"Mali is an anarchic state. Therefore we have gathered a national liberation movement to put in an army capable of securing our land and an executive office capable of forming democratic institutions. We declare the independence of Azawad from this day on."
—
Mossa Ag Attaher, MLNA spokesman, 6 April 2012
In January, the Tuareg rebels launched an offensive against the Malian army, which was heightened with the arrival on the scene of Ansar Dine, which wants Islamic Sharia law imposed throughout the land-locked west African nation.
A coup by Captain Amadou Sanogo and a group of low-ranking officers ousted the government in Bamako on March 22, saying it was handling the Tuareg rebellion incompetently.
But the coup only opened the way for the Tuaregs, Ansar Dine - led by the charismatic Ag Ghaly - and criminal groups to occupy the north.
And now they are destroying historic sites.
