African Union backs Mali troops plan

Conflict	2012 Northern Mali conflict
Date	? ongoing()
Place	Northern Mali
Status	Ongoing Malian president Amadou Toumani Tour? is ousted by a coup d'?tat MNLA and Ansar Dine take control of all Northern Mali territory Independent state of Azawad declared by the MNLA and briefly supported by Ansar Dine Ansar Dine, AQIM and MOJWA take control of all northern Malian cities
Combatant1	Supported by: 22px|border ECOWAS United States ---- NLFA
Combatant2	Independent State of Azawad MNLA
Combatant3	Islamists Ansar Dine MOJWA AQIM Boko Haram
Commander1	Amadou Toumani Tour? (until March) Sadio Gassama (until March) El Haji Ag Gamou (until March) Amadou Sanogo (since March 2012) ---- Mohamed Lamine Ould Sidatt (NLFA)Housseine Khoulam (NLFA)
Commander2	Mahmoud Ag Aghaly Bilal Ag Acherif Moussa Ag Acharatoumane Ag Mohamed Najem
Commander3	Iyad ag Ghaly Omar Hamaha
Strength1	7,000?7,800 regulars,4,800 paramilitaries,3,000 militia (overall military strength) ---- ~500 (NLFA)
Strength2	MNLA: 3,000
Strength3	Ansar Dine: ~300 Boko Haram: ~100
Casualties1	at least 160 killed,400 capturedTotal: 1,000?1,500+ killed, captured or deserted
Casualties2	65 killed (Malian sources)
Notes	Displaced: ~100,000 refugees abroad100,000+ internally displaced personsTotal: ~250,000 }}

Since 17 January 2012, several insurgent groups have been fighting a campaign against the Malian government for independence or greater autonomy for northern Mali (an area known as Azawad). The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an organization fighting to make Azawad an independent homeland for the Tuareg people, had taken control of the region by April. The MNLA were initially backed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine. However, after the Malian military were driven from Azawad, Ansar Dine began imposing strict Sharia law. Since then, the MNLA has been fighting against Ansar Dine and another Islamist group called the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA), a splinter group of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

On 22 March, President Amadou Toumani Tour? was ousted in a coup d'?tat over his handling of the crisis, a month before a presidential election was to have taken place. Mutineering soldiers, calling themselves the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), took control and suspended the constitution of Mali. As a consequence of the instability following the coup, Mali's three largest northern cities?Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu?were overrun by the rebels on three consecutive days. On 5 April, after the capture of Douentza, the MNLA said that it had accomplished its goals and called off its offensive. The following day, it proclaimed Azawad's independence from Mali.

After the end of hostilities with the Malian Army, however, the MNLA and Islamists struggled to reconcile their conflicting visions for an intended new state. On 27 June, MOJWA Islamists clashed with the MNLA in the Battle of Gao, wounding MNLA secretary-general Bilal Ag Acherif and taking control of the city. By 17 July, the MNLA had lost control of northern Mali's cities to the Islamists.

Background

The MNLA was an offshoot of a political movement known as the National Movement for Azawad (MNA) prior to the insurgency. After the end of the Libyan civil war, an influx of weaponry led to the arming of the Tuareg in their demand for independence for the Azawad. The strength of this uprising and the use of heavy weapons, which were not present in the previous conflicts, were said to have "surprised" Malian officials and observers.

Though dominated by Tuaregs, the MNLA stated that they represented other ethnic groups as well, and were reportedly joined by some Arab leaders. The MNLA's leader Bilal Ag Acherif said that the onus was on Mali to either give the Saharan peoples their self-determination or they would take it themselves.

Another Tuareg-dominated group, the Islamist Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), initially fought alongside the MNLA against the government. Unlike the MNLA, it did not seek independence but rather the imposition of sharia across Mali. The movement's leader Iyad Ag Ghaly was part of the early 1990s rebellion and has been reported to be linked to an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that is led by his cousin Hamada Ag Hama as well as Algeria's D?partement du Renseignement et de la S?curit? (DRS).

Tuareg rebellion (January?April 2012)

The first attacks of the rebellion took place in M?naka, a small town in far eastern Mali, on 16 and 17 January. On 17 January attacks in Aguelhok and Tessalit were reported. The Mali government claimed to have regained control of all three towns the next day. On 24 January the rebels retook Aguelhok after the Malian army ran out of ammunition. The next day the Mali government once again recaptured the city. Mali launched air and land counter operations to take back the seized territory, amid protests in Bamako and Kati. Malian president Amadou Toumani Tour? then reorganised his senior commanders for the fight against the rebels.

