Siege of Tessalit | |||||||
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Part of the Tuareg rebellion (2012) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Ansar Dine AQIM | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Didier Dacko El Hadj Ag Gamou Mohamed Ould Meydou Kassim Goita Mohamed Ag Bachir Yusuf Ag Bougara (POW) | Bayes Ag Dicknane Abou Al-Tayyib Cheikh Ag Aoussa Abdelkim Kojak Ibah Ag Moussa Assalat Ag Habi | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
800 regular soldiers 107 vehicles 6 BRDM several helicopters 300 reinforcements | 600 fighters 30 vehicles [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
32-49 killed 20+ wounded 62-71 captured 21 vehicles destroyed 6 vehicles captured 2 BRDM-2 captured 1 BRDM-2 destroyed | 7-17 fighters killed 6-8 wounded 7 captured 1 vehicle destroyed |
The Amachach military base in Tessalit was defended by roughly 800 Malian soldiers commanded by Colonel Kassim Goita, with 1,500 refugees being mostly Tuareg women and children. The International Committee of the Red Cross was sent to help evacuate civilians and military families, but despite the approval of the MNLA, Malian authorities delayed the operation and it was never executed as a humanitarian source. Other Malian military forces in the region of Tessalit were led by Colonels' Didier Dacko, Ould Meydou, and the well respected Tuareg commander El Hadji Ag Gamou. [2]
On 18 January 2012, Tessalit itself came under attack by both MNLA and Ansar Dine rebels. According to Malian soldiers, fighters from AQIM were present. [3]
On 22 January, the MNLA announced they had surrounded the Malian army base in Tessalit and expected all foreign military trainers to evacuate the premises. The Amachach military camp is located about fifteen kilometers from Tessalit itself. In a separate clash with the Malian army, two rebels were killed and a vehicle destroyed. By then, the number of MNLA fighters reached around 600 with reinforcements arriving from Libya and Niger. [1]
On February 6, the rebels evacuated people from the town of Tessalit (about 4,000 people) to bush encampments in Abamco, Savohak, Efali (Terist) and Assowa to prevent them from becoming victims of the conflict. The health situation was bad, which caused a mission of the Red Cross on February 7. [4]
On 10 February, the Malian army launched an offensive to relieve the garrison in Tessalit, after a two-week-long siege. The army deployed 107 all-terrain vehicles, six BRDM armored vehicles, and combat helicopters piloted by foreign mercenaries. The MNLA became aware of Malian army movements in the area, launching their own offensive, eventually meeting the Army in the village of Tinsalane, 20 kilometers south of Tessalit. According to the MNLA, the planned transport convoy carrying Malian soldiers from the towns of Kidal and Anefif to strengthen the garrison of Tessalit, was ambushed by a brigade of the MNLA. After several hours of fighting, Malian forces fled, leaving 17 dead and 14 prisoners, including their commander Yusuf Ag Bougara, along with six vehicles destroyed and four captured. According to residents of In-Kahlil located along the border with Algeria, dozens of rebel vehicles filled with injured fighters were accepted in Algerian hospitals. The Malian government announced the same day, that the army defeated the rebels killing a hundred and capturing 50 which differs from the MNLA's previous claim of only losing four men. The overall outcome of the confrontation is disputed over with both sides, but it seems to have been more in favor of the rebels, as a month later Tessalit fell. [2] [5]
Fighting continued on 13 and 14 February, and the Malian army claimed that it have managed to enter Tessalit, then refuel the Amachach camp, which the rebels deny it happened. [6]
On 28 and 29 February, a new counteroffensive was launched by 300 soldiers of the Malian forces commanded by Colonels Didier Dacko, El Hadj Ag Gamou, and Abderahman Ould Meydou and Mohamed Ag Bachir, a former Libyan army leader. This attack on the outskirts of Tessalit was, however, repulsed by MNLA troops commanded by colonels Abdelkim Kojak, Assalat Ag Habi and Ibah Ag Moussa. On 29 February, the Malian defenders of Amachach military base launched several raids of their own in an attempt to break the rebel siege, with the elements of the outside reinforcements. The MNLA cited that none of their fighters were killed during the clashes where as the Malian army sustained losses. Clashes continued through 1 March, when the Malian army attacked MNLA positions surrounding the base, but failed in any way to diverge the rebels from the siege. [7] [8] [9] [10]
On 2 March, the MNLA announced that a total of 32 Malian soldiers have been killed, 20 wounded, and three vehicles destroyed in clashes over the past two weeks, leaving only seven dead and seven taken as prisoners in their ranks. [11]
On 4 March, the Malian army launched a second attempt to break the rebel siege of Tessalit, with Colonels Dacko, Gamou and Meydou sending reinforcements to Tessalit, backed by combat helicopters. The attack was eventually repulsed after twelve hours of fighting, but a helicopter was able to reach the Amachach military base to help collect the dead and wounded soldiers, with some bodies already in a state of decomposing. [12] On 8 March, according to local sources in the town of In-Khalil, eight MNLA combatants died of the wounds they received in clashes with the army, with a ninth being taken to an Algerian hospital in Bordj Badji Mokhtar.
