Iyad Ag Ghaly

Who is Iyad Ag Ghaly?

Iyad Ag Ghaly, also known as Abū al-Faḍl, is a Malian Tuareg militant from Mali's Kidal Region. He has been active in the Tuareg rebellions against the government of Mali since the 1980s - particularly in the early 1990s - and, in 1988, founded the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. In the latest episode of the Tuareg upheavals in 2012, he featured as the founder and leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar Dine.Source?

Iyad Ag Ghaly was born in 1954, into a noble family of the Ifogha tribal group. His gift for strategic thinking allegedly earned him the nickname, the Strategist. Sometimes between he had been appointed as one of Mali's diplomats to Saudi Arabia.