The Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) is a separatist militant organization that formed in October 2011 and is made up predominately of ethnic Tuaregs. The MNLA aimed to establish a secular, independent state called Azawad, that historically contained the vast portion of desert including Timbuktu, Kidal, Gao and their environs in Mali. In mid January of 2012, the MNLA, armed with sophisticated military equipment from Libya, launched assaults on towns in northern Mali. In response to the Malian military coup in March 2012, the MNLA briefly allied itself with Ansar Dine (AD), the Mouvement pour lUnification et le Jihad en Afrique de lOuest (MUJAO), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its semi-autonomous battalion, the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, to take advantage of the lack of rule of law and occupy northern Mali. However shortly after the groups gained control of the north, this alliance ended and fighting broke out between the MLNA and the other militant groups, who wanted a united Mali with Shariah law rather than a secular, independent state of Azawad. By the end of 2012, the MNLA had lost the vast majority of its northern territory. In June 2013, the MNLA signed a ceasefire agreement with the Malian government, but broke it in September to continue to fight for the independence of Azawad. The MNLA joined the Arab Movement for Azawad (MAA) and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) in an umbrella group called the Coordination of the Movements of Azawad (CMA) in November 2013. On June 20, 2015, after a long peace process, the MNLA, along with the HCUA and the MAA, as a part of the CMA, signed the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali with the Malian government on political and institutional reforms related to defense and security. Today, the MNLA continues as a political movement within Mali.
