The “blue people’s” lust for freedom, the tyranny of the jihadists and the international intervention in Mali

Abstract

The tuaregs (the “blue people”) who live in Mali’s northern region, have been fighting for freedom for decades. In 2012 they launched the fifth violent conflict since 1962 and declared their secular and democratic free state, Azawad in North Mali. Later the islamist tuareg group (Ansar Dine) and the armed groups of foreign radical islamists (Aqmi, MUJAO) who started to infiltrate to the country around 2005, defeated the secular tuaregs and introduced the radical form of sharia in Azawad. The Malian army suffered a humiliating defeat from the tuaregs and from the islamists in the North, but a part of them was strong enough to conduct a coup d’état against the symbol of Malian democracy, Amadou Toumani Touré. The islamists exploited the paralyzed state of the government, the collapse of the army and the hesitation of the international community and attacked the southern part of the country. The attack triggered an immediate action from the international community, the intervention of French and West African troops to support the Malian army. The defeated armed islamist groups withdrew to Mali’s north-eastern mountain area, where the hunt for them continues. The UN is planning the setup of a 10,000-people strong stabilization mission in the West African state.