{"id":9584,"date":"2025-11-24T15:52:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/?p=9584"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:26:13","slug":"international-declaration-on-the-question-of-azawad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/international-declaration-on-the-question-of-azawad\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERNATIONAL DECLARATION ON THE QUESTION OF AZAWAD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1241\" height=\"1384\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?fit=918%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?w=1241&amp;ssl=1 1241w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?resize=269%2C300&amp;ssl=1 269w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?resize=918%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 918w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?resize=768%2C856&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freeazawad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MAP-AZAWAD2.jpg?resize=11%2C12&amp;ssl=1 11w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">By Khamidoune Ag Toumast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Presented to the international community at the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and all international organizations committed to justice and the rights of peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The question of <em>Azawad<\/em> is neither a simple political disagreement with the Malian state nor an administrative conflict that can be reduced to superficial negotiations. It is a <strong>historical, human, and existential cause<\/strong>, championed by a people with a profound identity, a long-documented territory, and a geographical memory recognized for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">It is also a matter of <strong>serious crimes, systematic abuses, and acts constituting a veritable campaign of extermination against the women and children of the Azawad people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>1 &#8211; The Historical and Geographical Legitimacy of Azawad:<\/strong><br>The name Azawad* is not a modern invention. It appears on <em>the oldest historical maps<\/em>, as well as in numerous Arab, African, and European sources, some dating back to <strong>the medieval period<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Geographers, travelers, chroniclers, and researchers throughout the centuries have identified Azawad as a <strong>distinct territory<\/strong>, possessing its own unique social, cultural, and political reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Old maps clearly show:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-dd9204a6a0586a0a3a1ff4d944a54b88\"><em>Land of the #Tuareg<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-24f3f4c3a2bff524f9868c53779e834c\"><em>Macina \/ #Massina<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-db733542bb97e65cb8e86389ca114eae\"><em>#Azawad<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a9a12f61e5d9c4b4ad87f112abdb51be\"><em>#Bambara<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\">While <strong>the name Mali<\/strong> does not appear, because the current Malian state is a recent political construct of the 20th century, resulting from colonial divisions, without conforming to past geographical or human realities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>A careful examination of an map from 1873 confirms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2d1061b8898949a57ead4eb77a94a70b\">The clear presence of the term \u201cBambara\u201d, with boundaries stopping at &#8220;<em>S\u00e9gou<\/em>&#8220;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fc1c76cb8b507c2314de98ed6ae9b931\">Just above is <strong>Massina<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e43876cb0ecae3b30590d46c1973ebe3\">And at the top, the map clearly indicates <strong>\u201cAzawad\u201d and \u201cTuareg\u201d<\/strong>, confirming a long-standing international recognition of the territory and its people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"is-style-wide wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">These historical elements, supported by numerous maps and archives, demonstrate unequivocally that <strong>Azawad possesses an undeniable historical, geographical, and identity-based legitimacy<\/strong>, predating the formation of the modern Malian state by several centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>2 &#8211; Crimes, Atrocities, and Genocide Against the Women and Children of Azawad**<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">What the people of Azawad are enduring today goes far beyond the scope of a military conflict: it is a targeted extermination campaign, waged by Malian forces and affiliated militias against civilians\u2014particularly women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>DOCUMENTED VIOLATIONS INCLUDE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4e5cd7e11573f73ab3bfbf190dddc674\">Summary executions of unarmed civilians.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4debd0efe2a5e929681904f735df4df7\">Massacres attested to by reliable videos, testimonies, and documents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ecbe0d2c90dc9de3251092499e7d3f7b\">Targeted killings of women and systematic rape.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ed31a1721cbff0efa7e5546bfabb1e42\">Murders of children, burning of villages inhabited by families.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bd4e03f5141ad70a4f265187682327e0\">Abductions and enforced disappearances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-09e441cfd9e01a415b0f06ba2a43ac96\">Mass forced displacements of indigenous populations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d241cbf5e479cd777cd9abbb8d6061fe\">Humanitarian sieges, food deprivation, denial of access to healthcare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b0478f1a9155f20ab7f80a247f53d11f\">Deliberate destruction of villages, vital resources, and planned cultural erasure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\">Multiple audio and video recordings, as well as local and international investigations, show that this violence is not accidental, but rather part of an <em>organized policy<\/em>, based on the desire to erase Tuareg and Azawad identity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">According to the criteria of <em>international law<\/em>, and in particular the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, the following acts constitute the very definition of <em>genocide<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8703979a19556cede0db6f20d9d92af7\">The elimination of a specific ethnic group.