Tuareg separatists offer military help to defeat Mali's Islamists
Separatists ready to help French and West African forces defeat their al-Qaeda-linked former allies, but don't want Malian army back in north
Fearful of being caught in the middle of the conflict engulfing Mali, the country's Tuaregs have offered to put their renowned fighting prowess at the disposal of a French-led campaign to drive Islamic radicals out of the country.
The Tuaregs, a Berber people who have lived a nomadic lifestyle in the region for two thousand years, were instrumental in helping groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) seize control of huge swathes of northern Mali last year.
A rebellion launched in January 2012 by a Tuareg separatist movement, the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), inflicted such humiliation on the Malian army that it triggered a military coup in Bamako. In the ensuing political vacuum, the central government lost control of the north to the insurgents.
But the Tuaregs' alliance of convenience with the Islamists quickly disintegrated. AQIM and other Islamists, such as the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) began to run territories under their control like a particularly brutal medieval emirate.
Greatly weakened, the MNLA in December sought peace talks with the government, dropping its demand for the creation of Azawad, an independent Tuareg homeland. Instead, it sought sufficient autonomy to guarantee that their traditional way of life can continue.
Now, with AQIM, MUJAO and a third Islamist group, Ansar Dine, under attack from French warplanes, the MNLA has seen its chance.
It is trying to broker the Tuaregs' reputation as ferocious fighters to reposition itself in Mali's rapidly shifting political landscape.