The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad

Tuaregs women gather to take part in a demonstration.

(KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images)

Tuaregs women take part in a demonstration in support of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MLNA) on July 28, 2013 in Kidal, northern Mali.

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) is a Tuareg militant group that formed in October 2011 and is presently one of the two largest militias in Mali, along with the Islamist militia Ansar Eddine. The MNLA is the most recent manifestation of periodic rebellions by Mali's ethnic Tuareg minority and ideologically is a secular, pro-democracy secessionist movement. MNLA Secretary General Bilal Ag Acherif leads the group's political wing. Former Libyan army Col. Ag Mohamed Najem, who fought in the 2007-2009 Tuareg rebellion before working in former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's army, leads the military wing. An influx of armed Tuareg militants entering Mali from Libya after the fall of Gadhafi's regime considerably strengthened the movement.