On 1 February, the MNLA took control of the city of Menaka when the Malian army operated what they called a tactical retreat. The violence in the north led to counter protests in the capital city of Bamako. Dozens of Malian soldiers were also killed in fighting in Aguelhok. On 6 February, rebel forces attacked Kidal, a regional capital.

On 4 March, a new round of fighting was reported near the formerly rebel-held town of Tessalit. The next day, three Malian army units gave up trying to lift the siege. The United States Air Force air-dropped supplies via a C-130 in support of the besieged Malian soldiers. On 11 March, the MNLA re-took Tessalit and its airport, and the Malian military forces fled towards the border with Algeria.

The rebels advanced to about 125 kilometers away from Timbuktu and their advance was unchecked when they entered without fighting in the towns of Dir? and Goundam. Ansar Dine stated that it had control of the Mali-Algeria border.

Coup d'?tat

On 21 March, soldiers dissatisfied with the course of the conflict attacked Defense Minister Sadio Gassama as he arrived to speak to them. They then stoned the minister's car, forcing him to flee the camp. Later that day, soldiers stormed the presidential palace, forcing Tour? into hiding.

The next morning, Captain Amadou Sanogo, the chairman of the new National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), made a television appearance in which he announced that the junta had suspended Mali's constitution and taken control of the nation. The mutineers cited Tour?'s alleged poor handling of the insurgency and the lack of equipment for the Malian Army as their reasons for the rebellion. The CNRDR would serve as an interim regime until power could be returned to a new, democratically elected government.

The coup was "unanimously condemned" by the international community, including by the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the latter of which announced on 29 March that the CNRDR had 72 hours to relinquish control before landlocked Mali's borders would be closed by its neighbours, its assets would be frozen by the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and individuals in the CNRDR would receive freezes on their assets and travel bans. ECOWAS and the African Union also suspended Mali. The U.S., the World Bank, and the African Development Bank suspended development aid funds in support of ECOWAS and the AU's reactions to the coup.

C?te d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara, who was the rotational chairman of ECOWAS, said that once the civilian government was restored an ECOWAS stand-by force of 2,000 soldiers could intervene against the rebellion. Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore was appointed as a mediator by ECOWAS to resolve the crisis. An agreement was reached between the junta and ECOWAS negotiators on 6 April, in which both Sanogo and Tour? would resign, sanctions would be lifted, the mutineers would be granted amnesty, and power would pass to National Assembly of Mali Speaker Diouncounda Traor?. Following Traor?'s inauguration, he pledged to "wage a total and relentless war" on the Tuareg rebels unless they released their control of northern Malian cities.

Continued offensive

During the uncertainty following the coup, the rebels launched an offensive with the aim of capturing several towns and army camps abandoned by the Malian army. Though the offensive ostensibly included both the MNLA and Ansar Dine, according to Jeremy Keenan of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, Ansar Dine's military contribution was slight: "What seems to happen is that when they move into a town, the MNLA take out the military base ? not that there's much resistance ? and Iyad [ag Aghaly] goes into town and puts up his flag and starts bossing everyone around about sharia law."

On 30 March, the rebels seized control of Kidal, the capital of Kidal Region, as well as Ansongo and Bourem in Gao Region. On 31 March, Gao fell to the rebels, and both MNLA and Ansar Dine flags appeared in the city. The following day, rebels attacked Timbuktu, the last major government-controlled city in the north; they captured it with little fighting. The speed and ease with which the rebels took control of the north was attributed in large part to the confusion created in the army's coup, leading Reuters to describe it as "a spectacular own-goal".

On 6 April, stating that it had secured all of its desired territory, the MNLA declared independence from Mali. However, the declaration was rejected as invalid by the African Union and the European Union.

Islamist?nationalist conflict

After the withdrawal of Malian government forces from the region, former co-belligerents Ansar Dine, MOJWA, and the MNLA soon found themselves in conflict with each other as well as the populace.

On 5 April, Islamists, possibly from AQIM or MOJWA, entered the Algerian consulate in Gao and took hostages. The MNLA succeeded in negotiated their release without violence, and one MNLA commander said that the movement had decided to disarm other armed groups. On 8 April, a mostly Arab militia calling itself the National Liberation Front of Azawad (FNLA) announced its intention to oppose Tuareg rule, battle the MNLA, and "return to peace and economic activity"; the group claimed to consist of 500 fighters.

