Independence fight
Main article: Tuareg rebellion (2012)
MNLA launched its armed campaign in January 2012[24][25] to free three regions of Mali from the central government’s control[13] and seeking the independence of Azawad.[26]
The MNLA’s fight is for their claim of Malian Azawad. (Area captured is indicated.)
In January, its fighters attacked Andéramboukane, Menaka, Tessalit, Niafunke and Aguelhoc.[27] They were reported to be in control of parts of northern Mali, such as Menaka on 1 February.[28] During that time the movement was said to have opened a fifth front in the town of Lere.[29] At the end of January, they claimed to have shot down a Malian Air Force Mig-21 with the surface-to-air missiles acquired from NATO arms drops over Libya.[12] The Armed Forces of Mali have also used helicopter gunships to target the group.[17] On 4 February, the movement’s fighters attacked government forces in Kidal with the aim of taking control of the town and occupying the two military bases there.[30] Further towns were seized and re-seized over the course of February and March. The MLNA were also accused of a “massacre” though the evidence was frivolous. At the same time, following clashes in the north, Tuareg civilians were said to have left Bamako for fear of reprisals.[31] The International Committee of the Red Cross also said that 3,500 people had fled across the border to Mauritania and that 10,000 people had crossed into Niger during the clashes.[26] On 8 February, Tinzawaten was wrested from central government control after Malian troops took a “tactical withdrawal” following the death of one soldier and injuries to two other soldiers, amid calls by the United Nations for an halt to the offensive. One rebel was also killed and another was wounded, while the MNLA seized two military bases and the weapons storages there. The ICRC added that there were 30,000 internally displaced persons, while the UN said that over 20,000 people have fled to Burkina Faso, Algeria and Mauritania. The UN also warned of food shortages as a result of the fighting.[32] In total, there were more than 100,000 refugees were displaced, with at least a quarter of them in Niger.[citation needed] ECOWAS planned to send a team to investigate the violence.[33] It also condemned their actions and called for logistical support for Mali.[34] After the March coup d’etat the MNLA, as well as Ansar Dine, took control of several small towns and also the bigger cities of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu. Timbuktu was read by Reuters of being the culmination of the plan to capture northern Mali.[35] The MNLA announced that by taking Timbuktu it sought to “dislodge Mali’s remaining political and military administration” in the region and said that it would rule the region with Ansar Dine in opposition to the administration in Bamako.[36]
On 6 April, In an interview with France 24, an MNLA spokesman declared the independence of Azawad as an independent state and said the movement would act as a provisional administration until the establishment of a government.[37]
“ Mali is an anarchic state. Therefore we have gathered a national liberation movement to put in an army capable of securing our land and an executive office capable of forming democratic institutions. We declare the independence of Azawad from this day on. ”
—Mossa Ag Attaher, MLNA spokesman, 6 April 2012
In the same interview, Attaher also promised that Azawad will “respect all the colonial frontiers that separate Azawad from its neighbours” and insisted that Azawad’s declaration of independence has “some international legality.”[38]
