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The govt. of Mali denied they entrusted anyone to go and negotiate. Essentially the previous article said, that nothing happened yet, but they felt the need to make an official statement, after they heard about the news from the media. I assume their local media. I can't really go and check that out because it's all French to me.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/22/mali-denies-asking-islamic-body-to-negotiate-with-al-qaeda