Touarègue rebellion of 2012 – Wikipedia

L’ Malian insurrection of 2012 (also designated under the name of Touareg rebellion or Tuareg uprising 2012) or Azawad War is an armed conflict which, in northern Mali, opposes the Malian army to the Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the Salafist Movement Ansar Dine, allies to other Islamist movements. She was triggered the January 17, 2012 With the attack on Malian military camps in the north of the country by MNLA fighters.

The MNLA claims the self -determination and independence of Azawad which corresponds to the three Malian regions of Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao. The Malian government refuses these claims, defending the integrity of the Malian territory. The Ansar Dine movement of the Tuareg veteran Iyad AG Ghali defends the establishment of an Islamic Republic with the application of Sharia law.

This conflict is part of a series of conflicts generally called “Tuareg conflicts”, or “Tuareg rebellion”, although the MNLA denies any ethnic character. The war causes harmful consequences for the populations of these regions, part of which takes refuge in neighboring countries (Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Burkina Faso) or in southern Mali, with other consequences for the inhabitants already confronted with difficulties food.

The Sahelian branch of Al-Qaeda Aqmi also plays an important role in the Malian insurgency. Their convergent interests lead Ansar Dine to meet his main leaders in May 2012 in Timbuktu. Subsequently, the Islamists manage to repel the Tuareg rebels from the main cities of Azawad to set up Islamic law.

Jihadists’ ambition to want to continue their offensive towards southern Mali and in particular the capital, Bamako, leads, in January 2013, the military intervention of France alongside the Malian government forces, with the triggering of the On the edge , whose objective is not only to stop the advance in the direction of Bamako of Islamist forces, to secure Bamako, but also to allow Mali to recover its territorial integrity, by the reconquest of the ^{[ twelfth ]} .

Physical and human geography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The Tuaregs belong to the Amazigh (Berbers) ethno-linguistic. Their general population is difficult to assess and would be around 1.5 million, including 550,000 in Mali, 800,000 in Niger, 50,000 in Algeria, the rest in Burkina Faso and Libya ^{[ 13 ]} .

Tuareg rebellions and past agreements [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

This conflict is part of a series of insurrections generally baptized “Touareg Rebellions”, who opposed certain members of the Tuareg people to the governments of Mali and Niger.

Since 1916, there have been several main conflicts:

• The Tuareg rebellion of 1916-1917, in Niger.
  From 1958, the Popular Movement of Azawad (MPA), claimed the constitution of a Tuareg State ^{[ 13 ]} .
• The Tuareg rebellion of 1962-1964 in Mali, generally called “first Tuareg rebellion”, which was very harshly repressed by the Malian army ^{[ 13 ]} .
  Also struck by the drought of the 1970s, the Tuaregs took refuge in Algeria and Libya where in the camps young people are trained and enrolled by the army ^{[ 13 ]} .
  In 1988, the Popular Liberation Movement of Azawad (MPLA) was created ^{[ 13 ]} .
• The 1990-1996 Tuareg rebellion in Mali and Niger. She began in 1990, two years after the creation of the Popular Liberation Movement of Azawad. In Mali, a first period of conflict (October-December 1990) led to the signing of the Tamanrasset agreements in 1991 and the National Pact in 1992 ^{[ 14 ]} , but which did not mark the final end of hostilities. Conflicts reappeared in 1994-1995 and peace was finally sealed on March 27, 1996 in Timbuktu during the peace of peace ceremony, during which the Tuareg rebels burned 3,000 weapons used during the rebellion.
• The 2006 Tuareg rebellion in Mali, leading to the Algiers agreements (signed on July 4, 2006) ^{[ 13 ]} .
• The Touareg rebellion of 2007-2009, in Niger and Mali.

Political context [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The year 2012 marks the end of the second term of the President of the Republic Amadou Toumani Touré. The presidential elections (the first round of which is coupled with a referendum on the revision of the Constitution) and legislative must take place this year.

Mnla [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The National Azawad Liberation Movement (MNLA) is an independence political and military group created the October 16, 2011 By the merger of the National Movement of Azawad (MNA), made up of young intellectuals and political activists, with the guerrillas of the former Touareg Niger-Mali (ATNM) of Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, leader of the Touareg rebellions of 2006 to 2009, died in a car accident on August 26, 2011 . Tuaregs who fled Mali after the rebellions of the 1990s and entered the Libyan army under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi and who returned to Mali at his fall joined the MNLA ^{[ 13 ]} . On February 4, the MNLA communicated the list of seven members of its executive committee, led by Secretary General Bilal Ag Cherif. Mohamed Ag Najem is chief of staff and Hamma Ag Sidi Mohamed is the official spokesman for the MNLA ^{[ 15 ]} .

Mossa AG Attaher, MNLA communications officer declares that the objective is to “Free yourself from Malian colonialism” on the territory of Azawad which corresponds to three Malian administrative regions, those of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal ^{[ 13 ]} . On February 21, in an interview with Young Africa , Mahmoud Ag Aghaly, president of the political bureau of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declares that “The populations of north and southern Mali are too different to compose a state together, like Mali and Senegal were not made to be a single country. This is why we call on the international community, so that they convince Mali to give us our independence ” ^{[ 16 ]} .

In an interview with the Algerian newspaper El watan , Mossa Ag Atter, in charge of communication at the MNLA political bureau, affirms that “The MNLA is not a rebellion or an armed group. It is a revolutionary movement that works for the release of the northern regions of Mali, which we call Azawad. The movement claims the law of self-management, political law and law to indigenous populations living in this territory to decide for themselves and by themselves. Today, following all the frustrations and all the disappointments born of unhealthy relations with Mali for years, it is imperative to become independent and to take the right to self -resign. ” . He also indicates that “The MNLA recognizes no agreement. The claim is clear and none of these agreements takes into account the release of Azawad. Therefore, we will not take part in these deciduous agreements which only serve the interests of the Malian state. Anyway, they have never been respected and, in these circumstances, they represent only the shadow of themselves ” ^{[ 17 ]} .

The MNLA installed its headquarters in the hills around Zakake, north of Kidal. He claims a thousand men. The MNLA is equipped with assault rifles, soil-to-sol and ground-to-air missiles, Multiple rocket launchers BM-21 and mortars recovered in Libya ^{[ 18 ]} .

Islamic movements [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On March 11, the France-Presse agency announced that according to several concordant sources, “An Islamist movement called” Ansar Dine “, created by a former figure of the Malian Tuareg Rebellions of the 90s, Iyad Ag Ghali, fights with the Tuareg rebels against the Malian army in northeast Mali” . AQMI fighters from the cell led by Abdelkrim Taleb, accused “To be the author of the death of the French humanitarian aid Michel Germaneau whose Aqmi, who held him hostage, had announced the execution in July 2010” , are active within Ansar Dine ^{[ 19 ]} . Islamic movement calls for the application of Sharia law in Mali ^{[ 20 ]} . On March 19, the MNLA published a statement specifying “The Republic we are fighting is based on the principles of democracy and secularism” , thus distanced himself from the Ansar Dine movement ^{[ 21 ]} .

Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara, Malian preacher wanted to distinguish between his homonymous association Ançar Eddine based in Bamako who advocates tolerance and refuses sharia and the fundamentalist movement of Iyad Ag Ghali ^{[ 22 ]} . Ansar Dine is ally with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI). Managers of the terrorist group practicing Western kidnappings were invited by Iyad Ag Ghali to Gao. Two other fundamentalist movements are present in northern Mali. The movement for uniqueness and jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a dissident group of AQMI, claimed the kidnapping of Algerian diplomats at the Gao Consulate ^{[ 23 ]} . The Nigerian Islamic Movement Boko Haram is also present in Gao with a hundred fighters ^{[ 23 ]} .

Malian armed forces at the start of the conflict [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The Malian army installed its headquarters in Gao. General Gabriel Poudiougou, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, installed in Bamako coordinates the fight against rebellion and joins Gao just after the start of the fighting. Faithful of President Amadou Toumani Touré, he knows the Kidal region well for having been in post. Generals Kalifa Keïta, Chief of the Army Staff, and Wali Sissoko, assistant to the chief of the Air Force Staff are on site in Gao, as well as the Colonels-Majors El Hadj Ag Gamou, Touareg of the Imghad tribe who was commander of the military region of Gao and Mohamed Ould Meidou, Arab of Tilemsi, former commander of the Mopti military region ^{[ 24 ]} .

