The March 22 coup eased the way for Tuareg separatist rebels — descendants of those who founded Timbuktu in the fifth century — to carry out the armed takeover of an area larger than France they consider their homeland.
However, the previously unknown Ansar Dine group fighting on their flanks seized the upper hand, openly allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and have since pushed the Tuareg from all positions of power.
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