Hassan Ag Fagaga | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959/1966 Kidal |
| Died | December 22, 2023 |
| Allegiance |  Libya (1980's)MPLA (1991) MPA (1991-1996)  Mali (1996-2006)ADC (2006-2009) ATNM (2006-2009) Mali (2006) [1]  MNLA (2011-2023) |
| Battles/wars | Lebanese Civil War |
Hassan Ag Fagaga, born around 1959 [2] or 1966, [3] in Kidal, Mali, was a Malian soldier and a Tuareg rebel.
Hassan Ag Fagaga was an Ifoghas Tuareg from the Ifergoumissen tribe. [3] He completed his military training in Libya and Syria, and participated in the Lebanese Civil War, fighting in the Siege of Beirut. [4]
Fagaga participated in the Tuareg rebellion of 1990–1995, first fighting in the MPLA in 1991, then fighting in the Popular Movement for Azawad under Iyad Ag Ghaly. [3] In 1996, after the peace agreements, he was instated into the Malian army with the rank of commander. [3] He led the Tuareg rebellion of 2006 in March with Ghaly and Ibrahim Ag Bahanga. [5] Fagaga launched a raid on Kidal and Ménaka on May 22 and 23, 2006. [6] [2]
During the Tuareg rebellion of 2006, Fagaga led another rebellion with Ghaly and Ibrahim Ag Bahanga. [5] On May 23, 2006, he launched a raid against Kidal. [2] Following the end of the 2006 rebellion, Fagaga rejoined the Malian army for a short time. [7]
Fagaga joined the Tuareg rebellion of 2007–2009 as well, commanding the May 23, 2006 Democratic Alliance for Change (ADC) rebel group. [7] [8] He attacked Malian forces at Tinzaouaten in September 2007. That same month, Bahanga and Fagaga created the Niger-Mali Tuareg Alliance for Change, but it did not receive support in Niger. Later, the ADC's name was changed to ATNMC, but ADC was still used colloquially. [7] During Algerian mediation in the rebellion in 2008, Fagaga fled to Libya. [7] He also stated he would attack any al-Qaeda fighters within the Tuareg rebels, but admitted that some had infiltrated the rebellion. [7] Fagaga launched an attack on Nampalari in 2008. [7] Following a Malian offensive, Fagaga laid down his arms on January 4, 2009, along with 300 other ADC fighters.
In 2010, Fagaga attempted to revive the ATNMC as a regional anti-al-Qaeda fighting force, but did not succeed. [9]
He also joined the Tuareg rebellion in 2012, fighting in the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. [3] He left Kidal with his men in 2013, after the city fell under Malian government control. [7]
Clashes broke out between the Platform coalition and a rebel coalition led by Fagaga consisting of the MNLA, High Council for the Unity of Azawad, and the anti-Bamako faction of the Arab Movement of Azawad in 2015. [7] The rebels were defeated at the Battle of Anefis in 2014. In the Algiers Agreement of 2015, Fagaga was appointed head of the interim authorities in Kidal, which was put into effect in 2017. [3] In 2016, Fagaga joined a delegation of Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) leaders in Bamako attempting to revive the Algiers agreements. [7] Fagaga's brother Azbi was killed by French forces after launching an attack on a Malian refugee camp at the Malian-Nigerien border, killing 22 Nigerien soldiers. [10] [11]
In a May 2017 interview with Jeune Afrique, Fagaga claims to have not seen Ghaly since 2012, stating "Iyad says he fights for the application of sharia. It's a noble cause. On the other hand, I do not approve of his method of achieving this." [12] [13]
Hassan Ag Fagaga was killed on the morning of December 22, 2023, in Tin Zaouatine, by a drone strike by the Malian army. Four other fighters were killed during this strike. The Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP) announces his death on December 23. [14]
From 1990 to 1995, a rebellion by various Tuareg groups took place in Niger and Mali, with the aim of achieving autonomy or forming their own nation-state. The insurgency occurred in a period following the regional famine of the 1980s and subsequent refugee crisis, and a time of generalised political repression and crisis in both nations. The conflict is one in a series of Tuareg-based insurgencies in the colonial and post-colonial history of these nations. In Niger, it is also referred to as the Second or Third Tuareg Rebellion, a reference to the pre-independence rebellions of Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen of the Aïr Mountains in 1914 and the rising of Firhoun of Ikazkazan in 1911, who reappeared in Mali in 1916. In fact the nomadic Tuareg confederations have come into sporadic conflict with the sedentary communities of the region ever since they migrated from the Maghreb into the Sahel region between the 7th and 14th centuries CE. Some Tuareg wanted an independent Tuareg nation to be formed when French colonialism ended. This, combined with dissatisfaction over the new governments, led some Tuareg in Northern Mali to rebel in 1963.