A thousand men deployed at the end of December are under their orders. They have the support of Arab and Touarègues militias rallied to the Malian authorities. The army is equipped with 4×4, BRDM-type recognition armored vehicles, transport vehicles of South African manufacturing troops (RG-31 Nyala) and light armored vehicles as well as two combat helicopters Mil Mi-24, maintained and piloted, for some, by Ukrainians, and recognition planes. The United States provides slight logistical support for the armed forces and the civilian population. Some Tuareg Malian soldiers have deserted and joined the MNLA, such as Lieutenant-Colonel Mbarek Ag Akly, Colonel Iba Ag Moussa or Colonel Hassan Ag Mehdi, senior official at the Malian Ministry of Defense ^{[ 18 ]} .

Alliance issues of MNLA and Ansar Dine organizations [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On May 26, 2012, after three weeks of negotiations in Gao, the MNLA announced its merger with the Islamist group Ansar Dine. The two movements announced that they have reached an agreement to declare independent Azawad. They must also constitute a common army responsible for securing the territory for the people of Azawad “In all its diversity” . The possible submission of the peoples of Azawad to the application of Sharia law will be uncertain, and if so in what legal, political and social terms, within the framework of a declared Islamic State now, and no longer secular. In Gao and Timbuktu, on May 25 at the signing, the agreement was greeted by shots in the air. Thus MNLA and Ansar Dine would like to pool their forces to form the transitional council of the Islamic State of Azawad ^{[ 25 ]} . “The Ansar Dine movement and the MNLA proclaim their self-dissolution in Azawad. The two movements create the transitional council of the Islamic State of Azawad ” , according to the memorandum of understanding between the independence movement and the Islamic group ^{[ 26 ]} .

However, on May 29, 2012, the MNLA expressed its disagreement, the final document having been modified after the signature. The dispute relates in particular to the addition of the MNLA of the application of the “Sharia” in the new Azawad to the knowledge of the mnla knowledge ^{[ 27 ]} . On June 2, the consultations between MNLA and those of Ansar Dine would have resumed ^{[ 28 ]} , after a rupture concerning the problems of Sharia law claimed by Ansar Dine in the text of the agreement of May 26, considered the first ^is June by the political bureau and the executive office of the MNLA, as being too radical and contrary to its values, because it would be question of Islamic State entirely based on the Koran, and on the Sunnah ^{[ 29 ]} . MNLA leaders therefore fear from fighters, especially the youngest, towards Ansar Dine, richer and stronger ^{[ 29 ]} . Trapped in the contradictions of these issues, the independence movement would seem ready to take this risk, to appear to the international community as a credible partner in the fight against Islamist terrorists, in particular AQMI, despite a possible decrease in the number of its fighters, and therefore of its effective armed capacities, essential to these world recognition objectives, for a free, independent and secular Azawad.

June 4, 2012, by a press release ^{[ 30 ]} , the MNLA takes stock of its relations with Ansar Dine and reaffirms its positions. He officially stands out from the Islamist group, and announces that he wanted to establish a provisional council of the territory of Azawad, to lead this territory with all the communities from northern Mali, like the Songhai, Peuls and Arabs seeking their place in this new dynamic regional. The process of rapprochement between the MNLA and Ansar Dine, as provided for by the memorandum of understanding signed on May 26, is well suspended, according to a declaration of Bilal Ag Cherif, secretary general of the MNLA, which confirms the desire for rapid training of ‘A government controlled by its movement. He also announces that the MNLA will study, after the implementation of this own body, the possibilities of another agreement with Ansar Dine with whom discussions are interrupted, because divergences apparently still remain on the forms of application, current and coming, Sharia law. Bilal Ag Cherif declares in particular to RFI: “We, the people of Azawad, we have our own understanding of Islam and we do not accept any idea that is foreign to Islam that our populations practice”; “What we want is that our religious leaders take care of Sharia law, and no one else”. It would not yet be a break, but an official distancing between the two movements is well reaffirmed by a framework of the MNLA: “We want to avoid a military conflict with the people of Ansar Dine”; “We respect ourselves but we decided to take our responsibilities”. The MNLA is still waiting for Ansar Dine to really stand out from Aqmi ^{[ thirty first ]} .

Before the coup d’etat [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

January [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On January 17, 2012, fighters from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) attacked Malian army troops in Ménaka in northern Mali. Human balance sheets are contradictory according to sources ^{[ 32 ]} . On January 18, MNLA fighters attacked the military camps located in Aguel’Hoc and Tessalit ^{[ 33 ]} . During the night of January 19 to 20, 2012, according to concordant sources cited by the France-Presse agency, the Malian army regained control of the three cities attacked by the MNLA ^{[ 34 ]} .

On January 24, the fighting resumed with the attacks by the MNLA, which would have been supported by the Salafiste group Jamâa Ansar Dine of Iyad Ag Ghaly, of several cities in northeast Mali: Aguel’Hoc, Andramboukane and Léré. The rebels take up the city of Aguel’Hoc ^{[ 35 ]} . For the first time, members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) and MNLA rebels would have attacked jointly ^{[ 36 ]} . However, on January 27, the MNLA denied any collaboration with the terrorist group during the attack on Aguel’Hoc ^{[ 37 ]} .

On January 26, the Tuareg rebels attacked the military camps of Andramboukane, on the border with Niger, then of Léré, close to the Mauritanian border ^{[ 36 ] , [ 38 ] , [ 39 ]} . On January 30, General Gabriel Poudiougou who had moved his headquarters to Gao to be as close as possible to the fighting, was recalled in Bamako to the president ^{[ 40 ]} . On January 31, fighting took place in Niafunké ^{[ 41 ]} .

FEBRUARY [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On February 2, the president proceeded to a ministerial reshuffle of the government of Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé: General Sadio Gassama, previously Minister of Internal Security and Civil Protection, was appointed Minister of Defense and Veterans, leaving his place in Natié Pléa, previously Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs ^{[ 42 ] , [ 43 ]} . The same day began in Algiers negotiations between the Malian government, represented by Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Delegates of Democratic Alliance of May 23 for change, of which members fight alongside the MNLA. The Alliance of May 23 brings together ex-Tuareg rebels who, after having returned to arms in March 2006, had signed with the Malian government, under the aegis of Algeria, of the so-called “Algiers agreements of Algiers »» ^{[ 44 ]} .

During the night of February 3 to 4, heavy weapon shots were heard in the city of Kidal, whose rebels are trying to take control ^{[ 45 ]} . On February 4, the Malian government and the democratic alliance of May 23 for change, launched from Algiers an urgent call to the ceasefire. Bilal Ag Cherif, secretary general of the MNLA declares in an interview with the Algerian Arabic-speaking newspaper El Khabar not to be concerned by this call to the ceasefire ^{[ forty six ]} .

On February 6, after 3 weeks of confrontation and while the fighting has stopped two localities (Ménaka and Léré) since 48 hours) would be under the control of the insurgents out of the six attacked (Tessalit, Andéramboukane, Niafunké, Aguel’Hoc, Ménaka and Léré). The city of Léré would serve as an operational basis for the occupation of the Sahel ^{[ 47 ]} . On February 6, the rebels evacuated the populations of the city of Tessalit (approximately 4,000 people) to camps in the bush, in Abamco, Savohak, Efali (Trist) and Assowa to prevent them from being victims of conflict . The health situation is worrying and is the subject of a mission of the Red Cross on February 7 ^{[ 48 ]} .

On February 7, the MNLA attacks Tinzawatène military post early in the morning, located a few kilometers from the Algerian border. The Malian army repels the attackers ^{[ 49 ]} . But on February 8, after two days of combat, the MNLA took control of Tinzawatène. A Malian source confirms that “The army withdrew from the camp and fell back on the Algerian side of the border, but it is a strategic withdrawal” ^{[ 50 ] , [ 51 ]} .

On February 10, the Malian army made bombings, via 5 helicopters, rebel positions located 15 km of the city of Kidal ^{[ 52 ]} . On the 11th, the MNLA claimed that a Malian army convoy, under the orders of Colonel-Major Alhaji Ag Gamou, who left the cities of Kidal and Anefif in the direction of Tessalit suffered an ambush at the level of Tinsalane ^{[ 53 ]} . On February 12, the Malian army regained control of Léré, without there being a fight and according to RFI, to the applause of the population. She puts one of the telephony networks destroyed by the rebels ^{[ 54 ]} . On February 13 and 14, violent battles opposed Malian army reinforcements to MNLA fighters several kilometers from the city of Tessalit. The Malian army claims to have entered town and that the military of the military camp, located at 6 km north of the city were able to be supplied, which the MNLA is denied which ensures to surround the camp ^{[ 55 ]} . On February 14, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Radio France Internationale that Mali remained “Open to dialogue (…) on everything that can affect the sharing of power and on bases transposed to the whole country” But refused “Any sharing of the territory” ^{[ 56 ]} .