On 10 March, in the early evening, the MNLA launched their final assault on camp Amachach. Fighting continued until 11 March, when the Malian army fled their military base, leaving behind hundreds of weapons, mortars, rocket launchers, machine guns, and even tanks. Around 57 Malian soldiers, five officers (two commanders, two lieutenants, and one captain) were captured, with 10 vehicles and two BRDM's recovered. An important military arsenal along with a BRDM were both destroyed. The Malian army talked that their forces made a strategic withdrawal and evacuation of the Amachach military camp to shelter to civilians who had sought refuge and to prevent a massacre. [13]
After the rebel victory, the Malian army retreated to Gao taking with them close to 800 people, mostly Black Africans with only 30 being Tuareg. The MNLA released a statement promising that they will treat their prisoners according to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, with a sick Malian soldier being handed over to Algerian authorities for care and 20 military families were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Malian government responded to their defeat by calling on the International Community, saying that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating with crimes being committed by the rebels against civilians. In the statement it also indicated, that the army fled Tessalit in part that it was unnecessary casualties to continue the prolonged battle. [12] [13]
Azawad, or Azawagh, was a short-lived unrecognised state lasting between 2012 and 2013. Azawagh (Azawaɣ) is the generic Tuareg Berber name for all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mali and northern and western Niger. The Azawadi declaration of independence was declared unilaterally by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2012, after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Armed Forces from the region.
The May 23, 2006 Democratic Alliance for Change is a Malian Tuareg rebel group, formed in 2006 by ex-combatants from the 1990s Tuareg insurgency in Mali. In 2007, splinters of the organisation returned to combat in northern Mali, launching the Malian element of the 2007 Tuareg insurgency. Led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, this ADC faction continued to operate under that name, despite most elements remaining under ceasefire. In July 2008, most of these elements, along with much of the splinter following Ag Bahanga reached another accord with the Malian government in Algiers. Ag Bahanga and a faction of that group rejected the accord and fled to Libya. At the end of 2008, this faction returned to fighting, operating under the name Alliance Touaregue Nord Mali Pour Le Changement (ATNMC). The government of Mali has contended since 2007 that the Ag Bahanga faction of the ADC is a "band of marginals" who were "isolated from the heart of the Tuareg community", primarily motivated by lucrative Trans-Saharan smuggling operations operating from Ag Bahanga's home town of Tin-Zaouatene. Ag Bahanga and the other leaders of his faction contend that the government of Mali oppresses the Tuareg population of the north, and has repeatedly failed to live up to its agreements with the ADC and other groups. Outside observers have also speculated that internal rivalries between Tuareg from the Kel Adagh and the Ouilliminden confederations have frustrated peace attempts.
The 2012 Tuareg rebellion was the early phase of the Mali War; from January to April 2012, a war was waged against the Malian government by rebels with the goal of attaining independence for the northern region of Mali, known as Azawad. It was led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and was part of a series of insurgencies by traditionally nomadic Tuaregs which date back at least to 1916. The MNLA was formed by former insurgents and a significant number of heavily armed Tuaregs who fought in the Libyan Civil War.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement, formerly the National Movement of Azawad, is a militant organization based in northern Mali.
The Battle of Gao was fought between the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the Islamist Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA), along with its ally Ansar Dine, in Gao between 26–28 June 2012. By the 28 June, Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, the three biggest cities in the disputed secessionist region of Azawad within what is recognised as Malian territory, were under the control of Ansar Dine and its Islamist allies.