The MNLA clashed with protesters in Gao on 14 May, reportedly injuring four and killing one. On 6 June, residents of Kidal, mostly some 500 women and children, protested against the imposition of Sharia in the town and in support of MNLA, protests which were violently dispersed by Ansar Dine members. By the night of 8 June, MNLA and Ansar Dine rebels clashed against each other in the city with automatic weapons, with two dying in the skirmish.

In early June, Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou stated that Afghan and Pakistani jihadists were training Azawadi Islamist rebels.

Battle of Gao

Clashes began to escalate between the MNLA and the Islamists after a merge attempt failed, despite the signing of a power-sharing treaty.

Protests broke out on 26 June in the city of Gao, the majority of whose people are not Tuaregs (as opposed to the MNLA), but rather sub-Saharan groups such as the Songhay and Fula peoples. The protestors opposed the Tuareg rebels and the partition of Mali. Two were killed as a result of the protests, allegedly by MNLA troops. The protesters used both Malian and Islamist flags, and France 24 reported that many locals supported the Islamists as a result of their opposition to the Tuareg nationalists and the secession of Azawad.

On 26 June, the tension came to all-out combat in Gao between the MNLA and MOJWA, with both sides firing heavy weapons. MNLA Secretary General Bilal ag Acherif was wounded in the battle. The MNLA were soon driven from the city, and from Kidal and Timbuktu shortly after. However, the MNLA stated that it continued to maintain forces and control some rural areas in the region.

Takeover of Douentza

On 1 September, MOJWA took over the southern town of Douentza, which had previously been held by a Songhai secular militia, the Ganda Iso (Songhai for "Sons of the Land"). A MOJWA spokesman said that the group had had an agreement with the Ganda Iso, but had decided to occupy the town when the militia appeared to be acting independently, and gained control of the town following a brief standoff with Ganda Iso. Once MOJWA troops surrounded the city, the militia reportedly surrendered without a fight and were disarmed.

While Douentza is located about 500 miles (800 kilometers) northeast of the capital Bamako, it is only 120 miles (190 kilometers) from Mopti, which marks the line-of-control held by Mali's military. In addition The Washington Post noted that the capture and fall of Douentza signified that Islamist forces were gaining territory in Mali and moving closer to southern Mali.

Human rights concerns

In May, Amnesty International released a report stating that the conflict had created Mali's worst human rights situation since 1960. The organization stated that fighters with the MNLA and Ansar Dine were "running riot" in Mali's north, and documented instances of gang rape, extrajudicial executions, and the use of child soldiers by both Tuareg and Islamist groups.

On 3 April, armed groups looted 2,354 tons of food from United Nations' World Food Programme's warehouses in Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu, causing the WFP to suspend its operations in northern Mali. Other targets of looting included hospitals, hotels, government offices, Oxfam offices and the offices and warehouses of other unnamed aid groups. The WFP also stated that 200,000 had so far fled the fighting, predicting that the number would rise. Ansar Dine also blocked a humanitarian convoy bringing medical and food aid from reaching Timbuktu on 15 May, objecting to the presence of women in the welcoming committee set up by city residents; after negotiations, the convoy was released on the following day. The group reportedly banned video games, Malian and Western music, bars, and football in Gao and ransacked alcohol-serving establishments both Gao and Kidal. Islamist forces were also reported to have intervened against looters and ordered women to wear head scarves. The CRNDR's spokesman Amadou Konare claimed that "women and girls have been kidnapped and raped by the new occupants who are laying down their own law."

On 29 July, a couple was stoned to death for having children outside of marriage by Islamists in Aguelhok. An official reported that many people left the town for Algeria following the incident. On 9 August, Islamist militants chopped off the hand of an alleged thief in the town of Ansogo, despite a crowd pleading with the militants for mercy.

During the conflict, Islamists also damaged or destroyed a number of historical sites on the grounds that they were idolatrous, particularly in Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site. On 4 May, Ansar Dine members reportedly burned the tomb of a Sufi saint. In late June, Islamists attacked several more sites in Timbuktu with pickaxes and shovels.

The Tuaregs and Arabs who lived in Bamako and elsewhere in southern Mali were subjects of a rash of ethnic attacks by "black" Malians (as opposed to Mediterranean Arabs and racially mixed Tuaregs), despite many of them being hostile to Azawad separatism as well as the Islamists. In fact, many of these actually had only recently come to the "South", fleeing the violence in the North.

References

Category:2012 in Mali Mali Category:Tuareg rebellions Category:Wars involving Mali Category:Military coups in Mali Category:Impact of the Arab Spring Mali Category:Azawad Category:Wars of independence

Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2012/11/14/African_Union_backs_Mali_troops_plan/

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