On February 15 and 16, the fighting continued between the rebels and the Malian army for the control of Tessalit. The Malian authorities evoke a hundred dead among the rebels as well as 50 prisoners while Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, spokesperson for MNLA denies all losses in its ranks ^{[ 57 ]} . On February 16, the rebels of the MNLA took over the city of Léré, the Malian army having withdrawn towards Nampala ^{[ 58 ]} . On February 17, the MNLA attacks around 1:30 am with two cars the Fihroun al Ansary military camp in Gao ^{[ 58 ]} . On February 18, MNLA fighters attacked two localities located in the Mopti region. In Hombori, they attacked the gendarmerie which was ransacked and pillaged. Moussa Balogo Maiga, village chief would have been killed, perhaps by mistake the rebels actually seeking the chief of the gendarmerie. The MNLA refuted this assassination by declaring in a press release “The village chief of Hombori was assassinated by the services of the Malian gendarmerie to strengthen his campaign of disinformation and poisoning” . In Youwarou, the MNLA attacked the village, removing a soldier from the National Guard and sabotaging the telephone network ^{[ 58 ]} .

On February 25, a fight engaged between the MNLA and the Malian army, very close to the border with Burkina Faso and Niger. According to the MNLA, the confrontation lasts from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., two army cars are destroyed and several Malian soldiers are killed, at nightfall, the separatists declared to surround the convoy ^{[ 59 ] , [ 60 ]} .

On February 29, the clashes resumed between the Malian army and the MNLA rebels around Tessalit ^{[ sixty one ]} . The first ^is mars 2012 , the Malian army performs several raids against MNLA positions. The challenge of the fight is control of the military camp located about fifteen kilometers from the city of Tessalit and its take -off track. The Malian army controls the military camp but is surrounded by the rebels of the MNLA. The army seeks to send reinforcement and the MNLA tries to prevent reinforcements from arriving at the military camp ^{[ 62 ]} . Fighting took place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 March. According to the MNLA, Malian reinforcements have left the area by abandoning significant military means, information denied by the army ^{[ 63 ]} .

Mars [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced the first ^is March the delivery to the Malian authorities of three Malian soldiers selected hostage by the MNLA, five other soldiers being still retained ^{[ sixty four ]} . On March 2, 2012, Tuareg rebels removed three Malian soldiers and won four service vehicles in the locality of Ténenkou in the Mopti region, according to a declaration from Ely Touré of the governorate of Mopti to the France-Presse agency, confirmed by A local elected official ^{[ 65 ]} . According to information collected on March 3 by the France-Presse agency, an American military plane dropped food to the Malian soldiers who hold Tessalit camp ^{[ 66 ]} .

During the night of March 10 to 11, the MNLA takes control of the Tessalit military camp. Depending on the camps, the versions differ ^{[ sixty seven ]} . For the MNLA, the taking of the military camp follows a fight won by the MNLA while the Malian army speaks of a strategic withdrawal and an evacuation of the military camp in order to shelter the civilian populations who had found refuge. Lieutenant Broulaye Guissé claims to have withdrawn “Our troops to avoid massacres of civilians by the rebels and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” , this withdrawal being made without fight and that he “So there was no injured or dead in one camp as in the other” ^{[ 68 ]} . The Minister of Defense and Veterans said in a statement that in the face of the rehearsal assaults of the attackers, “Composed of the so -called National Azawad (MNLA), Aqmi, Ansar Dine, fighters, drug traffickers and reinforcements from various horizons” , the military command has decided “The temporary evacuation of the Tessalit camp” And “The organization of evacuation and escort convoys to other garrisons” ^{[ 69 ]} . Baye Ag Diknan, MNLA officer, says he has “Taken the camp following successive assaults” , where the MNLA had hired nearly 600 fighters. The MNLA says that there were dead on the Malian side and that Malian soldiers were taken prisoner and their families, and that military equipment ( “Mortars, rocket launcher, machine guns and even armored vehicles” ) has been recovered ^{[ sixty seven ]} .

On March 12, a convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who went to Tessalit to help civilians were intercepted and blocked by arms in arms. The MNLA which controls the city ensures that it is not responsible for this interception ^{[ 70 ]} . On March 13, in a video addressed to the France-Presse agency, the Islamic Movement Ansar Dine, created by Iyad Ag Ghali, a Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s in Mali, claims the taking of the Aguel’Hoc camp at the end of January and calls for the application of Sharia law in Mali ^{[ 20 ]} . Taking this camp on January 24, had also been claimed by the MNLA. On March 14, rebels attacked the locality of Diré where they took four vehicles belonging to the state services, then the town of Goundam where they took two vehicles and removed two police officers and a gendarme ^{[ 71 ]} .

On March 18, 2012, the Ansar Dine movement, which declared to control the localities of Aguel’Hoc and Tessalit, called for the application of Sharia law by the armed struggle ^{[ 72 ]} . The locality of Tessalit was also claimed when it was taken on March 11 by the MNLA. On March 20, the Ansar Dine movement stated in a press release controlled the IFORAS Adrar, in northeast Mali and occupy Tinzawaten, Tessalit and Aguel’Hoc. He announces that he wanted to give 110 civil and military prisoners to the High Islamic Council of Mali ^{[ seventy three ]} . Ansar Dine claims to control the locality of Tinzawaten, taken and claimed previously by the MNLA on February 8.

Military coup [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

During the night of March 21 to 22, a military coup overthrow the Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré. Lieutenant Amadou Konaré, spokesperson for the National Committee for the recovery of democracy and the restoration of the State (CNRDR), chaired by Amadou Sanogo, announces the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the institutions of the Republic ^{[ 74 ]} . He justifies the coup by “The government’s inability to give the armed forces the necessary means to defend the integrity of our national territory” ^{[ 75 ]} .

Fall of North-Mali [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

End of March [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On March 22, the MNLA took possession of the Anefif military camp, abandoned by the Malian army which retired to Gao ^{[ 76 ]} . On March 25, according to a source quoted by RFI, the colonel of the Malian army Malick AG AGURIF and thirty of his men would have deserted and joined the MNLA. Deadly clashes have opposed the MNLA and an army convoy supported by a Songhai group, Ganda Izo, between Ansongo and Ménaka ^{[ 77 ]} . On March 26, the MNLA surrounded the city of Kidal. Fighters from the Ansar Dine movement would also be on site. A framework of the MNLA reaffirms that there are no links between the two entities, recognizing that this situation is ambiguous. The MNLA claims to have proposed to the governor of Kidal and Colonel Gamou to promote the surrender of the army in order to avoid a bloodshed ^{[ 77 ]} . On March 27, a delegation from the Bérabiche de Timbuktu Arab community met with MNLA officials to ask them to give up their Timbuktu attack project. The MNLA asked them to chase the city’s Malian soldiers or let them do it or prepare for an attack on the MNLA. The Bérabiche Arab community has chosen to resist ^{[ 78 ]} .

On March 29, the MNLA, supported according to a Malian soldier joined by AFP, by Ansar Dine jointly attacking the city of Kidal, the Touarègue movement by the North, the Islamic armed group from the South ^{[ 79 ]} . On March 30, Ansar Dine and the MNLA seized the city and the garrison of Kidal. Government forces fall back on Gao at 350 km South ^{[ 80 ]} . The National Guard camp and officers were looted. The governor of the region, the army area commander, the colonel of the special units and the gendarmerie chief are prisoners. Witnesses say that AQMI elements have participated in the fighting. The army announced that it has evacuated the localities of Ansongo and Bourem to regroup and strengthen its positions in Gao. Amadou Haya Sanogo, head of the junta who overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré declares that “The rebels continue to attack our country and terrorize our populations (…) our army needs the support of the friends of Mali” ^{[ 81 ]} .

