National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad has goal independence
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement (Tamasheq: ⵜⴰⵏⴾⵔⴰ ⵏ ⵜⵓⵎⴰⵙⵜ ⴹ ⴰⵙⵍⴰⵍⵓ ⵏ ⴰⵣⴰⵓⴰⴷ, romanized: Tankra n Tumast ḍ Aslalu n Azawad; Arabic: الحركة الوطنية لتحرير أزواد, romanized: al-Ḥarakat al-Waṭaniyat Litaḥrīr ʾĀzawād; French: Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad, MNLA), formerly the National Movement of Azawad (French: Mouvement national de l'Azawad, MNA), is a political and military organisation based in Azawad in northern Mali.
The movement is mostly made up of ethnic Tuareg, some of whom are believed to have fought in the Libyan army during the 2011 Libyan Civil War (though other Tuareg MNLA fighters were on the side of the National Transitional Council and returned to Mali after that war). The movement was founded in October 2011 and had stated that it includes other Saharan peoples.
The Malian government has accused the movement of having links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The MNLA denies this claim. By 1 April 2012 the MNLA and Ansar Dine were in control of virtually all of northern Mali, including its three largest cities of Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu. Tensions between the MNLA and Ansar Dine culminated in the Battle of Gao, in which the MNLA lost control of northern Malian cities to Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.Factionalism
The MNLA was rumoured to have factionalised, according to the sources in the Malian government, with the Islamist Ansar Dine claiming control of the region after the capture of several cities, previously attributed to the MNLA. Though the international media has linked the MNLA to Ansar Dine and AQIM, the MNLA has distanced itself from both groups, stating that their sole goal is the independence of Azawad. However, after the fall of Timbuktu it said that Azawad would be governed along with Ansar Dine. On 26 May, the MNLA and Ansar Dine announced a pact in which they would merge to form an Islamist state, renamed the Islamic Republic of Azawad.