Mali War
Conflict beginning with northern Mali's rebellion and jihadist takeover, expanding into a wider Sahel security crisis.
Historical overview
Ongoing conflict overview and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The Mali War is an ongoing conflict that began on 16 January 2012 with a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali. The rebels included the secular-oriented National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a group fighting for independence or greater autonomy of a region they called Azawad. The MNLA was initially allied with the jihadist Ansar Dine, which, in turn, was allied to other Salafi jihadist organizations such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its splinter, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA).
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Border context
Arab uprisings and insurgency expansion
Uprisings, regime collapse and insurgencies spread across the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel.
Syria and Libya enter civil war. Mali and Lake Chad become major insurgency theaters.ISIS wars and renewed interstate pressure
The ISIS territorial project, Yemen's war and Russia's first phase of war against Ukraine reshape conflict geography.
ISIS loses territorial control by 2019. Crimea, Donbas, Yemen and the Sahel remain decisive zones.Pandemic-era wars and invasion shock
Wars in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine show state collapse, mass mobilization and renewed interstate war.
Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion reorients European security. Myanmar's coup turns into nationwide civil war.Current conflict pre-live archive
Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and the Middle East escalation define the archive immediately before the live endpoint.
The next tick after 2025 is the live worker-backed map. Static history stops before the live endpoint.