On March 31, Alassane Ouattara, President of Côte d’Ivoire and the Cédéao in-office said that the West African organization had “Alert the waiting forces in the Economic Community of West African States” , which has 2,000 men, in order to “Preserve the territorial integrity of Mali at all costs” while wishing “Avoid war” ^{[ 82 ]} . At the Omnisports Modibo-Keïta stadium in Bamako, a rally is organized which welcomes 25,000 people, Muslim, Catholics and Protestants, in order to pray for the peace and the unity of the country. Mahmoud Dicko, head of the High Islamic Council of Mali and Monsignor Jean Zerbo, Archbishop of Bamako participate ^{[ 83 ]} . Still on March 31, the MNLA seizes Gao, as well as the city of Sango on the border with Niger ^{[ 84 ]} . Colonel-Major Elhadj Ag Gamou, former head of command of Malian troops in the Kidal region, announces to join the MNLA ^{[ 85 ]} . On April 11, 2012, it was revealed that this “rallying” was only tactical in order to allow the exfiltration of part of its fighters, AG Gamou fearing a revenge by Ansar Dine on them. Colonel-Major Elhadj Ag Gamou confirms that he remains faithful to the Malian state ^{[ eighty six ]} .

April [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The first ^is April, the military junta orders the Malian army to stop fighting and leave the city of Gao “open” ^{[ eighty seven ] , [ 88 ]} . The rebels enter Timbuktu. A civilian was killed by a shine of shell received in the belly. According to AFP -joined witnesses, plotting scenes have been observed, the director of a bank branch denounced the looting of the treasury, banks, police, government and hospital. Pillage of public buildings have also been reported in Gao ^{[ 89 ]} . The France-Presse agency reports testimonies from an official saying that the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross has been looted as well as banks and the Treasury, and a hotelier claiming that his hotel was destroyed just like bars by bearded men shouting “God does not like alcohol” ^{[ 90 ]} . Vatican Radio announces that the Gao Catholic Church has been destroyed and that Christians were physically threatened and had to flee the city ^{[ 91 ]} .

On this date, the MNLA and Ansar Dine, allied with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), control the localities of northern Mali ^{[ 92 ]} .

On April 2, the MNLA political bureau declared ‘ We reassure the neighboring states, the populations of the sub-region and the international community that the liberation of Azawad will help strengthen security, development and peace for better integration of peoples, cultures and better stability in the Saharo-Sahelian area » ^{[ 93 ]} . Amnesty International denounces human rights abuses and violations committed in northern cities, especially in Gao, and challenges “Tuareg and Islamist armed groups that have taken the cities of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu (and which) are required to protect civilian populations in areas under their control” ^{[ ninety four ]} .

The France-Presse agency announces that the Ansar Dine movement took control of Timbuktu on April 2 and hunted the MNLA fighters ^{[ 95 ]} . In a press release published on April 4, the MNLA denies, considering “AFP dispatches (Agency France Press), taken over around the world, such as an intoxication and disinformation campaign” and affirms “Let him hold his position in the city of Tinbouctou and all the other cities in Azawad” ^{[ 96 ]} . Witnesses cited by Associated Press relate the capture of the city by the Islamists of Ansar Dine who hoisted their black flag ^{[ 97 ]} .

On April 3, three AQMI, Abu Zéid, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Yahya Abou Al-Hammam chiefs were reported in Timbuktu where they would have participated in a meeting with Iyad Ag Ghaly (Ansar Dine) and the imans of the city ^{[ 98 ]} . On April 4, the MNLA announced unilaterally to military operations from April 5 at midnight (you) ^{[ 99 ]} . In an interview published on a blog dedicated to the Amazigh people, Mossa Ag Attaher, MNLA communications officer, wants to stand out again from Ansar Dine by declaring that “The MNLA aims to constitute an independent and democratic Azawad, distinct from the Malian state. In addition, the Azawadian state that the MNLA is envisaged will be secular. We guarantee total freedom of worship to any Azawadian citizen ” ^{[ 100 ]} . The United Nations Security Council has adopted a declaration condemning attacks and looting to which rebels are engaged: “He asks the rebels to immediately cease violence and demands from all parties to Mali that they are working to find a peaceful solution thanks to political dialogue” ^{[ 101 ] , [ 102 ]} .

On April 5, the Algerian consulate in Gao was attacked by Islamic rebels. The consul and six other Algerian diplomats are removed. The movement for uniqueness and jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) claims the removal ^{[ 103 ]} . The MNLA condemns this attack as well as the abductions and acts of aggressions and vandalism ^{[ 104 ]} . On April 6, 2012, by a press release published on its site, the MNLA declared proclaim “Irrevocably, the independent state of Azawad from this day” ^{[ 105 ] , [ 106 ] , [ 107 ]} . Immediately, the African Union rejects “Totally the alleged declaration of independence” . Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union commission condemns “Firmly this announcement, which is zero and without any value” and affirms that “The African Union and its Member States will not spare any effort to help restore the authority of the Republic of Mali throughout its national territory and put an end to the attacks perpetrated by armed and terrorist groups in the northern part from the country ” ^{[ 108 ]} . Alain Juppé, French Minister of Foreign Affairs declares that France refuses to accept “The unilateral declaration of independence which was made by one of the movements which today animates what is happening in northern Mali, the MNLA” adding that “France is attached to the territorial integrity of Mali, there is no question of questioning the sovereignty of this country” ^{[ 109 ]} . The European Union rejects this independence ^{[ 110 ]} .

Elhadji Baba Haïdara, deputy of Timbuktu reacted in an interview published on the website of the Journal Jeune Afrique to the proclamation of independence by the MNLA by declaring “How can you ask for the independence of an area without being mandated by its population? If there is someone who must ask for something on behalf of this population, it is the people elected by the population in the National Assembly. The Tuaregs do not constitute 10% of the population of North-Mali. It’s the most minority ethnic group. You cannot proclaim independence under these conditions. »» . He fears “The transformation of North-Mali by Aqmi into a new Afghanistan, with groups like Ansar Dine, Boko Haram …” ^{[ 111 ]} .

On April 8, a new rebellious armed group announced its creation: the National Liberation Front of Azawad. Composed almost exclusively of Arabs in the Timbuktu region, it is led by a secretary general Mohamed Lamine Ould Sidatt, elected from the region, and by a military staff, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Housseine Khoulam, who defeated of the Malian army. He sets himself as a goal “The release of Azawad, the establishment of a climate of trust between its communities” , “Securing people and goods” And “The establishment of a framework for dialogue for lasting peace” ^{[ 112 ]} . Since the Mali Consulate in Niamey (Niger), Colonel Gamou launches “A solemn call to all Malians! To all the northerners in particular, to give their hands, to have the courage, to have morale, to rebuild Mali and the North! »» . Sadou Harouna Diallo, mayor of Gao, denounces the abuses of the rebels: “We don’t steal his people!” When you want to make a republic you don’t plunder! We do not destroy what has been done for fifty-two years! In the three regions of Mali, we returned to fifty-two years back! Whoever wants a people, you do it with men and women! You don’t violate them! »» ^{[ 113 ]} .

On April 13, 2012, the MNLA published on its website a press release ensuring the support “Unwavering and without condition” of the Kountas community “At the release of Azawad” ^{[ 114 ]} .

May [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Two months after the coup, the transitional authorities struggle to restore the territorial integrity of Mali. On May 21, transitional president Dioncounda Traoré was assaulted and injured in Bamako by demonstrators. He is temporarily led to Paris for medical examinations.

On May 20, a collision opposed Malian gendarmes with a group of MNLA fighters. The separatists end up leaving with their two vehicles, they fold on Timbuktu. According to Malians, the results are 5 injured for the gendarmes and 3 killed for the MNLA ^{[ 115 ] , [ 116 ]} .

On May 24, meetings were organized in Timbuktu between the main officials of Ansar Dine and Aqmi.
Its chef Abdelmalek Droukdel advises his fighters to impose “Gradually” Sharia law for y “Successful creation of an Islamic State” in a message made public ^{[ 117 ]} .

On May 26, 2012, Ansar Dine and the MNLA signed a “memorandum of understanding” and the next day announced their merger in a document transmitted to AFP. This one indicates that “The Ansar Dine movement and the MNLA proclaim their self-dissolution in Azawad. The two movements create the transitional council of the Islamic State of Azawad ” ^{[ 117 ]} . But 24 hours after its signature, the agreement is broken by the MNLA executives ^{[ 118 ]} .

