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This year, Mali's restive Tuareg minority has erupted into rebellion after four years of relative quiet, the army has mutinied and seized control of the capital city of Bamako, and today Tuareg separatists declared an independent state in the country's vast north.
Is this all NATO's fault?
Not exactly. But the law of unintended consequences is (as usual) rearing its head. In this case, the successful popular uprising against Muammar Qaddafi's regime in Libya, which was substantially aided by the air power of NATO members, has sent Mali tumbling back into chaos, something that neither France nor the US (two of the major backers of the war to oust Qaddafi) are happy about. Far from it.
The traditionally nomadic Tuareg and their independence aspirations were championed off and on by Qaddafi for decades. During his desperate and bloody war to hang on to power, Tuaregs that had settled in Libya fought on his side. And there are claims that even more Tuaregs were recruited to come to Libya and fight as mercenaries on his behalf.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
As it stands northern Mali, also called Azawad, is essentially under the control of rebels and there is not only a fracture between the southern junta and supporters of the deposed government, but a fracture between the rebels as Islamist rebels who fought on the side of the NTC in Libya are opposing the Azawad declaration of independence. There is also talk of military intervention by ECOWAS, a Western African group.