Mali's whisky-drinking rebel turned Islamist chief
In the course of an eventful life, Iyad Ag Ghali, head of the al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine, has been a rebel, diplomat, negotiator and Islamist militant. In his latest avatar, he could also now determine the future of northern Mali. On May 30, 2007, Iyad Ag Ghali, the current luxuriantly-bearded head of Ansar Dine, an al Qaeda-linked militant group, walked into the US embassy in the Malian capital of Bamako for a friendly chat with the ambassador. US diplomats at the meeting were clearly sympathetic to the man who would go on to turn into the scourge of the breakaway region of northern Mali. “Soft-spoken and reserved, ag Ghali [sic] showed nothing of the cold-blooded warrior persona created by the Malian press,” noted a leaked US Embassy cable . A fearsome Tuareg fighting man who, like many of his brothers-in-arms, had fought for a motley mix of bosses and rebel groups, Ag Ghali was attempting to negotiate yet another shotgun ceas