June [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On June 25, a local teacher and elected representative of Gao, Idrissa Oumarou, quite appreciated locally, was shot down by strangers on a motorcycle, while he joined his home in a district of the city. On June 26 in Gao, hundreds of inhabitants, supposedly so-called Songhaïs and Fulani, walked against the armed groups that occupy the city. This manifestation of an angry crowd, according to the funeral of Idrissa Oumarou, ends with a dozen bales injured, two of whom are seriously in the head. The MNLA is accused by demonstrators of being at the origin of the shots, but refuting this, the independence movement Touareg postpones the fault on the mujao, the uncertainty still remaining about these responsibilities ^{[ 119 ]} . Thus violently translates the extremely tense atmosphere in Gao between the MNLA and the Mujao, aimed at the control of the city and oppressing its population, surrounded by the dominant armed groups current and insurgent against urban insecurity raging since their arrival at the end March 2012.

In the morning of June 27, intense fights take place in Gao in several districts, opposing directly for the first time in the city, the MNLA with Islamist groups, notably Mujao (Movement for uniqueness and jihad in Africa ‘West) A dissident group of Aqmi, and Ansar Dine. The Radical Islamists of Mujao would have quickly taken the advantage and surrounded the headquarters of the MNLA, seat of its transitional council of Azawad located at the former governorate of the city, then looted and emptied it after having violently dislodged it Tuareg’s separatists, who fled the city and even the military camp located at its entrance. The MNLA admits that it has lost this battle, but would however remain determined to continue the fight, while the provisional assessment of this confrontation would be heavy: at least twenty people and dozens of prisoners. In addition, the secretary general of the MNLA, Bilal AG Acherif, would have been injured and evacuated to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to be treated there, and one of his senior officials, Colonel Bouna Ag Tahib, would have died. According to the assertions, on the evening of June 27, of Mahamadou Djeri Maïga, one of the officials of the MNLA claiming the help of the international community, Aqmi fighters have fought with the Mujao, and one of the heads of Aqmi, Moktar Bel Moktar, allegedly organized the attack with all their war arsenal. Gao is now under the exclusive control of the Mujao, the MNLA having abandoned its positions in the city, which has regained calm on June 27 in the evening ^{[ 120 ]} .

In the first days of July, seven of the Timbuktu mausoleums classified a few days earlier on the UNESCO World Heritage list, are destroyed by Ansar Dine fighters ^{[ 121 ] , [ 122 ]} .

In August 2012, Mujao Islamists proclaimed the ban on disseminating any profane music on private radios installed in northern Mali ^{[ 123 ]} .

At the end of August, the Islamists advance south taking Douentza ^{[ 124 ]} .

Suites [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On Thursday, January 3, 2013, a group of combatants from the MNLA attack on men of the loyalist militia Songhai Ganda-Izo. The confrontation takes place in the village of Hourara in the rural commune of Ouattagouna, 25 kilometers from Labbezanga. The shooting starts at 6 p.m. and lasts four hours. Finally the rebels folded down, taking several injured while the commander of the militiamen says that two of his fighters were killed. The latter, Ibrahim Diallo, declares “Indeed, we had a hanging with the MNLA in the Karou Gourma area, not far from the village of Fafa. When the MNLA learned that we had fighters there, they came to attack them. But our men kept, despite 2 dead in our ranks. This is to say that we are ready, but that these are the means that we are missing. We have no weapons. We manage with the means at hand. However, our fighters are motivated and have a lot of courage. It is only the means that are missing ” ^{[ 125 ]} .

National reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Political reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Meeting in plenary session on January 18, 2012, the National Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the attacks carried out in northern Mali and reaffirming its attachment to the integrity of the territory ^{[ 126 ]} .

On January 21, 2012, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, president of the rally for Mali and candidate for the Malian presidential election of 2012, called during a meeting in Mopti to national unity behind a republican front bringing together all the patriots, because “Mali must remain one and indivisible” ^{[ 127 ]} . On January 29 in Timbuktu, during the regional conference of the rally for Mali (RPM), he declared that the attacks of Menaka, Tessalit, Aguel’Hoc, Andramboukane and Léré, led by the MNLA are “Acts of betrayal, by the very people who were welcomed with open arms when they return from Libya” . The former Prime Minister, candidate in the Malian presidential election of 2012, insists on “The need for the national union behind President Amadou Toumani Touré, to defeat the rebellion and terrorism” . He recommends the adoption of a military programming law to adapt the armed and security forces to new threats, and the organization of northern national meetings ^{[ 128 ]} . On January 24, in Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the sidelines of a meeting on security in the Sahel bringing together ministers of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria , Declare that “The Malian state is ready to listen to, but it is not ready to accept actions which can be likely to threaten the stability and security of the country, the unit of Mali and its indivisibility are guaranteed” ^{[ 129 ]} .

On February 4, President Amadou Toumani Touré received presidents from five Malian political parties to maintain the situation in North Mali with them. They support the head of state in his management of the crisis, calling for the conflict to resolve in the dialogue. The delegation is made up of Soumaïla Cissé, Dioncounda Traoré, Tiébilé Dramé and Choguel Kokalla Maïga ^{[ 130 ]} .
The president reiterated his intention not to touch the electoral calendar ^{[ 131 ]} . The delegation is received again on February 10 by President Amadou Toumani Touré to whom they put an action plan to get out of the crisis in North-Mali ^{[ 132 ]} . This action plan is presented at a press conference at the Bamako press house on February 16. He notably provides for a national forum for peace and stability. Political parties wish to maintain the electoral calendar, non-compliance with deadlines may have dramatic consequences on democracy with the possibility of a coup has warned Dioncounda Traoré ^{[ 133 ]} . On February 9, the African Solidarity Opposition Party for Democracy and Independence (SADI), during a press conference, claimed the resignation of the President of the Republic Amadou Toumani Touré which he considers as manager with His government, the National Liberation Movement of Azawad (MNLA), some former soldiers of Libya, Aqmi and the drug traffickers, of the situation in northern Mali. He asked for the appointment of a government of fifteen members before ending the war and opening dialogue with the MNLA, ensuring security in the country, seriously organizing the presidential and legislative elections ^{[ 134 ]} .

Moussa Mara, candidate for the presidential election, declared on February 18 in Ségou during a press conference devoted to the theme of security “We were imposed on a war, so we have to go!” »» , promising, if it is elected to deploy at least 7,000 soldiers (one third of the capacities of the Malian army) “Mainly in infantry, with an appreciable proportion of commando paras, in artillery and in light armored vehicles” ^{[ 135 ]} . Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta said before the second young people of the youth at the Rally for Mali on February 27, 2012 that he had “Hope to see our army restore security throughout the territory, so that weapons can be silent, definitively” to then open a dialogue with all the components of Malian society in order to “Take stock of the various agreements, pacts and other programs that have been launched for 20 years” and to redefine “Through the northern national meetings, the main lines of new governance in North Mali” ^{[ 136 ]} .

Cheick Modibo Diarra, President of the Rally for the Development of Mali (RPDM) and candidate for the presidential election, welcomed, in a press release, the authorities and the populations of “Brothers of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger” for reception and hospitality to Malian refugees and wishes “The cessation of hostilities so that the suffering of displaced women and children are quickly abbreviated” , stressing that the “Language of weapons is anachronistic and unacceptable between brothers who breathe the same air and who tread the same soil” ^{[ 137 ]} .

Amadou Toumani Touré, President of the Republic, declared in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on March 15, 2012 that “Mali is undergoing the collateral effects of the war in Libya which had become the most important open -air weapons store in the world, the cheapest and the best busy. At the fall of the Gaddafi regime, nationals from Mali who had fought for the old regime returned with weapons and luggage to the country of their ancestors. These experienced fighters are nearly a thousand. They are equipped with light armored vehicles, artillery, anti -aircraft cannons, SAM7 rockets, heavy machine guns, means of transmission, ammunition. We proposed to install this contingent in cantonment areas by helping them. Overarmed, the MNLA threw itself unilaterally into an unnecessary war ” . He declares himself open to dialogue but “There is no question of considering independence” Duord-Mali ^{[ 138 ]} .

On March 10, the candidate of the Union for the Republic and democracy in the presidential election, Soumaïla Cissé, during the National Youth Conference of his Party, condemned the “Barbaric acts perpetrated against the Republic by the rebels of the MNLA” and makes the commitment of “Preserve, up to (its) last breath, the integrity of the territory” ^{[ 139 ]} .

