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Iyad Ag Ghaly | |
|---|---|
| Native name | إياد أغ غالي |
| Nickname | TheStrategist[1] |
| Born | 1954 (age 70–71)[2] |
| Allegiance | MPLA Al-Qaeda |
| Branch | Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin |
| Battles / wars | Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995) |
Iyad Ag Ghaly (Arabic:إياد أغ غالي, sometimes romanised asAg Ghali; born 1954), also known asAbū al-Faḍl (Arabic:أبو الفضل),[4] is aTuaregIslamist militant fromMali'sKidal Region.[5][6] He has been active in Tuareg rebellions against theMalian government since the 1980s – particularly in theearly 1990s. In 1988, he founded thePopular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.[7] In 2012, he featured as the founder and leader of theIslamist militant groupAnsar Dine.[8] He then became the founder and leader ofJama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin,[9] which was formed in 2017 from a merger of Ansar Dine and other Islamist groups.[10]
Born in 1954 into a noble family of theIfogha tribal group (an influential Tuareg clan in theKidal region[6]), his gift for strategic thinking allegedly earned him the nickname,the Strategist.[1][2] In 2008, he was appointed as one of Mali's diplomats toSaudi Arabia.[11]
Although he would eventually distance himself from music, Ag Ghaly was formerly a musician associated with the groupTinariwen.[12]
On the night of 28 June 1990, Ag Ghaly directed attacks by thePopular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA) onTidermèn andMénaka that killed eighteen people, including at least fourMalian Army soldiers. These evening raids were the beginning of a renewedTuareg rebellion in Mali.[13] From 1991 until a formal truce with the Malian government in 1996, Ag Ghaly led the rebel group Popular Movement of Azawad, one of four splinter groups created from the MPLA's disintegration after Ag Ghaly signed theTamanrasset Accords inAlgeria on behalf of theTuareg people fighting for anindependent homeland in January 1991.[13][14] Ag Ghaly was reportedly escorted toBamako, Mali's southern capital, after signing the accords. As a result of his perceived closeness to the "traditional hierarchy", according to one analyst, Ag Ghaly was unable to hold together the MPLA after signing the controversial agreement, though ultimately acoup in March 1991 overturned the Accords and fighting went on.[13]
By 1995,Radio France Internationale referred to Ag Ghaly as the "undisputed leader" of the Tuareg rebel movement.[6] After the 1996 ceasefire, Ag Ghaly normalised relations with the Malian government.[15] In 2003, he was instrumental in negotiating the release of 14 German tourist hostages fromAl-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, then called "the Algerian Salafi Group for Call and Combat". In aleaked US diplomatic cable, the author described Ag Ghaly as a "proverbial bad penny" who always turned up when a Western government had to give money to Tuaregs.[6]
Ag Ghaly was appointed as a member of Mali's diplomatic staff inJeddah,Saudi Arabia, by PresidentAmadou Toumani Touré in 2008.[16] Once "a great fan of cigarettes, booze, and partying",[17] interested in music and poetry, with connections to the Tuareg bandTinariwen, he was proselytised to strict Islam by theTablighi Jamaat missionary movement.[18] In Saudi Arabia he experienced a "religious re-birth", growing a large beard and meeting with unnamedjihadists.[17] The latter action caused him to be recalled to Bamako.[16]
In late 2011, Ag Ghaly attempted to assume the leadership of the Tuareg groupKel Adagh, but failed.[17]
Unable to take a leadership role with theNational Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the mainstream Tuareg rebellion,[17] Ag Ghaly announced the formation of the IslamistAnsar Dine, which he claimed controlled much of northeastern Mali, in a video statement. Ag Ghaly also stated that his fighters were responsible for a bloody attack on the commune ofAguelhok two months before. He said the group would continue to fight untilsharia law was established throughout Mali.[15][17] The announcement created friction with the MNLA, a secular group fighting forAzawad's independence from Mali, including former allies of Ag Ghaly who urged him to break his rumoured ties toAl Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. When Ag Ghaly reportedly refused to disavow any association with theal Qaeda offshoot,[15] the MNLA branded him a "criminal" and issued a statement claiming the "theocratic regime" envisioned by Ag Ghaly contradicted "the foundations of [Tuareg] culture and civilization".[17] Although Ag Ghaly's militants appeared to coordinate with the MNLA in the capture ofKidal, theAssociated Press reported that the day after it fell to rebel fighters, Ansar Dine militants removed the colorfulflags of Azawad planted by their MNLA comrades-in-arms throughout the city.[19]
Jeremy Keenan, a professor at theSchool of Oriental and African Studies inLondon, stated that the military contribution of Ag Ghaly's fighters was slight compared to the much larger MNLA: "What seems to happen is that when they move into a town, the MNLA take out the military base — not that there's much resistance — and Iyad goes into town and puts up his flag and starts bossing everyone around about sharia law."[20] According to Keenan, Ag Ghaly is linked to theAlgerian intelligence service.[21]
On 3 April, Ag Ghaly gave a radio interview inTimbuktu announcing thatSharia law would be enforced in the city, including the veiling of women, the stoning of adulterers, and the punitive mutilation of thieves. According to Timbuktu's mayor, the announcement caused nearly all of Timbuktu's Christian population to flee the city.[22] On 26 February 2013, the U.S. Department of State designated Ag Ghaly as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.[23] On 2 March 2017, Ghaly pledged his oath of allegiance toAyman al-Zawahiri, and formed theJama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen.[24]
On 18 July 2017, theInternational Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Ag Ghaly alleging that he committedcrimes against humanity andwar crimes during the Tuareg rebellion, including the execution of Malian soldiers who were prisons of war during theBattle of Aguelhok. The arrest warrant was unsealed by a pre-trial chamber in response to the prosecution's request on 21 June 2024.[25]
وقال إياد غالي المكنى أبو الفضل (and Iyad Ag Ghaly, bearing thekunya Abū al-Faḍl, said...)
