Editing Azawad (section)

==Demographics==
[[File:Timbuktu 1950 Ethnics figures azawad.JPG|thumb|right|Timbuktu census in 1950]]
[[File:Gao 1950 Ethnics figures azawad.JPG|thumb|right|Gao (which includes Kidal) census in 1950]]
[[File:Timbuktu 2009 by language.tiff|thumb|right|Timbuktu census in 2009]]
[[File:Gao ethnicity chart 2009.tiff|thumb|right|Gao census in 2009]]
[[File:Kidal 2009 by language.tiff|thumb|right|Kidal census in 2009]]

Northern Mali has a population density of 1.5 people per square kilometre.<ref>[http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Mali-POPULATION.html Mali – Population], ''Encyclopedia of the Nations'', Retrieved 2 April 2012</ref> The Malian regions claimed by Azawad are listed hereafter (apart from the portion of [[Mopti Region]] claimed and occupied by the MNLA). The population figures are from the 2009 census of [[Mali]], taken before Azawadi independence was proclaimed.<ref>(In French.) {{Cite web|url=http://instat.gov.ml/documentation/mali.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722215932/http://instat.gov.ml/documentation/mali.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-22 |publisher=République de Mali: Institut National de la Statistique |title=Resultats provisoires R.G.P.H. 2009 }}.</ref> Since the start of the Tuareg rebellion in January 2012, an estimated 250,000 former inhabitants have fled the territory.<ref>{{Citation|first=Nick|last=Meo|title=Triumphant Tuareg rebels fall out over al-Qaeda's jihad in Mali|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=7 April 2012|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mali/9191760/Triumphant-Tuareg-rebels-fall-out-over-al-Qaedas-jihad-in-Mali.html}}</ref>

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Region name || Area (km<sup>2</sup>) || Population
|-
| [[Gao Region|Gao]] || 170,572 || 544,120
|-
| [[Kidal Region|Kidal]] || 151,430 || 67,638
|-
| [[Tombouctou Region|Timbuktu]] || 497,926 || 681,691
|}

===Ethnic groups===
The area was traditionally inhabited by the settled [[Songhai people|Songhay]], and the nomadic [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]], [[Arabs]], and [[Fula people|Fulas]] ({{langx|ff|Fulɓe}}; {{langx|fr|link=no|Peul}}).<ref>[[:File:Statistiques.JPG]]</ref> The ethnic composition of the regions in 1950 (at that time, Kidal Region was a part of Gao Region) and in 2009 is shown in the adjacent diagrams.

===Languages===
[[File:Kidal.jpg|thumb|right|Bilingual traffic sign<br />(left side in [[Tifinagh]]: "kdl")]]

The languages of Northern Mali include [[Hassaniya Arabic]], [[Fulfulde]] and [[Songhay languages|Songhay]], [[Tamashek]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=mali|title=Languages of Mali|publisher=Ethnologue.com|access-date=6 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429183429/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mali|archive-date=29 April 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=heath>{{Cite book|last=Heath|first=Jeffrey|title=A Grammar of Koyra Chiini: the Songhay of Timbuktu|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG|year=1999|location=Berlin|pages=4–5 |isbn=9783110162851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93ar5YZt6SEC&q=koyra+chiini+timbuktu }}</ref> French, though not spoken natively, is widely used as a lingua franca, as well as negotiations with the government of Mali and foreign affairs.

===Religion===
Most are [[Islam|Muslims]], of the [[Sunni]] orientations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} Most popular in the Tuareg movement and northern Mali as a whole is the [[Maliki]] branch of Sunnism, in which traditional opinions and analogical reasoning by later Muslim scholars are often used instead of a strict reliance on [[hadith]] as a basis for legal judgment.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/360203/Malikiyyah|title=Mālikiyyah|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=16 July 2012}}</ref>

Ansar Dine follows the [[Salafi]] branch of Sunni Islam. They strongly object to praying around the graves of Malikite 'holymen', and burned down an ancient Sufi shrine in Timbuktu, which had been listed as a [[List of World Heritage Sites in Africa|UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/05/05/world/africa/mali-heritage-sites/index.html|title=Rebels burn Timbuktu tomb listed as U.N. World Heritage site|date=5 May 2012|publisher=CNN|access-date=16 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713021857/http://articles.cnn.com/2012-05-05/africa/world_africa_mali-heritage-sites_1_baba-haidara-sufi-shrines-timbuktu-residents?_s=PM:AFRICA|archive-date=13 July 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most of the 300 [[Christianity|Christians]] who formerly lived in Timbuktu have fled to the South since the rebels captured the town on 2 April 2012.<ref>{{Citation|first=Madeleine |last=Davies |title=Christians in north of Mali flee Tuareg rebels' control |newspaper=Church Times |date=13 April 2012 |url=http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=127144 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801213933/http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=127144 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 August 2012 |access-date=16 June 2012 }}</ref>

===Humanitarian situation===
The people living in the central and northern [[Sahel]]ian and Sahelo-Saharan areas of Mali are the country's poorest, according to an [[International Fund for Agricultural Development]] report. Most are [[pastoralism|pastoralists]] and farmers practicing [[subsistence agriculture]] on dry land with poor and increasingly [[land degradation|degraded soils]].<ref name="IBT">{{Citation|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/327373/20120412/mali-tuaregs-azawad-civil-war-separatist-poverty.htm|first=Palash R.|last=Ghosh|title=Azawad: The Tuaregs' Nonexistent State in a Desolate, Poverty-Stricken Wasteland|newspaper=International Business Times|date=12 April 2012}}</ref> The northern part of Mali suffers from a critical [[famine|shortage of food]] and lack of [[health care]]. Starvation has prompted about 200,000 inhabitants to leave the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1093/in2.htm |first=Gamal |last=Nkrumah |title=Saharan quicksand |work=Al-Ahram Weekly Online |date=12–18 April 2012 |access-date=13 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412210848/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1093/in2.htm |archive-date=12 April 2012}}</ref>

Refugees in the 92,000-person refugee camp at [[Mbera]],<ref>[https://reliefweb.int/map/mauritania/mbera-refugee-camp-bassikounou-south-eastern-mauritania-8-dec-2015 Mbera Refugee Camp], [[Bassikounou]], South-Eastern Mauritania (8 Dec 2015)</ref> [[Mauritania]], described the Islamists as "intent on imposing an Islam of lash and gun on Malian Muslims." The Islamists in Timbuktu have destroyed about a half-dozen historic above-ground tombs of revered holy men, proclaiming the tombs contrary to [[Shariah]]. One refugee in the camp spoke of encountering [[Afghan people|Afghans]], Pakistanis and Nigerians among the invading forces.<ref name=NYT187>{{cite news|last=Nossiter|first=Adam|title=Jihadists' Fierce Justice Drives Thousands to Flee Mali|newspaper=The New York Times|date=18 July 2012}}</ref>