Malian civil society reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The collective of nationals of North Mali (Coren), chaired by Malick Alhousseïni Maïga, was holding its general assembly on February 26, 2012 at the Bamako International Conference Center in the presence of two former Prime Ministers Ousmane Issoufi Maïga and Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani, and Former ministers Younouss Hamèye Dicko, Amadou Abdoulaye Diallo and Mohamed Ag Erlaf. The agenda relates to the organization of solidarity in favor of the victims of the war and the return to peace and security throughout the territory. Coren adopts an action plan whose “Objective is to restore the State and its authority throughout the territory” requiring for the Malian state of “Recover and restore authority in occupied and/or evacuated areas; Defend the localities under threats including by warning the attackers (rebels); allow the return of populations and ensure their safety ” ^{[ 140 ]} .

March 10, “At the call of Muslim and Christian religious faiths, representatives of several associations and coordinations including the union and the founding families of Bamako” , a rally is organized at the Bamako International Conference Center, notably in the presence of Imam Mahmoud Dicko, president of the High Islamic Council of Mali, Monsignor Jean Zerbo, Archbishop of Bamako and Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani, former Prime Minister. Mahamoud Dicko said: “We, the living forces of the nation, calls our compatriots who have taken up arms with an immediate and without prerequisite in order to preserve Malian lives and to initiate, without delay, dialogue with the public authorities” ^{[ 141 ]} .

On May 17, 2012, Aliou Diallo addressed armed groups in the North, notably to the Ansar Dine and MNLA, members of the Malian transitional government as well as to CNRDRE representatives through the Malian media. He launched an urgent appeal for peace in Mali ^{[ 142 ]} .

Press reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

For the Malian press, the MNLA rebels are qualified as terrorists ^{[ 143 ]} or armed bandits ^{[ 144 ] , [ 145 ]} .

The Malian press condemns the attitude of France, perceived as an interference of France and a de facto support for the MNLA. Thus, newspaper March 26 claims after the statements of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé on February 7, 2012 that France “Offense Mali” considering that “Attack with the heavy weapon and overwhelming of small localities and the handles of soldiers, kill, mutilate, steal, loot and destroy public and private goods” would be “Military successes” ^{[ 146 ]} .

African reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Cedeao [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The heads of state and government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gathered in Abuja (Nigeria) on February 16 and 17, 2012 express “Their deep concerns in the face of deterioration of security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel region, especially in Mali and Niger” , condemn the rebellion of the MNLA and bring their “Unreserved support to the efforts made by Mali to defend its territorial integrity” ^{[ 147 ]} .

On March 19, desire Kadre Ouedraogo, chairman of the ECOWAS commission, announced in a statement that “The ECOWAS plans, in the coming days, to launch a mediation process in Mali, as part of a general ceasefire agreement, which aims to group all stakeholders around the negotiation table to reach to a peaceful solution to the crisis ” while confirming his support for the Malian government to “Preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to perpetuate the constitutional order in the country” ^{[ 148 ]} .

On March 28, the heads of state of the Cédéao gathered in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) decided, after having suspended Mali of the organization in order to sanction the putschists, to condemn the MNLA attacks once again and specifies that If they continue, “The conference will take all the necessary measures to end the rebellion and take care to preserve the territorial integrity of Mali, including the use of force” . Burkinabé president Blaise Compaoré is appointed mediator of the Malian crisis with the mission “To establish contacts with all the parties concerned in order to engage them in a fruitful dialogue for the restoration of peace in the country” ^{[ 149 ] , [ 150 ]} .

African Union [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union commission sentenced on January 18, 2012 “With the greatest firmness” these attacks and ensures “The full support of the African Union to the efforts of the Malian government, as well as to the measures taken by him, to face the situation and immediately restore peace and security in the areas concerned” ^{[ 33 ]} .

On February 18, fourteen African heads of state gathered in Cotonou as part of a mini-summit of the African Union, in particular to approach the security situation in the Sahel ^{[ 151 ]} .

Boni Yayi, president of Benin and president of the African Union since January 30, 2012 declared to Radio France Internationale on February 21, 2012 that the crisis of North-Mali is “A consequence of what happened in Libya. But with collateral effects to countries like Burkina, which today has received more than 10,000 refugees; The Republic of Niger, more than 23,000 refugees! With dramatic food consequences ” ^{[ 152 ]} .

Neighboring countries [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Abdelkader Messahel, Algerian Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, condemns the use of violence on January 24, 2012 to bring even legitimate claims ^{[ 129 ]} .

The president of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré, after having spent himself with the Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré during a regional education conference declares on February 16 wish “A dynamic of inclusive dialogue” so that “The Malian government and the parties who have disputes to be made can sit down and talk about it” ^{[ 153 ]} . For Djibrill Bassolé, Burkinabé Minister for Foreign Affairs who confirmed in an interview with Jeune Afrique on February 27 the availability of President Blaise Compaoré to help Mali, it is necessary to resolve the crisis to have “A global approach, which involves all the countries concerned by this rebellion, regional organizations and the international community. It is also necessary to take into account the nature of the problems to be solved: the precariousness of the living conditions of the populations, unemployment, insecurity and hostage taking from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [Aqmi], not to mention traffic weapons and drugs. No peace agreement will be sustainable if it is not supported by a socioeconomic development program ” ^{[ 154 ]} .

On February 14, Nigerian President Mahamadou Issoufou declared himself concerned about the situation in Mali, in particular the influx of refugee on Nigerian territory. According to him, the crisis is linked to the defeat of Muammar Gaddafi which “Has catalyzed the inclinations of rebellion and independence, or at least autonomy, azawad” ^{[ 155 ]} . He appeals to the rebels by declaring on Radio France Internationale “The rebellions can be justified under a dictatorship, but when democracy is established, strengthens, in Niger or Mali, no one should take up arms, especially when you take the case of Mali. It is in a few months that the Malian people will be consulted for the presidential election. There is therefore no reason for a fraction of the Malian people to take up arms. This is why I take the opportunity to launch an appeal to the Malian compatriots to find their unity, and I appeal to those who have taken up arms to think. Mali does not need to live such a situation with all the misfortunes that we see. Our countries need to devote themselves to economic and social development ” ^{[ 156 ]} .

International reactions [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

United Nations [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On February 8, 2012, Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, concerned “By ongoing fighting between Tuareg rebel groups and government forces in northern Mali” and worried “The scale of the humanitarian consequences of the crisis, affecting in particular civilian civilian victims, thousands of displaced people and many other people forced to find refuge in neighboring countries, thus contributing to aggravate an already very critical humanitarian situation in the Sahel region ” , sentenced “The use of violence for political ends” and ask the rebel groups of “Immediately stop their attacks and start a dialogue with the government of Mali to resolve their grievances” ^{[ 157 ]} .

On March 13, Saïd Djinnit, special representative of the United Nations Secretary General in West Africa, said that “The United Nations support the current efforts aimed at creating the conditions for a dialogue between the parties” and calls for a “Cessation of hostilities to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced people in Mali and refugee people in all neighboring countries” ^{[ 158 ]} .

European Union [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

For the European Union, Catherine Ashton, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, asks “Untilly all parties to the conflict to stop hostilities without delay, and to engage in a dialogue without exclusive” . It salutes the call to the national unit launched by President Amadou Toumani Touré and underlines “Its attachment to the stability and territorial integrity of Mali, as well as to peace, democracy, and the stability of the region” ^{[ 159 ]} .

France [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Alain Juppé, French Minister of Foreign Affairs declared on February 7, 2012 during an intervention before the French senators that “The Touarègue rebellion recently won major military success north of the Niger river. Whatever the reasons, we consider this use of unacceptable force in a democracy like Mali. An immediate ceasefire is imperative ” , adding “It is important to deal with the Tuareg question basically, which presupposes a dialogue between Bamako and all the parties concerned. I told President Touré. I salute, at that moment, his sense of national unity, which he expressed in a recent discourse, and I am confident in the capacity of the Malian people to preserve their democratic model ” ^{[ 160 ]} .

In an interview on Radio France Internationale on February 13, Henri de Raincourt, French Minister of Cooperation declares that the “France considers that there will be no military solution, in any case immediate, and that therefore what is important is that hostilities cease as quickly as possible” while reaffirming that “The unity and territorial integrity of Mali must be preserved” ^{[ 161 ]} .

Alain Juppé went on February 16 to Bamako to meet Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré. He reaffirmed the need for an inter-Malian dialogue to get out of the crisis ^{[ 162 ] , [ 163 ]} .

