ABSTRACT
Malian law distinguishes between the Tuareg and Arabs as nomads, administratively organised in 'fractions' with their 'chiefs', while the sedentary population inhabit 'villages' also with 'chiefs'. The Mouvement National pour la Liberation de l'Azawad (MNLA) declared the independent state of Azawad after having taken military control of all of Northern Mali. The unilateral declaration of independence of Azawad was condemned in unison by the international community. The UN, the EU, ECOWAS and the African Union all rejected the claim and emphasised the territorial integrity of Mali. The rebels in both Mali and Niger as well as the Tuareg lobby in France put forward a common sense of belonging, in which Tamashaq, the Tuareg language, played an important part, but this lobby went further to emphasise the political unity of all the Tuareg. Notions of autonomy and secession resurface as a form of political protest against the limitations of the existing mechanism of incorporation.
