Azawad

The Azawad ( tuareg - Berber ⴰ ⵣ ⴰ ⵓ ⴰ ⴷ; Arab دولة أزواد المستقلة Dawlat al - azawad Mustaqilla; French État de l' Azawad indépendant, also Azaouad ) is the northern part of the West African country of Mali. From 2012 to 2013 the entire region formed an independent Mali de facto separate state.

Designation

The term Azawad (older also Asauad ) stems from the same system of wadis, a seasonal river system between the city of Gao in Mali and the Aïr Mountains in Niger or a present in the Timbuktu region, inhabited by Tuareg oasis system, consisting of the oases Mabrouk ( Mabruk ), Bou Djeheba (Bu Dschebeha ) and Araouane ( Araouan ).

Location

The Azawad consists of the regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. In the " Pacte national du 11 avril 1992, Bamako, Mali ", the government and the Tuaregrebellen National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad ( MNLA ) had agreed to call the Regions VI, VII and VIII " Azawad ". The Malian regions are numbered; The above are the regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu. These have an area of ​​822,000 km2. The MNLA also claims the district Douentza the Mopti region. Biggest Cities in Azawad are Gao and Timbuktu with approximately 87,000 with about 54,000 inhabitants.

The region consists mainly of sand, stone and rocky desert with a few scattered oases. In the south, at the riverbank of Niger lie on an average height of 250-260 meters above sea level, extensive floodplains. The mountain Adrar des Ifoghas the east is up to 890 meters high.

Population

The Azawad is inhabited by Songhai, Tuareg, Fulani, Bidhan and other ethnic groups. The MNLA, a paramilitary organization that sees itself as the representation of all peoples of the Azawad, rebelled twice against the central government in Bamako and fighting since 2012 for a sovereign state of the same name. In the 2009 census, the Malian regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal had 1,295,000 inhabitants. Since the beginning of the rebellion, however, about 250,000 residents have fled. Registered in 2012 alone, the UN around 150,000 refugees.

Elimination of Mali

On April 6, 2012, at least two speakers of the rebel Tuareg declared the independence of Azawad of the Republic of Mali. The Executive Committee of the MNLA asked the international community to recognize their state immediately. French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said the declaration meant nothing, as long as other African states do not recognize the independence of the territory. A little later the African Union described the Declaration of Independence MNLA void; by Catherine Ashton, spokesperson of the EU High Representative, the European Union had made clear throughout the crisis that they respect the territorial integrity of Mali.

Meanwhile, an Ansar Dine -called Islamist group had formed in Azawad, which has close ties to the Al Qaeda. This group introduced the Sharia and fought for an Islamic state, while the MNLA began for a religiously neutral nation state. Women had to disguise the theft suspects had expected that their right hand was chopped off. Shortly after the declaration of independence broke the covenant between the MNLA and Ansar Dine, led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, who during a stay in Pakistan found his true faith, according to his followers, because of political and religious differences. Islamist groups distanced themselves increasingly from the Declaration of Independence MNLA and sold their former allies from Timbuktu and other cities in the region.

In a video message on April 6, 2012, the Ansar Dine stated that it does not recognize the Declaration of Independence MNLA: "We are against revolutions that are not in the name of Islam." Target is the Islamic Sharia law throughout Mali.

Many Tuareg accuse the government of Mali that they have tried to wipe out her people. Amnesty International warned of a " major humanitarian disaster." After Bamako fled northern Malians demonstrated there several times against the secession of Azawad and intend to oust the rebels. On April 8, 2012, consisting mainly of ethnic Arabs from Timbuktu Front de libération national militia de l' Azawad ( FLNA ), which has by his own admission more than 500 fighters founded. The FLNA wants Timbuktu defend against the MNLA and rejects the rule " of a Tuareg from Kidal " from.

According to a BBC report, representatives of the MNLA and Ansar Dine end of May 2012 agreed to establish an Islamic republic in Azawad. The agreement was signed a week later denounced by the MNLA. In the course of 2012 won Ansar Dine, along with two other Islamist groups, more and more power. For the other two it was the movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa ( MUJAO ) and the Al - Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( AQMI ).

Reintegration in Mali

Within the framework of a UN mandate France began on 11 January 2013, a request of the government of Mali towards a military intervention called Opération Serval. By the end of January 2013, the Islamist groups could be pushed back from all major cities of the region.