Cover photo: Tuareg separatist rebels in Mali, January 2012

Text by Fotis Tiligadas
The Berber-descended Tuareg people historically inhabit a vast area in the Sahara and Sahel regions of Africa. As a nomadic pastoralist people, the Tuareg currently reside in the areas encompassing southern Algeria, northeastern Mali, northwestern Niger, and the northern part of Burkina Faso. Further desertification and the severe droughts of the 20th and 21st centuries in the Sahel have led to changes in the routes followed by their herds, which have significantly reduced in numbers, leading to increasing hostility with neighboring black African peoples.

Historically, these peoples used to keep them as slaves (maintaining a caste system even today, with descendants of former black slaves occupying the lowest ranks, despite the official prohibition of slavery). The governmental authorities of Mali and Niger supported the Tuareg’s adversaries, even resorting to massacres against the Berber people, who, without any assistance, sought refuge in refugee camps in Algeria and Libya. Simultaneously, mining projects destroyed traditional Tuareg lands, leaving them feeling completely alienated from the administrative centers of Bamako and Niamey.

Historically, the Tuareg have reacted either to French control or to the central government of Mali, asserting their autonomy through revolutions undertaken in 1916-17 (the Kaocen rebellion), 1962-64 (Alfellaga), 1990-95 (which led to a peace process that was not particularly upheld), and 2007-09 (resulting in similar problematic agreements in Mali and Niger). The MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad – the name of the area claimed by the Tuareg as their historical homeland) took advantage of the end of the Civil War in Libya to equip itself with modern weaponry and experienced trained men, the lack of which had cost the Tuareg in their previous attempts.

The Malian army was suddenly caught off guard by the dynamism of the new Tuareg insurgency reclaiming their autonomy. The first attacks against the Malian army began in January 2012, when the Tuareg assaulted the provincial towns of Tessalit and Aguelhok in the Kidal region, primarily inhabited by Tuareg.

In relation to the past, what made the difference was the presence of jihadist fighters among the ranks of the Tuareg rebels of the MNLA. The leader of the Tuareg revolution in Mali, Iyad Ag Ghaly, during the period 1990-95, had shifted to the jihadist movement after his stay in Saudi Arabia, converting several Tuareg tribes from the secular MNLA to the Salafist jihadist Ansar Dine (Protectors of the Faith) that he created. Ag Ghaly was no longer advocating for an independent Azawad but for the imposition of Sharia law throughout Mali. Additionally, the seasoned fighters, veterans of the Algerian Civil War of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, took advantage of the instability in northern Mali to expand their footprint in the wider region.

Aguelhok fell on January 25, with the city’s garrison running out of ammunition and surrendering. Al-Qaeda men proceeded to execute around 100 captured soldiers, with the Blacks shot in the head from close range while the Tuareg and Arabs clashed. The Malian army retook the city the next day using the base of the city of Kidal until they lost it again in the summer of 2012 when the Islamists imposed their control over the area, enforcing Sharia law and stoning a couple who had children out of wedlock.

After repelling attempts by the Malian army to relieve the garrison of the city, Tessalit was seized on March 11, 2012, by Tuareg insurgents, leading to a mass exodus of the Blacks in the area towards the Gao region. The Tuareg revolution led to violent protests in Bamako on February 1, with several attacks on Tuareg residents’ properties in the capital of Mali. The Tuareg continued to occupy areas of northern Mali in February and March 2012, with their expansion progressing rapidly, as by mid-March they had reached central Mali, capturing the towns of Dire and Goundam in the Timbuktu region. The peculiar alliance of the Tuareg with the jihadists and the rapid pace of expansion led to a coup d’état in Bamako against the government.

On March 21, soldiers seized the presidential palace, leading President Amadou Toumani Touré to resign and go into exile. On March 22, Captain Amadou Sanogo announced the creation of the new National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and the State, with the Junta suspending the constitution and temporarily taking control of Mali. This move was condemned by the international community, which froze Mali’s assets abroad, halted sending economic aid to the country, and suspended their participation in various regional and international organizations. After the coup prevailed, Tuareg insurgents of the secular MNLA and the jihadist Ansar Dine continued to expand their control in Mali, with the former bearing the brunt of the battles and the latter keeping their forces intact.

On March 30, the insurgents captured Kidal, the capital of the northeastern Kidal region, prompting interim President Sanogo of the junta to urgently seek assistance from Mali’s neighbors. On the same day, the Tuareg expanded into the Gao region (north-central Mali), seizing its namesake capital on March 31. In the conquest of Gao, forces of the jihadist group MOJWA (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) also participated. MOJWA had split from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb due to Arab domination in the latter, with MOJWA being led predominantly by Black leaders.

The captured areas in the regions of Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu were filled with the colorful flags of Azawad (MNLA) and the black flags of Jihad (Ansar Dine). The first clashes between the two Tuareg-dominated rebel groups began in Kidal, where MNLA flags were removed by Ansar Dine forces, while Sharia law began to be enforced in the conquered areas, with MNLA forces facing their initial challenges.

As the Tuareg insurgents continued their advance at rapid pace and the junta in Bamako lost all control over the troops and the overall situation in the country, bridges were being formed in the historic city of Timbuktu to protect its precious treasures. Black soldiers of the Malian army began to withdraw towards the south, leaving only Arab and Berber soldiers in the city.

On April 1st, the Tuaregs attacked the city using heavy weaponry previously abandoned by Malian soldiers who had vacated their positions. The city was seized without significant battles, with the MNLA celebrating by raising the colorful Azawad flag throughout the city. Malian troops in the northern provinces withdrew to safer countries, such as Niger, where they were disarmed by local authorities and placed in refugee camps.

On April 6th, the MNLA also captured the last major city within the area it claimed for independent Azawad, the city of Douentza in the Mopti region of central Mali. With the junta having lost all control in the country, developments quickly brought about their replacement, while the “colorful Azawad flag would soon be replaced by the much harsher monochrome black of Jihad“.