France drew Mali's borders without asking the Tuareg, then spent a decade bombing the consequences of that decision and calling it counterterrorism.
A petition that was ignored
In 1958, Tuareg elders wrote to the French president asking for their own homeland, Azawad, as French colonial rule wound down. France ignored the request and folded Tuareg territory into independent Mali in 1960. The first Tuareg rebellion broke out within two years of independence.
2012: Libya’s collapse arrives in Mali
The 2012 rebellion that finally fractured the country was fueled by another Western-driven collapse: heavily armed Tuareg fighters returned from Libya’s civil war and joined the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, seizing the three largest cities of northern Mali within days.
France returns, uninvited by history but invited by the crisis
France intervened militarily in January 2013, Operation Serval, at Mali’s own government’s request. What followed was Operation Barkhane, a nine-year French military presence that never resolved the underlying conflict and repeatedly killed civilians, most notoriously a January 2021 airstrike that hit a wedding, killing at least 19 people.
Coups, and a turn to Moscow
Anger over France’s failure fueled military coups in 2020 and 2021. Mali’s junta expelled French forces in 2022 and turned to Russia’s Wagner Group instead, a mercenary force that has been responsible for more civilian deaths under its counterinsurgency approach than the jihadist groups it was hired to fight.
Where it stands
Mali remains an active insurgency zone. Al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, JNIM, continues to expand rather than retreat.
Timeline
- 1958 — Tuareg homeland petition denied
- 1960 — Independence
- 1962 — First rebellion
- 2012 — Crisis, post-Libya
- 2013 — French intervention begins
- 2022 — French withdrawal, Wagner arrives
Key Locations
Bamako, Timbuktu, Kidal, Gao