Rest of the world [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In a statement read by its spokesperson, Vitoria Nuland, the US State Department condemns “The attacks perpetrated by armed groups against a certain number of cities in the north. These actions undertaken by groups which claim to defend the rights of Malians rather threaten the well-being of all Malian citizens ” and calls for a resumption of dialogue. The American department also condemns “Apparent reprisal attacks against members of ethnic groups related to the situation in the north” ^{[ 164 ]} . Mary Beth Leonard, American ambassador to Mali, announcing on February 10 the postponement of anti -terrorist maneuvers « Flintlock 2012 » that the United States was organized with the countries of the region affirms that “Mali’s participation in Flintlock 2012 maneuvers is essential to their success and (that) we understand its need to concentrate the efforts necessary to preserve its safety” ^{[ 52 ]} .

Fate of populations [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Following MNLA attacks in the city of Aguel’Hoc, the Master Training Institute was, according to the government, looted. Students, teachers and administrative staff were evacuated safe and sound in Kidal and then in Gao, the student-masters were reoriented according to their preference, in the other training institutes ^{[ 165 ]} . The non -governmental doctors of the world announced on February 6 the temporary suspension of “Its health and nutritional activities in northern Mali” , alerting on “The security degradation in Mali (which) risks depriving populations of essential aid” . According to the NGO, access becomes more and more complicated in the Gao region and is “Critic in the Kidal region” ^{[ 159 ]} .

On February 17, Amnesty International believes that the conflict caused “The worst human rights crisis that North Mali has known for twenty years” and believes that “The region could be plunged into chaos if the fights continue” . Amnesty International asks that “The authorities [take] immediately measures to ensure the protection of any person in danger” . Regarding soldiers killed in Aguel’Hoc, the human rights association indicates that “Face [The] contradictory versions as to the way in which the soldiers photographed were killed, it is urgent to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into these facts” ^{[ 166 ]} . Amnesty International asks the MNLA of “Reveal the names of the people he has captured and grant the Red Cross International Committee to restriction to these people” ^{[ 166 ]} . L’organisation “Also call on the Malian authorities to charge or release four people (…) who were arrested in the city of Kidal (…) for apparently supporting the MNLA” ^{[ 166 ]} .

Regarding demonstrations in Bamako and Kati, Amnesty International denounces that “The Malian security forces have done nothing to prevent the crowd in anger from attacking houses and goods belonging to Tuaregs and other ethnic groups, including Arabs and Mauritanians who lived in the capital” and specifies that these facts are the source of many population trips, and that “The Malian security forces did not want or could not protect the Tuareg populations during the violent demonstrations of Bamako” ^{[ 166 ]} . MNLA rebels are accused of deteriorating public facilities, such as the drinking water tower in Léréou the telephone networks and terrorizing populations ^{[ 167 ]} .

On February 22, 2012, the helicopters of the Malian army shot on civilians present in the camp of Ag Hosss Kayone, injuring 11 people and killing a woman and a little girl. The Malian army explains this burr by speaking of a leak of MNLA fighters who would have taken refuge in a civil camp to use it as a human shield. The MNLA denounces an assassination ^{[ 168 ]} . Amnesty International asks the Malian government to “Stop bombing the civilian population in the north of the country” and declares that “The Malian army and the MNLA must do everything in their power in order to protect anyone who does not actively participate in hostilities as stipulated in the Geneva conventions” ^{[ 169 ]} .

On April 5, while northern Mali was occupied by the Tuareg rebels of the MNLA and Ansar Dine, Amnesty International published a press release that the northern regions are “On the verge of a major humanitarian disaster” , stating that “All the food and drugs stored by major humanitarian agencies have been looted and most of the humanitarian workers have fled” with the consequence of populations which “Face an imminent risk of serious food and medical shortages that could cause new human losses” . Amnesty International relate “In the cities of Gao and Ménaka, women and young girls were removed from their homes and were raped” ^{[ 170 ]} . On the same day, the front front for the safeguard of democracy and the Republic (FDR, opposed to the junta), published a press release to alert on the situation in Gao and call the United Nations specialized institutions to “Save the Gao population” ^{[ 171 ]} .

The France-Presse agency recounts testimonies from residents and non-governmental organizations reporting and rape of women, ramps and looting of public and private buildings in Gao and Timbuktu. The NGO Caritas International informs that “Some 90,000 displaced people who were in Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, are today” without assistance ” . In Timbuktu, under control of Ansar Dine, the city has no electricity and water threatens to be cut. The offices of the Mali telephone company were burned ^{[ 172 ]} .

On April 8, Maliki Alhusseini Maiga, president of the collective of nationals of North-Mali (Coren) denounced during a press conference held in Bamako the abuses of the rebels in the north of the country: “Today, we face a humanitarian disaster because our country is occupied by Islamist terrorists and extremists who killed hundreds of our brothers in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu (…) They raped our sisters, burned the administrative buildings. They destroyed our cities and they terrorize the population ” . He asked for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in order to rescue the Malians blocked in the region ^{[ 173 ]} . Residents of Gao flee the city to take refuge in Bamako ^{[ 174 ]} .

Displaced and refugee populations [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The February 3, 2012 , the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announces that nearly 10,000 Malians and Nigeriens fled the fighting and found refuge in Niger in the north of the Tillabéry region, near the border. The CICR specifies that “Their living conditions are extremely precarious. Some of them have been hosted by the villagers, but the local capacities having been quickly absorbed, many other displaced people had to erect makeshift camps on the edge of the villages ” ^{[ 175 ]} .

Tuesday, February 7, Adrian Edwards, spokesperson for the United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR), indicates that since the start of the conflict, at least 10,000 people (most from Ménaka) have fled to Niger, 9 000 people (mainly Malian Tuaregs from the Léré region) in Mauritania, and 3,000 people in Burkina Faso. These refugees find refuge with a local population affected itself by the food crisis in the Sahel. The United Nations Refugee Agency has deployed emergency teams ^{[ 176 ]} .

The government of Burkina Faso has claimed to accommodate around 10,000 Malians including sixty-two soldiers and paramilitary fleeing the fights in northern Mali ^{[ 153 ]} . Fatoumata-Lejeune Kabah, HCHP spokesperson for Africa declared on February 14, 2012 on Radio France Internationale that UNHCR works with the authorities of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania to move the refugee camps installed near the borders With Mali to more secure places. Current camps, devoid of drinking water, are experiencing significant health problems with malaria, eye infections, diarrhea and respiratory problems ^{[ 55 ]} . The Mauritanian Interior Ministry indicates on February 14 that more than 13,000 Malians found refuge in Mauritania. Arrived mainly in Fassala in the south-east of the country, they were transferred to M’berré further south in order to ensure their safety in accordance with the recommendation of the UNHCR ^{[ 177 ]} .

On February 17, the UNHCR estimated at 44,000 the number of people who fled the fighting areas, specifying that the number of arrivals in neighboring countries doubled in 10 days: 18,000 of them are in Mauritania, 18 000 others in Niger and more than 8000 refugees arrived in Burkina Faso ^{[ 178 ]} .

The International Committee of the Red Cross estimated on February 17, 2012 that at least “60,000 people are now moved inside Mali, and more than 22,000 have found refuge in Niger” . The situation is worrying because “These massive trips are involved while northern Mali, and the whole of the Sahel region, faces a precarious food situation, due in particular to bad harvests” . In the Ménaka area, where 26,000 people are moved, displaced people are faced with a lack of water and a shortage of pasture. In the village of Inhalid, 100 kilometers north of Tessalit nearly 11,000 displaced people were counted, and more than 11,000 in the Niafunké circle ^{[ 179 ]} .

Mohamed Touré, representative of the High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) in Guinea said on February 22 that at least a hundred Malians from the North found refuge in Guinea, in Conakry and Siguiri ^{[ 180 ]} .

According to a press release from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of February 24, 2012, it is estimated that since January 17 there are 61,400 internal displaced in Mali and 65,000 Malian refugees abroad distributed between Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Algeria. At least 7563 Nigeriens living in Mali returned to Niger. According to official figures, 17,242 people took refuge in Niger on February 22, 16299 in Burkina Faso on February 21, 2,2321 in Mauritania on February 20, at least 5000 in Algeria on February 8 ^{[ 181 ]} .

On March 8, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA) announced that more than 172,000 people fled fighting, including more than 90,000 abroad, mainly in Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger ^{[ 182 ]} . On March 9, Adrienne Diop, commissioner responsible for human development and genre of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that ECOWAS will grant a donation of three million US dollars in Mali for the Assist in the management of the influx of refugees ^{[ 183 ]} .

