{{Short description|Paramilitary group}} {{Infobox War Faction | name = Ganda Iso | war = {{tree list}} *Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995) *Mali War ** Tuareg rebellion (2012) {{tree list/end}} | image = Ganda Izo Flag.svg | caption = | active = 2009–present | leaders = Seydou Cissé<br>Amadou Diallo | clans = | headquarters = | area = Mali | size = 1,300 <small>(July 2012)</small><ref>[http://www.refworld.org/docid/5050583a2.html Mali's Self-Defense Militias Take the Reconquest of the North Into Their Own Hands] Refworld.org (Jamestown Foundation), 10 August 2012</ref> | partof = | predecessor = Ganda Koy | successor = | allies = {{flag|Mali}} | opponents = {{flagicon image|MNLA flag.svg}} National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad<ref name="Mahjar-Barducci 2012-07-06">{{cite web |url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6496.htm#_edn18 |title=MNLA: The Fight For A Secular State Of Azawad – Part II: Fighting Terror In The Sahel |last1=Mahjar-Barducci |first1=Anna |date= 6 July 2012|work=Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.854 |publisher=Middle East Media Research Institute |accessdate=13 January 2013}}</ref> | battles and wars = }} '''Ganda Iso''' (or '''Ganda Izo''', meaning "Sons of Land") is a paramilitary group that emerged in Northern Mali in the late 2000s and has been active during the Mali War, which began in January 2012.
== Formation == thumb|Ganda Koy militants training in Sevare, 2012. The Ganda Koy movement was founded in May 1994, by Seydou Cissé, as a response to rising tensions between Tuaregs and sedentary black tribes of the Gao Region, in northern Mali. Ganda Koy fighters were recruited among Songhai, Bambara, Fulani, Bozo and Tuareg-Bella tribesmen.<ref name=Uhr>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/swac/publications/47092939.pdf|title=OECD Report|date=2010|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="Mahjar-Barducci 2012-07-06"/>
Ganda Koy immediately rejected the “National Pact” for Peace signed in April 1992. The movement then embraced a racist anti-Tuareg ideology, in response to what it perceived as Tuareg oppression.<ref name=Uhr/>
Ganda Koy later transformed into Ganda Iso, which is seen as its direct successor.<ref name="McGregor 2012-04-20">{{cite news |url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=39290 |title="The Sons of the Land": Tribal Challenges to the Tuareg Conquest of Northern Mali |last1=McGregor |first1=Andrew |date= 20 April 2012|work=Terrorism Monitor Volume: 10 Issue: 8 |publisher=Jamestown Foundation |accessdate=13 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="Mahjar-Barducci 2012-07-06"/>
== Tuareg Conflict == In 1994, Ganda Koy actions amounted to 60-300 deaths.<ref name=Uhr/>
In 2008, a Ganda Iso military leader, Sergeant Amadou Diallo, conducted a "broad daylight massacre" where four Tuareg civilians were killed. This resulted in a split between Diallo and the civilian leadership of the movement.<ref name="McGregor 2012-04-20"/>
Amadou Diallo was reportedly killed in Ansongo, in a battle against MNLA rebels on 25 March 2012.<ref name="McGregor 2012-04-20"/>
On 1 September 2012, the town of Douentza, in the Mopti Region, until then controlled by Ganda Iso, is taken without violence by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).<ref name="Le Figaro 2012-09-01">{{cite news|title=Mali: des islamistes à la lisière Nord-Sud|accessdate=13 January 2013|newspaper=Le Figaro|date=1 September 2012|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/09/01/97001-20120901FILWWW00429-mali-des-islamistes-a-la-lisiere-nord-sud.php}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
Category:Azawad Category:Political movements in Mali Category:Rebel groups in Mali Category:Tuareg rebellion (2012)