Iyad Ag Ghaly (born 1954) is the leader of the Ansar Dine, a rebel group in Mali that seeks the implementation of sharia law and the destruction of Sufi shrines.
Biography[]
Ag Ghaly was born in the Kidal Region of Mali to the influential Ifogha tribal group of the Tuaregs, and since the 1980s he supported Tuareg rebellions against the government. Seeking to establish Azawad as an independent state, he founded the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA) in 1988. However, he played a role in Malian politics as well, serving as a diplomat to Saudi Arabia between 2005 and 2008.
In 2012, Ag Ghaly founded Ansar Dine ("Defenders of the Faith") and launched a rebellion against the government of Mali, starting the Malian Civil War with the Tuareg rebellion. Ag Ghaly's Ansar Dine movement crushed Azawadi independence by taking over Gao.