History

Further information: Tuareg rebellions

Since 1916 there have been at least five Tuareg rebellions. After the failure of the previous rebellion, Tuareg fighters left for Libya where they were integrated into the Libyan Army.[8] At the end of 2011, following the defeat of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya several Tuareg from the Libyan Army returned to the Azawad regions of northern Mali[9] (though many also fought for the rebel National Transitional Council[10]).Many fighters returned from Libya for either financial reasons, such as losing their savings, or due to the alleged racism of NTC fighters and militias.[11]

The MNLA was said to have been formed after a fusion of such groups as the Northern Mali Tuareg Movement. An alleged influx of arms intended for rebels in Libya led to a huge cache in the largely ungoverned desert areas around where the Tuareg live and causing concern that much of the heavy weaponry remains unaccounted for and could be sold to the highest bidder.[12][13] Though some analysis has denied the connections to either AQIM or Gaddafi and the Libyan civil war, although the potency of this rebellion was still read as being influenced from weapons from Libya, as well as leftovers from previous rebellions in Azawad and even from Mali’s army which were taken by defecting Arab and Tuareg personnel.[5] The group is considered to be secular.[1]
MNLA’s adopted flag for the proposed state of Azawad.

They have also been accused by the government of Mali of cooperating with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.[14] The MNLA have denied this claim.[15]

The MNLA was founded in October 2011;[16] though it is sometimes considered to have been founded more than a year earlier[17] in relation to other such groups. The MNLA have presented themselves as a movement for the liberation of all the peoples of Azawad (Songhai, Arab, Fula and Tuareg).[5][18] There were also rumours that the group has been supported by battle-hardened Tuaregs from Niger.[19] On the subject of its composition, the MNLA has declared:
“     The MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) would like to make it clear that within the MNLA military command there are: old rebels from the uprisings of the 1990s (MFUA – Movements of the united Fronts of Azawad), of 2006 (MTNM – The Tuareg Movement of Northern Mali, which was lead by the late Ibrahim Ag Bahanga), fighters who have returned from Libya but who mostly participated in the liberation of that country, volunteers from the various ethnicities of northern Mali (Tuareg, Songhai, Peul and Moor) and both soldiers and officers who have deserted from the Malian army.