Northern Mali has always been a region of turmoil, and the responsibility for the misery there starts with the central government in Bamako. Violence, social, economic and environmental turmoil has hit the people of the Azawad region hard, deeply affecting the Tuareg, Arab, and Fulani communities. Efforts to seek autonomy in a federal model of government, has met resistance from successive Malian governments, with the junta in power today using the Russian mercenaries of Wagner to increase its repression on of the people of the north. Here is how this conflicted started.