GENERAL LOCATION OF AZAWAD
By Khmidoune Ag Toumast.
General Location of Azawad:
Azawad is located in northern Mali and represents more than two-thirds of the current Malian state’s surface area.
Geographically, Azawad is an integral part of the Sahara and constitutes a strategic crossroads between North and West Africa.
Geographical Borders:
Algeria to the north (long Saharan border).
To the northeast: Niger
To the west: the region of Timbuktu up to the borders of Mauritania.
To the south: the imposed border with what is called “Southern Mali”.
Area:
Azawad covers approximately 822,000 km²** (almost the size of France). This makes it a territory larger than several independent African states, such as Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, or even northern Nigeria.
Main cities:
Timbuktu, historic capital, center of Islamic knowledge and civilization in Africa.
Gao, administrative and commercial center.
Kidal (spiritual and political heart of the Tuareg liberation movement), as well as strategic towns such as Ménaka, Léré, and Tessalit.
Strategic Importance of Azawad:
Geographical Location:
Azawad is a natural bridge between North Africa (Maghreb, Algeria, Libya, and sub-Saharan Africa)
It connects the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Lake Chad Basin to the east.
Natural Resources:
Azawad is rich in mineral resources: uranium, gold, phosphates, oil, and natural gas.
These resources have long attracted colonial interest (particularly from France, and later from Russia via the Wagner mercenaries).
Historical Dimension:
Azawad has never been “Mali.”
Historically, it was the land of the Tuareg, Arabs, and Amazighs and belonged to large empires: the Gao Empire, the Songhai Empire, then under Moroccan influence in the 16th century.
It was French colonialism that forcibly annexed it to “Mali” in 1960, without a referendum or the consent of the people of Azawad.
Why is Azawad a legitimate cause for national liberation?
Discrimination and Genocide:
Since Mali’s independence, Bamako has treated Azawad as an occupied territory: repression, marginalization, repeated massacres (1963, 1990, 2012, and continuing today).
These crimes include genocide, rape, forced displacement, village burning, and even cannibalism practiced by Malian soldiers and their mercenaries.
Identity:
The people of Azawad have a language, culture, and traditions distinct from those of “Southern Mali.” The Azawadians are Tuareg and Arabs, naturally linked to Algeria, Libya, and Niger, and not to Bamako.
International legitimacy:
The right to self-determination is clearly recognized by the United Nations Charter (Article 1 and Article 55).
The people of Azawad, oppressed and deprived of their rights, therefore fully possess the right to choose their destiny.
Strong and convincing message:
Azawad is not a simple “region of northern Mali,” as Bamako claims. Azawad is a homeland occupied by force*, whose people are suffering an organized genocide, and whose right to freedom and independence is inalienable and legitimate.
Thus, on the map of Africa:
And between them, there is a history of domination, blood, and genocide.
Quote from Khmidoune Ag Toumast,
Activist for the cause of the people of Azawad.
Freedom is not given, it is won. And he who bets on destroying the will of the Azawadians bets on the impossible.
Freedom for Azawad.
Azawad Support Group
27-08-25
