National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad

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The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement (French: Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad, MNLA), formerly the National Movement of Azawad (French: Mouvement national de l'Azawad, MNA), was a militant organization based in northern Mali. The movement consisted mostly of ethnic Tuareg (a branch of Berbers), some of whom had previously fought in the 2011 Libyan Civil War, either for the Libyan army (loyal to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi) or for the National Liberation Army (military branch of the National Transitional Council, which was Libyan opposition's head organization), and returned to Mali after the war. The movement was founded in October 2011 and has stated that it includes other Saharan peoples. The Malian government accused the movement of having links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The MNLA denied this claim. Human Rights Watch and FIDH accused MNLA of terrorism and war crimes, a conclusion supported by the ICC. By...

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