Rebels Take Control of Northern Mali

Ethnic Tuareg militias captured Gao and Timbuktu, the two largest towns in northern Mali, sometime between March 31 and April 2. Malian military forces, which took over the country's government in a March 21 coup, are in full retreat, leaving Tuareg separatist groups in control of most of northern Mali, a region they refer to as Azawad.

These successes have bolstered the position of the Tuareg rebels, and they now will work to secure captured territory. Talks between the Tuaregs, Malian military leadership and the regional group Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are likely, but as long as both the rebels and the military are intransigent in their claims over Azawad, these talks are unlikely to succeed.