National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad

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Flag of the MNLA
The Azawad claimed by the MNLA occupies the entire north-eastern part of Mali

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad ( tamasheq ⵜⴰⵏⴾⵔⴰ ⵏ ⵜⵓⵎⴰⵙⵜ ⴹ ⴰⵙⵍⴰⵍⵓ ⵏ ⴰⵣⴰⵓⴷ Tankra n Tumast ḍ Aslalu n Azawd ; Arabic الحركة الوطنية لتحرير أزواد, DMG al-ḥaraka al-waṭanīya li-taḥrīr Azawād ; French Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad ), abbreviated MNLA , is a political and military organization in the Malian Azawad .

The fighters of the movement, who see themselves as representatives of the Tuareg and all the peoples of the Azawad, are fighting for the independence of the Azawad from Mali.

history

MNLA rebels with the flag of Azawad

Thousands of Tuareg members are said to have fought on the side of Muammar al-Gaddafi during the civil war in Libya . After the failed Tuareg rebellions of the past two decades, many were already in the service of the Libyan armed forces before the civil war . As the defeat of the troops loyal to Gaddafi in the Libyan civil war became more and more likely, Tuareg fighters began to cross the Malian border in October 2011, coming from Niger. These associations were under the command of a former colonel in the Libyan armed forces , Ag Mohammed Najem , who is said to belong to the Tuareg tribal group of the Kel Ifoghas .

Ag Mohammed Najem is a cousin of the Tuareg leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga , who fled to Libya in 2009 after the suppression of a Tuareg uprising and died on August 26, 2011 while trying to get back to Mali. According to official information from the government in Bamako , he died in a car accident; Observers from the private sector intelligence service STRATFOR suggested that he was killed by a Malian anti-terrorist unit trained by US military advisers . According to its own information, the MNLA sees itself as the successor to former Tuareg organizations such as the United Front des Azawad , which was involved in the uprising of the 1990s, and the Tuareg movement of northern Mali under Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, and unites the remaining fighters of these associations in theirs Rows.

After their return and the start of the conflict, several places in the border area with Niger and Mauritania were taken over by the MNLA without a fight. When they captured Adjelhoc on the Adrar Plateau in late January 2012, they killed several dozen government soldiers. A total of 80 to 100 people are said to have died, including civilians. The Malian government therefore appealed to the International Criminal Court . This resulted in protests, including in Bamako , and pogroms against members of the Tuareg. At the beginning of February 2012, the MNLA captured the towns of Tessalit and Tinzawaten on the only major road between Mali and Algeria . At the same time, the Malian army recaptured areas on the border with Mauritania.

On March 21, 2012, a coup began in Mali , in which soldiers of the Malian armed forces led by Captain Amadou Sanogo took power. The coup plotters accused President Amadou Toumani Touré's government of being unable to fight the Tuareg uprising. The MNLA has meanwhile been able to bring other cities in the north under its control, also because the Malian army mostly withdrew from the region. On March 30th the city of Kidal was conquered, on March 31st the garrison town of Gao was taken, on April 1st Timbuktu was also under the control of the Tuareg. The Azawad was under their control and the offensive was stopped on April 5th.

On April 6, the MNLA unilaterally proclaimed the independence of Azawad. Recognition by other states did not take place. The neighboring states announced that they would not recognize the independence of the Azawad in the future either.

However, the MNLA's alliance with the Islamist group Ansar Dine broke on June 8th due to the secular MNLA's refusal to recognize Sharia law , and the Islamists drove the MNLA out of the cities in order to enforce Sharia law there. On June 28, the MNLA had to leave Gao and Timbuktu after Kidal.

On June 18, 2013, the MNLA and the government signed a ceasefire.

Connections to Islamist groups

The MNLA's links with Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQMI) are viewed as controversial. At the beginning of the Tuareg uprising, the Tuareg are said to have fought against AQMI groups, but during the advance after the coup in Mali in March 2012, reports were made of joint operations with the Islamist group Ansar Dine , which is closely related to Al Qaeda . After the Azawad declared independence, Islamist groups are said to have expelled MNLA units from some cities and proclaimed Sharia law. A spokesman for Ansar Dine said that the independence of the Azawad will not be recognized because the Tuareg revolution is not taking place in the name of Islam. The MNLA, however, had declared that the new state should "be in accordance with the principles of the United Nations".

In May 2012, both sides agreed to unite their troops and establish an Islamic state in the northern territories they controlled. A few days later, the Tuareg rebels declared the agreement null and void.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andy Morgan: The Causes of the Uprising in Northern Mali. In: Think Africa Press. February 6, 2012, archived from the original on August 25, 2013 ; accessed on March 7, 2012 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Dominic Johnson : With helicopters against rebels. In: the daily newspaper . February 14, 2012, accessed February 15, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Scott Stewart: Mali Besieged by Fighters Fleeing Libya. In: STRATFOR . February 2, 2012, accessed February 27, 2012 .
  4. ^ Tuareg: Wrongly connected, Charlotte Wiedemann, ZEITonline, March 15, 2013
  5. ↑ Thomas Scheen : Tuareg set up massacres in northern Mali. In: FAZ.net . February 14, 2012, accessed February 21, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Tuareg rebels take Timbuktu. In: spiegel.de . April 1, 2012, accessed April 1, 2012 .
  7. ↑ Mali Tuareg separatist rebels end military operations. In: BBC News . April 5, 2012, accessed April 5, 2012 .
  8. ^ Tuareg proclaim their own state in northern Mali. In: FAZ.net . April 6, 2012, accessed April 6, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Ex-allies clash in northern Mali as crisis 'turns tribal' ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (AFP report from August 5, 2012)
  10. ^ Ansar Dine Islamists oust Tuareg rebels from Timbuktu. In: France 24 . June 29, 2012, accessed July 19, 2012 .
  11. ^ FAZ.net: Agreement between the government and the Tuareg
  12. ↑ Dominic Johnson : With helicopters against rebels. In: the daily newspaper . February 14, 2012, accessed April 7, 2012 .
  13. ↑ a b Tuareg proclaim their own state Azawad. In: sueddeutsche.de . April 6, 2012, Retrieved April 7, 2012 .
  14. ↑ The West ignores the new Tuareg state. In: Spiegel Online . April 6, 2012, Retrieved April 7, 2012 .
  15. ↑ Malian rebels and Islamic fighters merge. Al Jazeera , May 27, 2012, accessed May 27, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Tuareg reject a joint state with Islamists. NZZ Online June 1, 2012