AQIM leader and Algeria’s ally Iyad Ag Ghali wanted by ICC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against terrorist leader Iyad Ag Ghaly and urged states to cooperate to bring him before justice, in a clear allusion to Algeria.

Ghaly is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in northern Mali between January 2012 and January 2013.

A Tuareg descendant of the Ifoghah tribe, Ag Ghaly was notorious for leading a terrorist group branded as, Ansar Eddine, which once had control of Timbuktu, Mali, jointly with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Mali had previously openly accused Algeria of acting in connivance with Tuareg extremists such as Iyad Ag Ghali.

Algeria has also used terrorist leaders in the Tuareg community such as Iyad Ig Ghali to thwart nationalist ambitions of the Tuaregs in Mali who were on the verge of establishing a state they called Azawad.

Sahel countries have on multiple occasions deplored Algeria’s laxity with Iad Ag Ghali who facilitated the merger of four terrorist groups operating in the Sahel into one group pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda and its Jordanian leader Zarqawi.