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Mali War

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For other armed conflicts that occurred in northern Mali, see Tuareg rebellion.

Northern Mali conflict
Part of Insurgency in the Maghreb

Map of the rebel territorial claims and rebel attacks as of 10 January 2013
Date17 January 2012 (2012-01-17) – ongoing
(12 years and 9 months)
Location
Northern Mali
Status

Ongoing

Belligerents

 Mali
France
ECOWAS

Supported by:
United States United States[4][5][6] United Kingdom United Kingdom[7]
 European Union[8]

NLFA[9][10]

Independent State of Azawad

Islamists

Commanders and leaders

Mali Amadou Toumani Touré (until March)
Mali Sadio Gassama (until March)
Mali El Haji Ag Gamou (until March)
Mali Amadou Sanogo (since March 2012)

Mohamed Lamine Ould Sidatt (NLFA)
Housseine Khoulam (NLFA)[9]		 Azawad Mahmoud Ag Aghaly
Azawad Bilal Ag Acherif
Azawad Moussa Ag Acharatoumane
Azawad Ag Mohamed Najem[19]		 Iyad ag Ghaly[20]
Omar Ould Hamaha[21]
Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar
Strength

7,000–7,800 regulars,
4,800 paramilitaries,
3,000 militia (overall military strength) Hundreds of French special forces soldiers

~500 (NLFA)[9]		 3,000[22][23]

1,200+[24]

Casualties and losses

164+ killed,[25]
400 captured[26]
Total:
1,000–1,500+ killed, captured or deserted (by April 2012)[22]

11-36 killed, 60 wounded,[27][28] 12 captured[29] (January 2013)

1 French pilot killed

165+ killed
(conflict with Mali Army)[30][31][32]

5–123 killed
(conflict with Islamists)[33][34][35][36]		 115-214+ killed
[33][34][35][36][37]
Displaced: ~100,000 refugees abroad[38]
100,000+ internally displaced persons[39]
Total: ~250,000[40]

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 2012. The MNLA were initially backed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine. 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 2012, President Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d'état over his handling of the crisis, a month before a presidential election was to have taken place.[41] Mutineering soldiers, calling themselves the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), took control and suspended the constitution of Mali.[42] As a consequence of the instability following the coup, Mali's three largest northern cities—Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu—were overrun by the rebels[43] on three consecutive days.[44] On 5 April 2012, 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.[45]

After the end of hostilities with the Malian Army, the MNLA and Islamists struggled to reconcile their conflicting visions for an intended new state.[46] 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.[47] By 17 July 2012, the MNLA had lost control of northern Mali's cities to the Islamists.[48]

On 11 January 2013, President of France François Hollande said that he had agreed to a request from the government of Mali for foreign aid and that "French forces have provided support to Mali".[24]

Background

The MNLA was an offshoot of a political movement known as the National Movement for Azawad (MNA) prior to the insurgency.[49] 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.[50] 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.[51]

Though dominated by Tuaregs, the MNLA stated that they represented other ethnic groups as well,[52] and were reportedly joined by some Arab leaders.[49] 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.[53]

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.[38] 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[54] as well as Algeria's Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS).[22]

Mali was going through several crises at once that favored the rise of the conflict:[55]

  • State crisis: the establishment of a “Tuareg State,” was a long term goal of the MNLA when they entered into a rebellion in 1962. Therefore, Mali has been in a constant struggle to maintain their territory.
  • Security crisis: Deployment in Northern Mali for the Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), coming from neighboring Algeria, is well structured, expansive, and offensive at times; their dominance is reinforced by the weaknesses of the Malian army and the passive role of their nation’s President.
  • Food crisis: Mali’s economy lives on support, with an extreme sense of dependence on the outside, which led ECOWAS to decide on a blockade to subdue the military junta.
  • Political crisis: The mutiny led to the fall of the president.

Tuareg rebellion (January–April 2012)

Further information: Tuareg rebellion (2012)

The first attacks of the rebellion took place in Ménaka, a small town in far eastern Mali, on 16 and 17 January 2012. 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.[56] On 24 January the rebels retook Aguelhok after the Malian army ran out of ammunition.[22] The next day the Mali government once again recaptured the city.[56] Mali launched air and land counter operations to take back the seized territory,[57] amid protests in Bamako[58] and Kati.[59] Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré then reorganised his senior commanders for the fight against the rebels.[60]

On 1 February 2012, 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.[58] On 6 February, rebel forces attacked Kidal, a regional capital.[61]

