SUMMARY
The conflict between AQIM, Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram) and MUJAO on the one hand, and CMA (formerly MNLA, Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad: National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) on the other was played out in the context of the overall struggle between Islamists and secular separatists in northern Mali during 2012. The mainly Tuareg rebel group MNLA had launched an armed conflict in January 2012, with the stated aim of creating the independent state of Azawad in the northern part of the country (see Mali: Azawad). Initially, in a tactical alliance with fellow Tuareg rebel group Ansar Dine, they were able to make large territorial gains, seizing nearly a third of the country's territory by mid-March and the main northern towns by the end of the month. On 6 April MNLA subsequently declared the formation of the independent state of Azawad, comprising the three northern regions Gao, Kidal, and Timbuktu.
However, at this point the tactical alliance between MNLA and Ansar Dine had started to crumble. The latter had a completely different aim with its armed struggle, favoring the implementation of sharia in the whole country to the creation of an independent Azawad. As the rebels pressed south, they had entered territory where people were more favorable to the message of Ansar Dine than to MNLA's separatist agenda, which was viewed as a strictly Tuareg enterprise among the ethnically mixed population. Furthermore, the presence of two other Islamists groups in the area, AQIM (at this point also containing what would late be Signed-in-Blood Battalion) and MUJAO, started to shift the balance of power in favor of Ansar Dine. During April and May it became clear that the Islamists had created a joint alliance against MNLA, and the latter was pushed out of most main towns. Besides some failed attempts at rapprochement between MNLA and Ansar Dine, the rest of the year saw largely consistent alliances, with the Islamists on the one side and the separatist and secular MNLA on the other. The former remained in control of the northern part of Mali, joined by fighters from the Nigerian Islamist rebel group Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad, or Boko Haram, while MNLA attempted to re-group in the countryside. Armed clashes between the two camps occurred on numerous occasions, with different constellations on the Islamist side (see also information for the CMA – MUJAO, Signed-in-Blood Battalion conflict).
Focusing more narrowly on the conflict between AQIM, Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram) and MUJAO, and MNLA it was clear that the core conflict issue also here was deep ideological differences. The leadership council of MUJAO stated that they were at “war” against the MNLA mainly because the latter refused to adopt Shari’a, but also due to their racial attitudes. In a statement they claimed that among the separatist, “the Black has no rights, while the White has rights” (with ‘white’ referring to Tuareg, Arabs, and Mauritanians). MNLA for its part referred to the Islamists as foreign terrorists. A separatist fighter was reported to have stated that “a comprehensive war will be waged against Islamist terrorists, whoever they may be, because no negotiation or understanding is possible with Islamist groups. These people must be fought.”
Fighting in the particular constellation AQIM, Boko Haram, MUJAO – MNLA was brief and concerned control of territory. As the tactical alliance between MNLA and Ansar Dine started to crumble and the latter’s alliance with other Islamist groups became increasingly overt, the separatists gradually weakened. Not ready to confront the Islamists, MNLA retreated from most urban centers, occupying positions on the outskirts of towns, on the main roads, and in parts of Gao, where the group had set up a provisional government of the self-proclaimed state of Azawad. However, the Islamists gradually increased their presence throughout northern Mali and by late June, tensions were simmering in Gao. On 27 June fighting erupted when AQIM, Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram) and MUJAO fighters, attacked MNLA’s provisional government with heavy weapons. By the end of the day, MNLA had been forced to abandon the town, which was the last urban center with a separatist presence (for more information on the June fighting, see ‘information by year’).
The non-state conflict between AQIM, Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram) and MUJAO on the one hand, and CMA (formerly MNLA) on the other is first included in UCDP data in 2012. On 27 June of that year, fighting in Gao town caused more than 25 battle-related deaths.
