Date : 17 Dec 2024
Azawad Liberation Front (FLA): the challenges facing the new separatist coalition
The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) was founded on November 30, 2024 in Tinzaouatène. On December 1, between 7 and 8 a.m., the Malian Armed Forces launched an offensive using drones, resulting in the death of several FLA members, including leaders. The creation of the movement was the result of several years of conflict between rebel groups and Mali's central government over Azawad, the region in northern Mali that covers Gao, Kidal, Ménaka, Gossi and Timbuktu.
The Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (Cadre stratégique permanent pour la défense du peuple de l'Azawad in French - CSP-DPA), created on May 2, 2024, was dissolved to form the Azawad Liberation Front (Front de libération de l'Azawad - FLA). Prior to the creation of the FLA, Tuareg groups were divided into two distinct factions: those who supported the government, and those who were against it. The CSP-DPA is a coalition fighting against the government authorities and its Russian backers (Wagner). It includes the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (Haut conseil pour l'unité de l'Azawad - HCUA), and some members of the Arab Movement of Azawad (Mouvement arabe de l'Azawad - MAA). The other part of the MAA is a member of the The Platform of the Movements of 14 June 2014 in Algiers (or the Plateforme), a pro-government coalition which also includes the Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (Groupe autodéfense touareg Imghad et alliés- GATIA). When the FLA was created, pro- and anti-government factions came together to fight against the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and Wagner.
The members of the Azawad Liberation Front take up the demands of the CSP-DPA: total independence and autonomy for Azawad, the northern region of Mali, which covers Saharan and Sahelian regions over an area of some 822,000 km². They are seeking the creation of an independent state. They also declare their commitment to protecting civilians caught up in clashes between rebels, Malian authorities, Wagner and terrorists, who are victims of a number of abuses.
Historical overview
Mali has been facing violent internal conflicts following rebellions by separatist Tuaregs and terrorist attacks, since 2012. The latter eventually gained increasing momentum, even spreading into neighboring countries. On April 6, 2012, after deadly clashes with Malian armies, the Secretary General of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), Bilal Ag Acherif, declared Azawad's independence, which was rejected by the African Union. Tensions developed between the MNLA and the terrorists, leading to the MNLA's departure from several towns in Azawad, while the terrorists took control of a substantial part of northern Mali, before their desertion and the recapture of territories, notably Kidal, by the MNLA. In 2013, a peace agreement was signed between the Malian transitional government and the Tuareg rebels, which was quickly broken off. A year later, the conflicts continue. It was against this backdrop that the pro-government Tuareg factions (La Plateforme) were created, fighting against the separatists.The year 2015 marks the signing of the Algiers Peace Accords between the Malian government and pro- and anti-government Tuareg factions. But these agreements will be flouted on several occasions.There are still many grey areas, notably the question of the independence of Azawad, which has not been addressed despite being at the heart of the conflict.
On January 25, the Malian transitional government declared the end of the Algiers Agreements. For many Tuareg rebels, this decision sounded like a war statement.
FLA considered a terrorist movement by the Malian authorities
The government's announcement of the end of the Algiers Agreements was a break with the Tuareg rebels and their rejection of the independence of Azawad, with the government claiming the whole of Mali's current territory and the country's national sovereignty.
Some pro-government media support the government's communication by systematically referring to these movements as terrorists.
Fighting between separatists and Malian authorities resumed in 2023.In November of the same year, the Wagner flag was raised atop the Kidal fort, indicating that the town had been recaptured by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and their Russian allies.The separatist rebels retreated to Tinzaouatène, on the Algerian border, where a battle took place at the end of July 2024.For the first time since its arrival in Mali (2021), the Wagner group suffered its heaviest human toll. More than 80 mercenaries and 40 FAMa lost their lives in the fighting.On December 1, a few hours after the formation of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), air strikes by Malian authorities using Turkish drones resulted in the death of eight members of the FLA, including Fahad Ag Almahmoud, former Secretary General of the GATIA, who had been close to the Bamako authorities before joining the FLA. In addition, Bilal Ag Acherif, tipped as the future leader of the FLA, was declared seriously wounded.
The Malian army's swift response to the creation of the FLA testifies to its hostility towards the Azawad independence movement.The coup d'état of 2020, the presence of the Wagner mercenaries and the end of the Algiers agreements created fertile ground for the creation of the FLA and highlighted the fractured state of Mali.