On 4 March 2012, a new round of fighting was reported near the formerly rebel-held town of Tessalit.[62] The next day, three Malian army units gave up trying to lift the siege.[22][63] The United States Air Force air-dropped supplies via a C-130 in support of the besieged Malian soldiers.[4] On 11 March, the MNLA re-took Tessalit and its airport, and the Malian military forces fled towards the border with Algeria.[64]

The rebels advanced to about 125 kilometers away from Timbuktu and their advance was unchecked when they entered without fighting in the towns of Diré and Goundam.[65] Ansar Dine stated that it had control of the Mali-Algeria border.[66]

Coup d'état

Main article: 2012 Malian coup d'état

On 21 March 2012, 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.[67] Later that day, soldiers stormed the presidential palace, forcing Touré into hiding.[68]

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.[69] The mutineers cited Touré's alleged poor handling of the insurgency and the lack of equipment for the Malian Army as their reasons for the rebellion.[70] The CNRDR would serve as an interim regime until power could be returned to a new, democratically elected government.[71]

The coup was "unanimously condemned" by the international community,[72] including by the United Nations Security Council,[73] the African Union,[73] 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,[74] 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.[75] ECOWAS[76] 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.[77][78]

Côte 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.[79] Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore was appointed as a mediator by ECOWAS to resolve the crisis.[75] An agreement was reached between the junta and ECOWAS negotiators on 6 April, in which both Sanogo and Touré would resign, sanctions would be lifted, the mutineers would be granted amnesty, and power would pass to National Assembly of Mali Speaker Diouncounda Traoré.[80] Following Traoré's inauguration, he pledged to "wage a total and relentless war" on the Tuareg rebels unless they released their control of northern Malian cities.[81]

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.[82] 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."[83]

On 30 March 2012, the rebels seized control of Kidal, the capital of Kidal Region,[84] as well as Ansongo and Bourem in Gao Region.[85] On 31 March, Gao fell to the rebels, and both MNLA and Ansar Dine flags appeared in the city.[43] The following day, rebels attacked Timbuktu, the last major government-controlled city in the north; they captured it with little fighting.[86] 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".[87]

On 6 April 2012, 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.[88]

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 2012, Islamists, possibly from AQIM or MOJWA, entered the Algerian consulate in Gao and took hostages.[89] The MNLA succeeded in negotiating their release without violence, and one MNLA commander said that the movement had decided to disarm other armed groups.[90] 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.[91]

The MNLA clashed with protesters in Gao on 14 May, reportedly injuring four and killing one.[92] On 6 June, residents of Kidal 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.[93]

In early June, Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou stated that Afghan and Pakistani jihadists were training Azawadi Islamist rebels.[94]

Battle of Gao and aftermath

Further information: Battle of Gao

Clashes began to escalate between the MNLA and the Islamists after a merger attempt failed,[95] despite the signing of a power-sharing treaty.[17]

Protests broke out on 26 June 2012 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.[96] 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.[97]

On 26 June 2012, 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.[98] The MNLA were soon driven from the city,[99] 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.[100]

As of October 2012, the MNLA retained control of the city of Ménaka, with hundreds of people taking refuge in the city from the rule of the Islamists, and the city of Tinzawatine near the Algerian border.[101] In the same month, a splinter group broke off from the MNLA; calling itself the Front for the Liberation of the Azawad (FPA), the group stated that Tuareg independence was no longer a realistic goal and that they must concentrate on fighting the Islamists.[102]

Takeover of Douentza and Ménaka

On 1 September 2012, 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.[103] Once MOJWA troops surrounded the city, the militia reportedly surrendered without a fight and were disarmed.[103][104]

On 16 November 2012, Tuareg MNLA forces launched an offensive against Gao in an attempt to retake the town. However, by the end of the day, the Tuaregs were beaten back by the MOJWA forces after the Islamists laid an ambush for them. A Malian security source said that at least a dozen MNLA fighters were killed while the Islamists suffered only one dead. An MNLA official stated that their forces killed 13 MOJWA fighters and wounded 17, while they suffered only nine wounded.[35]

On 19 November 2012, MOJWA and AQIM forces took over the eastern town of Ménaka, which had previously been held by the MNLA, with dozens of fighters from both sides and civilians killed. On the first day of fighting, the MNLA claimed its forces killed 65 Islamist fighters, while they suffered only one dead and 13 wounded. The Islamists for their part stated they killed more than 100 MNLA fighters and captured 20.[36]