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9989b13d59d90f0260ea29494cf55786\">Systematic massacres.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-49239d64c360e1f634315b3aa573975e\">Sexual violence used as a weapon of destruction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b4744bab0801042c636fd1d4f9a2f48e\">Large-scale forced displacement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b8e36c9ec19531f8a8ab5318a08e912f\">The deliberate destruction of a people&#8217;s culture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">All these elements are documented to apply to the situation of the populations of Azawad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"is-style-wide wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>3. International Silence and Worsening Violations:<\/strong><br>Despite the scale of the crimes and the growing body of evidence, the international community is demonstrating a *disturbing passivity*.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>This silence has allowed:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c1a86330aabb8483cc652c21accb0f25\">The continuation of the massacres.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-932e42920092e727d41990a9541e2dfb\">The intensification of atrocities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a13bc4a361e8264eb1e1e82e1a1d847e\">The worsening of the humanitarian situation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5688a936a4b22ff80332b9b2bad10d19\">Total impunity for the perpetrators of the crimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Calls for protection, videos, testimonies, NGO reports, and historical documentation\u2014all of this has been ignored, while women and children continue to pay the heaviest price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"is-style-wide wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>4. Official demands of the Azawadi people:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Faced with this situation, civil, political and humanitarian organizations in Azawad are officially requesting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9f5159822430fca8f1d5cfb16b0781d7\"><em>International recognition of Azawad<\/em> as a historical territory with its own distinct identity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ea51b64c8332a9126a40348c78f5f347\">The opening of an *international investigation* into the crimes of genocide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cc8886e4487162edaded7959844136a7\">The prosecution of Malian officials before international justice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-eafc561f433d7cb3692eea203d3e8b51\">The immediate protection of civilians, particularly women and children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3ef69bff271a3a200e61f145aa489f0d\">Respect for the right to self-determination of the people of Azawad.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c62e0dd9b2dc180c59ba1a62ab6a0389\">A complete cessation of military operations targeting civilian populations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9b991ae958df5920c250e8132cdde80d\">The deployment of an international mission to monitor and document violations on the ground.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>CONCLUSION:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The cause of Azawad is first and foremost a <strong>human and moral cause<\/strong>. It is the plea of \u200b\u200ba people threatened with cultural, identity-based, and physical extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">It is a case where historical archives, old maps, testimonies, and contemporary evidence converge to affirm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-41014ebd5071835bc5520e8c935f9c37\">Azawad exists.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-mono-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c3a4d5746e1df17061bd0a6670b8cde2\">Its people exist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">And international justice can no longer turn a blind eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"is-style-wide wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">By Khamidoune Ag Toumast<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">24-11-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-link-color wp-elements-bbc451ac11c6172b04f7e896fe0623f8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/\">H  O  M  E<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Historical and Geographical Legitimacy of Azawad:<br \/>\nThe name Azawad* is not a modern invention. It appears on the oldest historical maps, as well as in numerous Arab, African, and European sources, some dating back to the medieval period. Geographers, travelers, chroniclers, and researchers throughout the centuries have identified Azawad as a distinct territory, possessing its own unique social, cultural, and political reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,140,627,338,381],"tags":[388,118,107,714,716,294,339,115,219,712,341,119,121,220,620,191,713,114,340,193,715,120,342,116,144,254,117],"class_list":["post-9584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-azawad-news","category-azawad-mali-fama-africa_corps-wagner-atrocities-terrorism-genocide-racism-human-rights-violations","category-colonialism-oppression-neglect-exploitation-french_colonialism-mali-france-azawad-kel_tamacheq-tuareg-tamacheq","category-sahel","tag-africa_corps","tag-atrocities","tag-azawad","tag-bbc_news","tag-colonial_maps","tag-colonialism","tag-exploitation","tag-fama","tag-france","tag-france_24","tag-french_colonialism","tag-genocide","tag-human-rights-violations","tag-human_rights","tag-human_rights_watch","tag-kel_tamacheq","tag-le_journal_afrique_sur_tv5monde","tag-mali","tag-neglect","tag-oppression","tag-pre-colonial_maps","tag-racism","tag-tamacheq","tag-terrorism","tag-tuareg","tag-united_nations","tag-wagner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9584"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9600,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9584\/revisions\/9600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeazawad.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}