By Reuters and Ian Johnston, msnbc.com
Mali's desert Tuaregs proclaimed independence for what they call the state of Azawad on Friday after capturing key towns this week in an advance that caught the newly installed junta off guard.
Nomadic Tuaregs have nurtured the dream of secession since Mali's own independence from France in 1960, but have little foreign support for a move neighbors fear could encourage other separatist movements. The African Union said in a statement Friday that its commission chairman Jean Ping "firmly condemned" the declaration, which it said was "null and of no value whatsover."
This week's seizure of Mali's north -- a desert zone bigger than France – by the Tuareg-led MNLA rebel group came with the help of arms and men spilling out of Libya's conflict.
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It was backed by Islamists with ties to al-Qaida, triggering fears of the emergence of a new rogue state.
Coup topples 'incompetent regime' in Mali
"The Executive Committee of the MNLA calls on the entire international community to immediately recognize, in a spirit of justice and peace, the independent state of Azawad," Billal Ag Acherif, the MNLA’s secretary-general, said on its French-language website.
MLNA via AFP - Getty Images file
On the move: Tuareg fighters are seen in pickup trucks in an undisclosed location in Mali in February this year, in this picture released by the MNLA rebel movement.
The statement, which listed decades of Tuareg grievances over their treatment by the distant southern capital Bamako, began with “We, the people of Azawad” and invoked “the right of peoples to self-determination” and articles of the United Nations charter about the rights of indigenous people.
'Lasting peace'
It said the group recognized borders with neighboring states and pledged to create a democratic state.
The statement spoke of massacres dating back to 1963 and claimed the Mali government had failed to act as people died during several droughts dating back to 1967.
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