Foreign intervention

Main article: Opération Serval

Following requests from both the Mali government and ECOWAS for foreign military intervention,[105] on 12 October 2012 the United Nations Security Council unanimously,[106] under Chapter VII of the UN Charter,[107] passed a French resolution approving an African-led force to assist the army of Mali in combating the Islamist militants.[108] The resolution gave 45 days for "detailed and actionable recommendations"[105] for military intervention which would be drafted by ECOWAS and the African Union,[106] with a figure of 3,000 proposed troops reported.[105] A prior ECOWAS plan was rejected by diplomats as lacking sufficient detail.[108]

While authorising the planning of force, and dedicating UN resources to this planning,[106] the resolution does not authorize the deployment of force.[105] An AFP report stated that such a second resolution authorizing a military deployment "is not expected to happen before the end of the year."[106]

On 8 January 2013, rebels were reported by Al Jazeera to have captured 12 Malian government troops near the town of Konna.[29] On the same day, RFI reports that governmental troops fired warning shots and slightly progressed from Konna toward Douentza.[109]

Battle of Konna and arrival of foreign forces

See also: Battle of Konna

On 10 January 2013, Islamist forces captured the strategic town of Konna, previously held by the Malian army.[110] An estimated 1,200 Islamist fighters advanced to within 20 kilometers of Mopti, a Mali military garrison town.[24]

On 11 January 2013, the President of France, Francois Hollande, said that he had agreed to a request from the government of Mali for foreign aid in the conflict and that "French forces have provided support to Mali".[24] Hollande said the operation would last as long as necessary and the French parliament would sit to debate the move on 14 January. French media quoted Malian officials as saying European military forces were present on the ground, namely at Sévaré.[111] French forces committed to the conflict included helicopters and paratroopers.[112]

The French military action was codenamed Opération Serval.[113] It includes the use of Gazelle helicopters from the Special forces, which stopped an Islamist column advancing to Mopti, and the use of four Mirage 2000-D jets operating from a base in Chad. 12 targets were hit by the Mirages during the night between the 11th and the 12th. The French chief of army staff, Amiral Guillaud, announced that the Islamists had withdrawn from Konna and retreated several dozen of kilometres into the north.[114] The air strikes reportedly destroyed half a dozen Islamist armed pick-up trucks[115] and a rebel command center. One French pilot was killed after his attack helicopter was downed by ground fire during the operation.[116]

During the night of 11 January 2013, the Malian army, backed by French troops, took back control of the town of Konna.[117]

The Malian army announced they took full control of Konna and that over 100 Islamists were killed. AFP witnesses had seen dozens of Islamist corpses around Konna, with one saying he counted 46 bodies.[118][119] The French stated four rebel vehicles were hit by their airstrikes,[120] while the Mali Army claimed nearly 30 vehicles were bombed. Several dozens of Malian soldiers[28] and 10 civilians were also killed. A resident of Gao, the headquarters of the MUJAO, said that the city's hospital had been overwhelmed with dead and wounded.[121] In all, one local residented counted 148 bodies around Konna.[28]

A Malian lieutenant said that mopping up operations were taking places around Konna. French special forces were also reported to be on the ground. According to analysts, the French were forced to act sooner than planned because of the importance of Sévaré military airport for further operations.[122]

In the wake of the French deployment, ECOWAS said that it had ordered troops to be deployed immediately to Mali, the UN Security Council said that the previously planned UN-led force would be deployed in the near future, and the European Union said it had increased preparations for sending military training troops into Mali.[123]

Human rights concerns

In May 2012, 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,[124] and documented instances of gang rape, extrajudicial executions, and the use of child soldiers by both Tuareg and Islamist groups.[125]

On 3 April 2012, 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.[126] Other targets of looting included hospitals, hotels, government offices, Oxfam offices and the offices and warehouses of other unnamed aid groups.[127] The WFP also stated that 200,000 had so far fled the fighting, predicting that the number would rise.[128] 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;[129] after negotiations, the convoy was released on the following day.[130] The group reportedly banned video games, Malian and Western music, bars, and football in Gao[129] and ransacked alcohol-serving establishments in both Gao and Kidal.[38] Islamist forces were also reported to have intervened against looters and ordered women to wear head scarves. The CNRDR'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."[44] The anti-slavery organization Temedt claims that ex-slaves were the first targeted for punishment by Islamist forces and that former masters have used the violence to recapture ex-slaves.[131]

On 29 July 2012, 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.[132] On 9 August, Islamist militants chopped off the hand of an alleged thief in the town of Ansongo, despite a crowd pleading with the militants for mercy.[133]

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 2012, Ansar Dine members reportedly burned the tomb of a Sufi saint.[134] In late June, Islamists attacked several more sites in Timbuktu with pickaxes and shovels.[135]

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.[136]

See also

References

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