Tuareg Rebellions
Copyright © 1998-2013 Roger A. Lee and History Guy Media; Last Modified: 01.26.13
Tuareg Warriors during the 1916 rebellion
Tuareg Rebellions Tuareg rebellion (1916-1917)--The Tuareg were led by Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen (1880–1919), who was the Tuareg leader of this uprising against the French colonial rulers of most of Northern Africa. Kaocen was a believer in the militantly anti-French Sanusiya Sufi religious order. This Tuareg rebellion was inspired by the Sanusi revolt against the Italian rulers of Libya (which also involved the British forces in Egypt). This Tuareg rebellion against the French came during World War One, and proved a significant distraction for the French military. Despite some early successes, the Tuareg were defeated.
Tuareg Rebellion in Mali (1962-1964)-With independece from France, and with the borders of northwestern African nations drawn by France to create artifical boundaries that separated large ethnic groups among several nations, conflict between Tuareg Berbers in the north and the Black dominated government of newly-independent Mali was inevitable. Soon after independence, rebellion in northern Mali broke out, and the Tuareg lost. The harsh tactics of the Malian military created a refugee crisis, with thousands of Tuareg fleeing north into Algeria. The death and destruction, and harsh occupation of the Tuareg lands created a lasting resentment that helped fuel the future Tuareg rebellions. The continued poverty in northern Mali and the Mali government's continued refusal to develop the north led to continued discontent among the Tuareg.
Tuareg Rebellion in Mali (1990-1995)-Conflict between Tuareg Berbers in the north and the Black dominated government.
Tuareg Rebellion in Mali (2007-2009)-Conflict between Tuareg Berbers in the north and the Black dominated government of Mali.
Map of the2012 Tuareg Rebellion Mali, before the French Intervention
Tuareg Rebellion in Mali (2012)-This latest Tuareg rebellion began in January, 2012, with the return to Mali of several thousand Tuareg mercenaries from Libya, where they served in the Libyan forces of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. Following the Libyan War of 2011, in which Gadaffi was overthrown and killed, the Tuareg mercenaries crossed the Sahara from Libya and returned home to northern Mali with large quantities of heavy weapons. They began their rebellion against the Mali government in January, and completed their liberation of the Tuareg homeland in April, 2012. Soon after the government forces had been driven out, Islamist and Jihadist elements, allied to al-Qaida, took over the rebellion and instituted a version of Sharia law in the Tuareg homeland. For nearly six months, a sort of truce existed between Mali and the rebels, until early January, 2013, when the rebels seized the central Mali town of Konna.
With the seizure of Konna, and the apparant inability of the Mali army to stop the Jihadist advance, France decided to intervene militarily at the invitation of the Mali government. French airstrikes and ground forces began to drive the rebels back.
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