Malian Tuareg militant (born c. 1954)
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Iyad Ag Ghaly (Arabic : إياد أغ غالي , sometimes romanised as Ag Ghali ), also known as Abū al-Faḍl (Arabic : أبو الفضل ),[4] is a Tuareg Islamist militant from Mali 's Kidal Region .[5] [6] He has been active in Tuareg rebellions against the Malian government since the 1980s – particularly in the early 1990s . In 1988, he founded the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad .[7] In the latest episode of the Tuareg upheavals in 2012, he featured as the founder and leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar Dine .[8]
Born in 1954 into a noble family of the Ifogha tribal group (an influential Tuareg clan in the Kidal region [6] ), his gift for strategic thinking allegedly earned him the nickname, the Strategist .[1] [2] Sometime between 2005 and 2008, he was appointed as one of Mali's diplomats to Saudi Arabia .[9]
^ a b Beaumont, Peter (27 October 2012), "The man who could determine whether the west is drawn into Mali's war" , The Guardian , archived from the original on 8 March 2016, retrieved 12 January 2012
^ a b Lecocq, Baz (2004), "Unemployed Intellectuals in the Sahara: Teshumara Nationalist Movement and the Revolutions in Tuareg Society" , Popular Intellectuals and Social Movements: Framing Protest in Asia, Africa, and Latin America , Cambridge University Press, p. 90, ISBN 9780521613484
^ "Mali: Report Profiles 'Masters of the North" . 20 April 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017 .
^ "إياد غالي: المجاهدون وأنصار الدين تعاهدوا على نصرة الشريعة وقتال الرافضين لها ("Iyad ag Ghaly: the Mujahideen and Ansar ad-Dîn committing themselves to uphold sharia and to fight those who reject it")" , وكالة نواكشوط للأنباء (News Agency Nouagchott) , 4 April 2012, archived from the original on 25 June 2012, retrieved 30 December 2012 , وقال إياد غالي المكنى أبو الفضل (and Iyad Ag Ghaly, bearing the kunya Abū al-Faḍl, said...)
^ "Rebels take Timbuktu as Mali junta 'restores' constitution" , Times of India , 2 April 2012, archived from the original on 29 July 2012, retrieved 4 April 2012
^ a b Steve Metcalf (17 July 2012). "Iyad Ag Ghaly - Mali's Islamist leader" . BBC News . Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012 .
^ North Africa: Holy Wars and Hostages - Aqim in the Maghreb , All Africa, 29 March 2012, archived from the original on 11 November 2013, retrieved 12 January 2013
^ Soumaila Diarra (13 May 2014). "Terrorism in West Africa: Violence Erupts as Wanted Jihadist Leader Returns" . AFK Insider. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015 .
^ Your daily Muslim:Iyad Ag Ghaly , Your Daily Muslim, 11 March 2013, archived from the original on 24 August 2013, retrieved 28 April 2013