On March 15, 2012, the United Nations Bureau for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), estimates that more than 195,000 people who fled, more than 100,000 outside the country. Mauritania welcomes 36,964 refugees, Niger 35,509, Burkina Faso 21,653, Algeria 5,000, other countries (Togo, Guinea) 141 ^{[ 184 ]} . On March 16, the Red Cross International Committee communicated the number of 72,000 displaced inside Mali, adding that they are in a critical situation. The Gao region has 34,500 displaced, that of Kidal 25,500 displaced and that of Timbuktu 12,000 displaced. The CICR and the Malian Red Cross begins the distribution of food aids to these populations ^{[ 185 ]} .

On March 22, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA) estimated the number of displaced and refugees at 206,000 ^{[ 186 ]} .

The April 18, 2012 , the OCHA estimates that there have been “more than 268,000 displaced following the crisis in northern Mali, including more than 161,000 refugees in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Algeria” ^{[ 187 ]} .

Reactions of the Malian population [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

On January 31 of women, mothers, children of Malian soldiers sent to the north walk from Kati to the presidential palace of Koulouba, asking for information on the situation, and that the military is more equipped to fight ^{[ 188 ]} . The demonstrators are received by Natié Pléa, Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs ^{[ 189 ]} .

The first ^is February, Tuaregs are targeted by young demonstrators in Kati and Bamako. A pharmacy belonging to a Tuareg is ransacked in Kati as well as the house of the former Minister of Crafts and Tourism, Zakiyatou Oualet Halatine, also from Timbuktu ^{[ 190 ]} .

President Amadou Toumani Touré intervenes on television and appeals to calm and national unity. He urges Malians not to make the amalgamation between the populations and the MNLA fighters: “Those who have attacked certain localities and barracks in the North should not be confused with our Tuareg, Arab, Fulani, Songai, parents who live with us … who chose Mali, who chose loyalty, fraternity And who have exactly the same rights, the same duties and the same aspirations as us … ” ^{[ 191 ] , [ 192 ]} . On February 2, demonstrations of families and sympathizers of soldiers fighting the Tuareg rebels took place in Bamako, Kati and Ségou to protest against the management of the crisis by the Malian power ^{[ 193 ]} . Tuareg civilians are attacked and some stores run by Tuaregs are ransacked. Demonstrators arbitrarily attack individuals with clear skin (suspected of being Tuaregs), including foreigners from Mauritania ^{[ 194 ]} . On February 3, when calm returns to cities, the imams of many mosques organize prayers for peace, at the call of the High Islamic Council of Mali ^{[ 195 ]} .

On March 19, around 700 young people from Kati participated in a walk towards the Koulouba presidential palace in Bamako ^{[ 196 ]} . They were stopped and dispersed by the security forces between Kati and Bamako. Young people have erected barricades ^{[ 197 ]} .

On June 5, women and young people demonstrated, for the first time in Kidal, protested against the presence of AQMI, against an Islamic police and new rules of life, imposed by Ansar Dine and its allies, on a population thus demonstrating his desire to rebellion to these Islamists ^{[ 198 ]} .

Planned postponement of elections [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

During a regional conference for the convergence for the development of Mali (Codem) on January 27, its Chairman Housseini Amion Guindo, candidate for the Malian presidential election of 2012, doubts the holding of the elections by declaring that “It is not certain that the elections are taking place because the northern crisis may affect the elections. For free elections, peace must first be necessary. Mali has 8 regions, but unfortunately it turns out that 3 regions are affected by this northern crisis (Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal). So how to keep an election in a part of the country while the other is in crisis ” ^{[ 199 ]} .

On February 16, Dioncounda Traoré, president of the National Assembly and candidate for the Malian presidential election of 2012 said that “Our wish is the holding of the elections within the constitutional deadlines, but if we want peaceful, transparent and peaceful elections, the weapons must be silent, there must be peace and stability” ^{[ 200 ]} . On February 17, Jeamille Bittar, candidate for the presidential election, excluded any transition and called for compliance with the electoral calendar ^{[ 201 ]} .

The organization of the referendum on the same day as the first round of the presidential election on April 29 is compromised because the Constitution stipulates in article 118 “No revision procedure [constitutional, Editor’s note] can be initiated or prosecuted when infringed the integrity of the territory” which is currently the case ^{[ 202 ]} .

However, nothing is planned for the presidential election ^{[ 202 ]} . In an interview on Radio France Internationale on February 24, President Amadou Toumani Touré claims that everything is “Looking for the conditions to be met and that at the latest, on June 10, we have a freely elected and democratically elected president of the Republic” ^{[ 203 ]} .

The African solidarity opposition party for democracy and independence (SADI), during a press conference on March 15, 2012, asked the government of “Give up the organization of elections in this context and to devote all the resources available to the major objective that is the defense of our territorial integrity and our unity and conclude a just peace” ^{[ 204 ]} .

Allegation of massacres [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The French Minister of Cooperation Henri de Raincourt declared on February 13, 2012 on Radio France Internationale that “Absolutely atrocious and inadmissible violence” were committed in Aguel’Hoc, with “Summary executions, soldiers, people – we are talking about a hundred – who have been captured and have been coldly executed” . According to a French source close to the file interviewed by the France-Presse agency, “In total, there were 82 dead exactly, no civilians” And this massacre was committed in Aguel’Hoc on January 24. The French minister did not specify those responsible for the massacre but said that “Some claim that the method used for execution is similar to that used by al-Qaida” , the victims having been slaughtered or shot in the head ^{[ 205 ]} .

On February 14, Hama Ag Sid’ahmed, MNLA spokesperson, once again denied all alliance with Aqmi. He also indicates that the MNLA “Did not commit any act, slaughtered anyone and shot any disarmed soldier” ^{[ 206 ]} . In addition, the MNLA communications officer, Mossa Ag Attaher adds to a video Dated March 28, that “since January 17, we have clearly notified our demarcation not only with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb but also with any group, any movement whose foundation has any religion for root. Religious, extremist, Salafist and all kinds ideology has no place in the noble fight that the MNLA is leading today ”. Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Radio France Internationale that the massacres of soldiers in Aguel’Hoc on January 24 “Clearly, the signing of the Salafist groups which were therefore involved alongside the movement which claims to fight for the independence of Azawad” ^{[ 56 ]} .

Serge Daniel, Radio France International Radio correspondent and the France-Presse agency in Bamako for twenty years, declared on February 16 to the French daily Liberation, that he was convinced that the MNLA and members of AQMI “Fought side by side in Aguelhoc, where summary executions of soldiers took place at the end of January” ^{[ 207 ]} .

On February 17, Amnesty International asked that he was carried out “An independent and impartial investigation into these facts” ^{[ 166 ]} . On February 21, 2012, the special commission responsible for investigating the summary executions committed in Aguel’Hoc, made up of 7 members, all senior officers of the armed and security forces, and chaired by Alioune Badara Diamouténé, inspector general of police, Gased to President Amadou Toumani Toumani Touré his report after spending 10 days in Aguel’Hoc and met with witnesses to the events. According to the conclusions of this report, elements of Aqmi Allies at the MNLA participated in the attacks from January 18 to 24 and executed Malian soldiers. She declares to hold “Evidence and testimonies from military and civil survivors supported by images that attest that disarmed Malian army fighters have been well arrested, tied up on the back before being slaughtered” . In addition, she informs that “Students and teachers from the AGUELHOC Master Training Institute (IFM) were used as human shields by attackers in difficulty during the January 18, 2012 attack” ^{[ 208 ]} .

On February 28, Maharafa Traoré, Malian Minister of Justice, intervened at the gallery of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to denounce the attack by the MNLA Allied to Aqmi of the Aguel’Hoc camp where “The disarmed Malian army soldiers were prosecuted, arrested, hands linked to the back and coldly executed in defiance of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions relating to international humanitarian law” and request, on behalf of the Malian government, “From the international community, a firm condemnation of the crimes committed by the so -called Azawad and Aqmi release movement and requests support to ensure the restoration of peace, security and the development of all of its regions” ^{[ 209 ]} .

In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on March 15, 2012, Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré confirms the accusations of war crime against the MNLA ally in Aqmi during the attack on Aguel’Hoc ^{[ 138 ] , [ 210 ]} .

On September 9, 2012, the MNLA accused the Malian army of having executed 16 civilians from Azawad on September 8 in Diabal ^{[ 211 ]} . Still according to the MNLA, 9 other civilians are executed by Malian soldiers near Sokolo on October 22 ^{[ 212 ]} And 52 others are executed on October 25 in Tolletene near Djoura, in the Mopti region ^{[ 213 ]} .

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