The Mali War is an ongoing conflict that started in January 2012 between the northern and southern parts of Mali in Africa. On 16 January 2012, several insurgent groups began fighting a campaign against the Malian government for independence or greater autonomy for northern Mali, which they called Azawad. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an organization fighting to make this area of Mali an independent homeland for the Tuareg people, had taken control of the region by April 2012.
The Battle of Aguelhok occurred when rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Islamists groups Ansar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked a Malian army garrison base in the town of Aguelhok, Kidal Region of Northern Mali on 17 January 2012, as part of the larger Tuareg rebellion to seize all government bases in the region.
The following is a timeline of major events during the Northern Mali conflict.
Operation Panther was a French military operation in Mali that was launched in February 2013.
The Azawad conflict has been a conflict in Northern Mali between the MNLA, a Tuareg nationalist group, and a coalition of Islamist groups. The conflict began when Northern Mali declared itself independent from the government, creating the unrecognized state of Azawad. The Islamists and MNLA formed an alliance in combatting the Malian government. An internal conflict sprung up over the imposing of sharia law in the new state and the MNLA distancing itself from the coalition to a democratic state. Islamists gained popularity amongst anti-Tuareg tribes which helped them overthrow MNLA authority in Gao. Both sides clashed repeatedly leading to the Battle of Gao, where the MNLA were driven from the North's two main cities, Gao and Timbuktu. The MNLA soon lost all of its strongholds in the North in a matter of months. They went into hiding secretly gaining support and strength. The beginning of 2013 led to the start of the French intervention in Mali that ousted the Islamists from the North's cities and brought back Malian authority. The MNLA supported the French and Chadian forces in military operations against Islamists' sanctuaries in the mountains. The MNLA recaptured several important towns in the Kidal Region but refused to disarm or hand them over to the Malian government. A series of Islamist-sponsored terror attacks plagued MNLA forces for siding with the French. Checkpoints and bases were targeted with suicide bombings that targeted MNLA members. A peace deal was reached with the Malian army in June that let the army transverse freely in MNLA-occupied zones that were under Malian jurisdiction. Ethnic violence sprung over the murder of a Tuareg Government officer's family. The MNLA responded by harassing and murdering Fulani civilians, who constitute a majority of Islamist rebels. The Islamists stepped up their attacks in one such instance massacring 30 Tuareg merchants. The MNLA has since been battling Islamists.
The First Battle of Menaka is an attack led on January 17, 2012, by armed groups of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and marks the beginning of the Tuareg rebellion of 2012. This is the first in a series of battles aimed a capturing most of the north Mali from the army by the rebels.
The battle of In Emsal took place during the Tuareg rebellion of 2012. On 20 January, a Malian military convoy that came to rescue the garrison of Aguelhoc was ambushed by rebels of MLNA, and terrorists of Ansar Dine and AQIM.
The ambush of Tinsalane occurred on February 11, 2012, when armed groups of Ansar Dine and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) fought against a convoy of the Malian army who came to reinforce the troops besieged in Tessalit.
The first battle of Kidal took place during the Mali war. On 30 March 2012, the city was captured by rebel MNLA and Ansar Dine forces.
El Hadj Ag Gamou, born December 31, 1964, in Tidermène, Mali, is an Imghad Tuareg Malian division general. Gamou is currently the governor of Kidal Region since November 22, 2023, and has also been the head of his faction of Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies since the group's foundation. Prior to his governorship, Gamou served in the Malian army, commanding Malian troops against Ansar Dine and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in the early stages of the Mali War.
Assalat Ag Habi is a Malian Tuareg soldier and a founder of the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad.
Mohamed Abderrahmane Ould Meydou, also known as Ould Meydou, is a Malian general who participated in the Tuareg rebellion of 2007 to 2009 and the Mali War. Meydou has also served as the governor of Taoudénit Region since 2017.
On July 11, 2014, clashes broke out between pro-government militias led by GATIA and rebel militias led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Anefif, Mali. The battle was the first major confrontation between pro-government militias and rebel groups since the start of the Mali War in 2012.
On June 5, 2013, clashes broke out between the Malian Army and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in the village of Anefis. Malian forces entered and quickly captured the town, leading to diplomatic pushback from the MNLA.
On December 20, 2008, Tuareg rebels from the Niger-Mali Tuareg Alliance attacked Malian forces in Nampala, Mali.