Arab Islamic Front of Azawad (in French: Front Islamique Arabe de l'Azawad or FIAA) was a militant rebel group in northern Mali. It was headed by Zahabi Ould Sidi Mohamed.
Alone among Mali's many northern rebel groups, the FIAA drew its members mainly from north-west Mali's Hassani Arab minority, which is closely related by tribal ties, dialect and culture to the Moorish population of Mauritania and the Sahrawis of Western Sahara, Algeria and Morocco. Most other rebel groups in Mali's civil war were dominated by the north's larger population of Tuareg. On January 6, 1991, the MPLA and FIAA signed the Algeria-backed Tamanrasset Accords with the government of Mali. The accord, however, failed to prevent further conflict. In December 1991 FIAA joined the United Movements and Fronts of Azawad (MFUA), which would then sign the National Pact peace treaty.
Famous quotes containing the words arab and/or front:
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)
“There is no mystery in a looking glass until someone looks into it. Then, though it remains the same glass, it presents a different face to each man who holds it in front of him. The same is true of a work of art. It has no proper existence as art until someone is reflected in itand no two will ever be reflected in the same way. However much we all see in common in such a work, at the center we behold a fragment of our own soul, and the greater the art the greater the fragment.”
—Harold C. Goddard (18781950)