SUMMARY
ATNMC (Alliance Touareg Nord Mali pour le Changement: Northern Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change, originally ADC – IB: Alliance démocratique du 23 Mai pour le changement - Ibrahim Bahanga faction) was a Tuareg rebel group that emerged in northern Mali in 2007. As the original name indicates, the group had its roots in another Tuareg organization, ADC, which fought the Malian government briefly in 2006, never crossing the 25 battle-related deaths threshold for inclusion in UCDP data. Both ADC and ATNMC included many of the leading figures from the rebel groups that had fought the Malian government in the 1990s and their emergence was tied to how the previous phase of the conflict had ended. During the tumultuous first half the of the 1990's, numerous Tuareg rebel groups had fought the government, with demands ranging from independence to autonomy for the northern part of Mali, called Azawad by the Tuareg population. A number of accords were signed as one group after the other eventually agreed to lay down their arms. Numerous Tuareg fighters were integrated into the Malian armed forces as part of the agreements, but discontent soon started brewing as many felt discriminated against because of the slowness of their promotions and the mediocrity of their attributed tasks. In 2006, ADC was formed as a reaction to the slow implementation of the accords, also claiming to fight for a special administration for the three northern regions (Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal) as well as for better conditions for ex-rebels in military ranks. The group signed a peace agreement in July 2006, but a faction of the movement under Ibrahim Ag Bahanga rejected the accord, stating that it did not do enough to help the ethnic Tuareg minority that was discriminated against. Over the following months, further ADC fighters and leaders defected and joined Ag Bahanga, and thus ATNMC was created.
In addition to the stated reasons for the rebellion, internal divisions in Tuareg society also played a part. Northern Mali is fraught by deep societal divisions, both between the Tuareg and other ethnic groups and within the Tuareg community. Tuareg society has traditionally been hierarchical, with nobility and vassals and there is a history of tension and competition between the different sub-clans. These tensions have come to the forefront in the context of the armed conflicts. ATNMC mainly consisted of the Ifergoumessen fraction of the Ifoghas tribe, which is the noble tribe of the Tuareg, who have ruled over other Malian Tuareg since the colonial era. It is the different fractions of the Ifoghas that have been the main proponents of an independent Azawad. Many of the other sub-groups, especially the Imghad, traditionally a vassal group, are opposed to the idea of an independent north, fearing continued domination by the Ifoghas, and have tended to seek autonomy within Mali, siding with the Malian government against the Ifoghas. Through the early 2000's, competition grew between formerly “dominant” and “subsidiary” clans, fueled by then-President Amadou Toumani Touré’s policy for managing northern Mali partly by empowering once subordinate groups. In the army, the future leaders of the upcoming rebellion considered themselves passed over for promotion in favor of other sub-groups, causing growing dissent, which eventually resulted in the formation of first ADC and then ATNMC.
Ibrahim Ag Bahanga was the overall leader and commander of ATNMC. He had a background in MPA, the Tuareg group that launched the armed struggle in the early 1990s. Ag Bahanga’s father-in-law, Hama Ag Sidahmed, also with a background in MPA was the new group’s spokesperson. Another high-level leader was Hassane Fagaga, who had also played an important role in the earlier phase of the conflict. The exact size of the group was not known. In mid-2006, it was reported that some 165 Tuareg had deserted the army and joined ATNMC, and that numbers were growing. Two years later, in 2008, Ag Bahanga claimed to have 3000 fighters under his command, but most analysts agree that this number was likely inflated. The following year, Hassan Fagaga deserted the group and brought with him some 400 fighters.
The group was based in northern Mali’s Kidal region, with its two main bases in Tin-Assalak in the Tigharghar Mountains in Tessalit cercle, and in Boureïssa in Abeibara cercle. From these camps, the group launched raids and ambushes in the surrounding area. In 2008, the group’s area of operation expanded, as it launched attacks as far south as Mopti and Segou regions.
While ATNMC was the only Tuareg armed group active in Mali at the time, fellow Tuareg’s in neighboring Niger launched a rebellion the same year under the name MNJ. There were frequent allegations of cooperation between the two, but these were never substantiated. It seems clear that ATNMC’s at least initially was intent on creating a link with MNJ; when the group ceased to release statements under the name ADC and launched the new name ATNMC, it was said to mean *Alliance Touaregue Niger-Mali pour le changement: Niger-Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change *. However, MNJ rejected the overtures, and forced ag Bahanga to change the name to the Northern Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change, maintaining the ATNMC acronym. There were also allegations of the group receiving military supplies from Libya, but this was denied by Ah Bahanga, who claimed that ATNMC’s arms were obtained from the Malian army during military operations.
ATNMC suffered heavy defeats at the hands of the military when the latter launched an offensive in January 2009 and managed to capture and destroy the group’s main bases. Ag Bahanga subsequently left the country and hundreds of ATNMC fighters gave up the fight on 23 January, subsequently joining the ongoing peace process between the government and ADC. Ag Bahanga spent the rest of his life in Libya and Algeria, where he was actively involved in the preparations for the re-launching of the conflict in January 2012, when MNLA (later CMA) emerged and carried out a lightning offensive in northern Mali. Ag Bahanga himself did not live to see this, however, as he died in August 2011 in unclear circumstances.
