Iyad Ag Ghaly
Malian Tuareg militant (born c. 1954) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
This article needs to be updated. (June 2017) |
Iyad Ag Ghaly | |
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Native name | إياد أغ غالي |
Nickname(s) | The Strategist[1] |
Born | 1954 (age 69–70)[2] Abeïbara, Kidal Region, French Sudan[3] |
Allegiance | MPLA Al-Qaeda |
Service/ | Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin |
Battles/wars | Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995) |
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]