ldiers seized control of the presidential palace and declared the government dissolved and its constitution suspended. On 6 April 2012, rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared the secession of a new state, Azawad, from Mali. Shortly after, the MNLA were sidelined by Islamist groups associated with Al-Qaeda

e Tuareg rebels seized much of the desert expanse in northern Mali, declaring it an independent state called Azawad. But the Tr rai •ebels — called the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, known as the — were then pushed into the background by the fierce ascendancy of radical Islamists, who have imposed a strict form of Shariah law