The Azawad revolution existed well before the creation of Mali, it started at the time of the French colonists, that is to say since French Sudan, so it is an ancient story. The one responsable first and foremost of these problems is France because it was them who unjustly drew all these artificial borders cutting through the lands of many people, among them the Touareg Nation.
It was France who handed over the Azawad area to the state they had created and called Mali. This country Mali, and the country Azawad, were and still are, two distinctively different countries inhabited by peoples who are historically, culturally, socially, and religiously different in practice and with different lifestyles and aspirations.
Mali neglected Azawad from the very beginning, starting to oppress the people living there. Why? because they knew that this land is rich with natural recources. France knew that too, that`s most likely why they handed Azawad over to Mali, hoping to control Mali and with that also control Azawad. In other words – making Mali and extension of french colonialism. And most likely part of it was also in revenge for the fact that all the components of the Azawadi people resisted the colonizer (with relative differences, of course) and never agreed to their colonialism.
So with the oppression that followed this divison of their land, the Azawadis who never accepted to be subjected to tyranny by anyone naturally rebelled. Especially since Mali performed a geocide against them. Their rebellions, the first was in 1963, followed by many others, was nothing other than their reaction to the oppression.
To counter that, terrorist groups were brought in via Algeria, you can read more about it here. The use of the term “terrorists” that the Junta has begun to use to refer to the Azawadi People’s Resistance Army is nothing more than propaganda, with the aim of justifying the ethnic cleansing of the Saharan social groups who live in territories of high economic interest, in front of the Malian population and other citizens of the AES.
By consulting the websites specialized in geopolitics and security in various nations of the world and in all the analyses of the autonomist movement, everyone can see that the terms used to refer to the Tuareg struggle are “rebel” and “separatist”, both concepts being relevant for a political characterization absolutely different from the characterization made of the jihadist extremist groups, which are identified as “terrorists”.
International security agencies and analysts from Africa and other continents are not fooled by the propaganda of Mali or any other country. Even in the reports on the recent case of the Spanish citizen kidnapped in Algerian territory, a case that had great global repercussions, all the articles published in the most diverse languages of the world use the term “separatist” to refer to the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) that saved the kidnapped person from the hands of the Sahelian bandits.
There is no point in AES trying to justify its crimes of ethnic cleansing with this fake news. The whole world knows that the Azawad Liberation Front is not a terrorist organization, but simply a movement and an army that rejected the interests of the European colonizers of the past and fights for its autonomy. Other people have the same demands, in Africa itself and in other regions of the planet. The putschists only deceive those who want to be deceived.
The beginning of the establishment of terrorism in the Sahel started around 2003, via Algeria with the complicity of the Malian authorities and their supporters in place at the time of ATT (the Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure) who finally signed a non-aggression pact for a very specific and determined objective (to prevent any development in the northern region via aid from national and international organizations or companies knowing that these are lands immensely rich in mineral resources and secondly to prevent the next uprising of the Azawadians who have been seeking their independence.
In the years 2009-2011 the terrorists had bases all over the north of Mali under the eyes of the Malian military but the Azawadian independentists have nothing in common with the terrorists. The definition of a terrorist by the way, is someone who is terrorizing and killing civilians, using mafia methods to achieve a certain objective and goal, and killing civilians is not an objective for the Azawadian army and their goal is only to get independence from Mali so they can live in peace on their acestral land that historically belongs to them.
Absolutely they (Algeria-Mali) feed the monster (terrorists) to grow for a very specific objective knowing that there will be a popular uprising in the coming years of the Azawadians.
The members of the Azawad Liberation Front take up the demands of the CSP-DPA: total independence and autonomy for Azawad, the northern region of Mali, which covers Saharan and Sahelian regions over an area of some 822,000 km². They are seeking the creation of an independent state. They also declare their commitment to protecting civilians caught up in clashes between rebels, Malian authorities, Wagner and terrorists, who are victims of a number of abuses.
The Malian authorities consider the Azawad Liberation Front being a terrorist movement. But ask yourself this question: do they go around and kill civilians, animals and burn trees and houses? or does the Fama and Wagner go around and kill civilians, animals and burn trees and houses?
What are their objectives?
Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) – Freedom and independence of Azawad.
Mali – Ethnic genocide of the Azawadian people.
Wagner – They kill for money, they dont care about who or why. To them its just a business and they are known to use extremely cruel and brutal methods.
Of course this is simplified, the situation is multi facetted and complicated. A fact not to forget is that in all revolutions there are traitors and this is no excepion. There are traitors who sold out their people and their own souls for money, power, privileges and comfort and who doesn´t hesitate to fabricate lies to hide true facts to the easily led and deceived Malian population (and also the world) and then there are those who dare not show support for Azawad because they are afraid of getting killed etc. And lastly, there are all those terrorist groups creating fear and chaos in the region.
But if you take a look at the big scheme of things, its clear that the Azawad Liberation Front are not terrorists, they are separatists as the international news reports also wrote.
So no, it did not start in 2012! and the struggle for freedom continues. There will be a day when the people of Azawad will brake the chains and become free from this oppressive Malian regime. The oppression did not begin with the putschists, but in the 1960s.
And when that day comes, those who now keep their silence despite they see all these atrocities being done, they better keep their mouths shut, because they will have no right to speak on the matter.
Azawad Support Group 09-02-2025
EN_GB 
FR 
AR