The Tuareg Rebellion of 2012 was an early stage of the Northern Mali conflict Hostile_encounter ; from January to April 2012 , a war was waged against the Malian government by rebels with the goal of attaining Getting independence for the northern region of Mali , known as Azawad .

It was led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad ( MNLA ) and was part of a series of insurgencies by traditionally nomadic Tuaregs which date back at least to 1916 .

The following day , it proclaimed Statement Azawad 's independence Change_of_leadership from Mali .

On 14 February 2013 the MNLA renounced Statement their claim Statement of independence for Azawad and asked Request the Malian government to start Process_start negotiations Communication on its future status .

The Internal conflict Hostile_encounter in Azawad has been a two-year-long insurgency Military_operation in Northern Mali between a pro-independence ultra Nationalist group , the MNLA and a coalition of Islamists terror groups .

The conflict began Process_start when Northern Mali declared Expressing_publicly itself independent from the government creating Creating the un-recognized state of Azawad .

On 16 January 2012 , several insurgent groups began Process_start fighting Hostile_encounter a campaign against the Malian government for independence or greater autonomy for northern Mali , an area of northern Mali they called Name_conferral Azawad .

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad ( MNLA ) , an organization fighting Hostile_encounter to make this area of Mali an independent homeland for the Tuareg people , had taken control Control of the region by April 2012 .

The following day , it proclaimed Statement the independence of northern Mali from the rest of the country , renaming Name_conferral it Azawad .