee their homes...

The Chadian troops will help to keep ISGS in check while Barkhane and the Malian army exploit the remaining dry months before the July to August rains to accelerate the campaign against JNIM and its affiliate Amadou Koufa's Macina katibat or Front de Libération du Macina in areas further west (AC Vol 62 No 2 Outstaying welcomes)...

Prime Minister Moctar Ouane has set out his plans to develop talks with some jihadist faction leaders following up on the initial overtures that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta – deposed by army putschists in August – had already made towards Iyad ag Ghaly and Amadou Koufa of the Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin alliance (AC Vol 61 No 20 Colonels concede – but not much)...

The bodies of 180 of these civilians all male were found in mass graves around the northern town of Djibo home of Burkina Faso's home-grown jihadist group Ansaroul Islam which aligned itself later with Amadou Koufa's Front de Libération du Macina (AC Vol 58 No 6 More progress less movement)...

He will want to encourage further overtures towards local jihadists such as the Peul (or Fulani) preacher Amadou Koufa in Mopti region...

Maïga cut off support for the commission that Dicko had set up to try to develop a dialogue with Mali's two most prominent homegrown jihadist chiefs Iyad ag Ghaly head of the Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) and Amadou Koufa who leads its central Malian subsidiary the Front de Libération du Macina (FLM – AC Vol 60 No 19 The talking cure)...

One is that of Dramane Sidibe also simply referred to as 'Hamza' a prominent lieutenant of Amadou Koufa the imam who leads the Front de libération du Macina (FLM) which is part of JNIM (AC Vol 60 No 8 Jihad's shifting fronts)...

Dicko is not aligned with the homegrown jihadist chiefs Iyad ag Ghaly and Amadou Koufa but he does favour talks with them – a strategy Keïta is now trying to pursue (AC Vol 61 No 4 Terrorists at the table)...

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta says his envoy Dioncounda Traoré had his full authority to initiate talks with jihadist chiefs Iyad ag Ghaly and Amadou Koufa – after years of government insistence there would be no negotiation with terrorists (AC Vol 61 No 1 Advantage jihadists)...

Meanwhile the special envoy for central Mali former interim head of state Dioncounda Traoré says he has put out feelers to the jihadist leaders Amadou Koufa and Iyad ag Ghaly alarming his Western collaborators...