The 2007-2009 Tuareg rebellion was an insurgency that began in February 2007 amongst elements of the Tuareg people living in the Sahara desert regions of northern Mali and Niger. It is one of a series of insurgencies by formerly nomadic Tuareg populations, which had last appeared in the mid-1990s, and date back at least to 1916. Populations dispersed to Algeria and Libya, as well as to the south of Niger and Mali in the 1990s returned only in the late 1990s. Former fighters were to be integrated into national militaries, but the process has been slow and caused increased resentment. Malian Tuaregs had conducted some raids in 2005–2006, which ended in a renewed peace agreement. Fighting in both nations was carried on largely in parallel, but not in concert. While fighting was mostly confined to guerrilla attacks and army counterattacks, large portions of the desert north of each nation were no-go zones for the military and civilians fled to regional capitals like Kidal, Mali and Agadez, Niger. Fighting was largely contained within Mali's Kidal Region and Niger's Agadez Region. Algeria helped negotiate an August 2008 Malian peace deal, which was broken by a rebel faction in December, crushed by the Malian military and wholescale defections of rebels to the government. Niger saw heavy fighting and disruption of uranium production in the mountainous north, before a Libyan backed peace deal, aided by a factional split among the rebels, brought a negotiated ceasefire and amnesty in May 2009.
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 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.
Iyad Ag Ghaly, also known as Abū al-Faḍl, is a Tuareg Islamist militant from Mali's Kidal Region. He has been active in Tuareg rebellions against the Malian government since the 1980s – particularly in the early 1990s. In 1988, he founded the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. In the latest episode of the Tuareg upheavals in 2012, he featured as the founder and leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar Dine.
Ibrahim Ag Bahanga was a Tuareg rebel who fought in several Tuareg rebellions between 1990 and 2011. He was one of the founders of the May 23, 2006 Democratic Alliance for Change, and became the sole leader of the Tuareg rebellion in 2009 after the rest of the ADC signed peace agreements.
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The Ménaka offensive was a series of offensives launched by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara against the Malian Army, Tuareg self-defense groups including the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (GATIA), and the al-Qaeda-aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. The offensives took place in the Ménaka Cercle, in southeastern Mali.
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.
The High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) (French: Haut conseil pour l'unité de l'Azawad) is a Tuareg political movement formed on May 2, 2013, during the Mali War. The movement was initially called the High Council of Azawad (HCA) (French: Haut conseil de l'Azawad) before changing its name on May 19, 2013.
On July 26, 2017, clashes broke out between the pro-government GATIA Imghad Tuareg militia and anti-government Idnane Tuareg rebels from the Coordination of Azawad Movements.
The battle of Kidal took place between July 21 and 22, 2016 between GATIA, a pro-government militia consisting of Imghad Tuaregs, against the Coordination of Azawad Movements, consisting of Ifoghas Tuaregs.
Alghabass Ag Intalla is a Malian Tuareg politician and prominent leader of the High Council for the Unity of Azawad and the Coordination of Azawad Movements.
Cheikh Ag Aoussa, nom de guerre Abou Mohame, was a Tuareg rebel leader and prominent drug trafficker.
On May 11, 2015, a Malian convoy was ambushed by Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) fighters in Tin Telout, Tombouctou Region, Mali. The ambush was the last conflict between the Malian government and CMA before the signing of the Algiers Accords.
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