page_title: Azawad
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Azawad / Politics
caption_attribution_description: Mali regions map for use on Wikivoyage, English version
context_page_description: Azawad is the name given to northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, as well as a former short-lived unrecognised state. Its independence was declared unilaterally by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad in 2012, after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Army from the region. It rejoined Mali in February 2013, after less than a year of unrecognized independence.
  Azawad, as claimed by the MNLA, comprises the Malian regions of Timbuktu, Kidal, Gao, as well as a part of Mopti region, encompassing about 60 percent of Mali's total land area. Azawad borders Burkina Faso to the south, Mauritania to the west and northwest, Algeria to the north and northeast, and Niger to the east and southeast, with undisputed Mali to its southwest. It straddles a portion of the Sahara and the Sahelian zone. Gao is its largest city and served as the temporary capital, while Timbuktu is the second-largest city, and was intended to be the capital by the independence forces.
  On 6 April 2012, in a statement posted to its website, the MNLA declared "irrevocably" the independence of Azawad from Mali.
context_section_description: The MNLA in its declaration of independence announced the first political institutions of the state of Azawad. It included:
  An executive committee, directed by Mahmoud Ag Aghaly.
  A revolutionary council, directed by Abdelkrim Ag Tahar.
  A consultative council, directed by Mahamed Ag Tahadou.
  The general staff of the Liberation Army, directed by Mohamed Ag Najem.
  Although the MNLA claimed responsibility for managing the country "until the appointment of a national authority" in their declaration of independence, it has acknowledged the presence of rival armed groups in the region, including Islamist fighters under Ansar Dine, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The MNLA did not establish a formal government, though it pledged to draft a constitution establishing Azawad as a democracy. The main government building is called the Palace of Azawad by the MNLA. It is a heavily guarded building in central Gao that served as the office of the Gao Region's governor prior to the rebellion.
  The military wing of Ansar Dine rejected the MNLA's declaration of independence hours after it was issued. Ansar Dine vowed to establish Islamic sharia law over all of Mali. At a conference, the Azawadis voiced their disapproval of radical Islamic groups, and asked all foreign fighters to disarm and leave the country.
  According to a Chatham House Africa expert, Mali was not to be considered "definitively partitioned". The peoples who constitute a major share of the population of northern Mali, such as Songhai and Fulani, considered themselves to be Malian and had no interest in a separate Tuareg-dominated state. On the day of the declaration of independence, about 200 Malian northerners staged a rally in Bamako, declaring their rejection of the partition and their willingness to fight to drive out the rebels. A day later, 2,000 protesters joined a new rally against separatism.
  According to Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union's peace and security commissioner, the African Union has discussed sending a military force to reunify Mali. He said that negotiations with terrorists had been ruled out, but negotiations with other armed factions were still open.
caption: The MNLA declared that Azawad consisted of the regions of Gao, Kidal, and Timbuktu, as well as the north-east half of the Mopti Region.
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