At the end of 2008, this faction returned to fighting, operating under the name Alliance Touaregue Nord Mali Pour Le Changement (ATNMC).
[1] Ag Bahanga and the other leaders of his faction contend that the government of Mali oppresses the Tuareg population of the north, and has repeatedly failed to live up to its agreements with the ADC and other groups.
[2] Outside observers have also speculated that internal rivalries between Tuareg from the Kel Adagh (around Kidal) and the Ouilliminden confederations have frustrated peace attempts.
[5] The group was based in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, and launched attacks near the city of Kidal and south into the Gao Region.
[6] In August 2007 the group reappeared under the military command of a former rebel who had been integrated into the Malian Armed Forces in 1996 and 2006, Lt. Col. Hassan Ag Fagaga.
[18] A 4 April ceasefire and prisoner exchange was negotiated again through Libya, but each side accused the others of failing to end hostilities, and more sporadic attacks on Army positions occurred in May.
But just days later, President Amadou Toumani Toure said he remained open to negotiations with the Tuareg rebels, while at the same time agreeing joint security with Algeria.
[20] Two days later a peace deal was announced, revealing that Algeria had been hosting talks between the government of Mali and the leadership of the "Alliance démocratique du 23 mai".
Press speculation has posed a split in the already fractured movement, in which Touareg groups loyal to the Kel Adagh fully participated in the eventual peace process, which seemed to have resolved the conflict since August 2008.
Meanwhile, a smaller group around Ag Bahanga had been holding out for Libyan sponsored mediation, and eventually abandoned the talks and sought refuge in Libya.
[1] The Malian army quickly responded with an attack on a rebel camp just west of Aguelhoc (In the Adrar des Ifoghas, Kidal Region) in which it said it killed 20 fighters and took 8 prisoners.
One editorial in Le Republican (Bamako) argued that this, along with the growing resurgence of former Ghanda Koy militia activities in Gao risked adding a greater ethnic dimension to the conflict.
[28] On 22 January, the Malian armed forces claimed to have destroyed Ag Bahanga's main base at Tinsalak (in the Tigharghar hills to the east of Tessalit), killing 31 and capturing 8.
[30][31] In mid December, Ag Bahanga gave an interview to the Algerian El-Watan newspaper claiming that war was now his only option in dealing with the government.
The tripartite Groupe Technique de Sécurité, set up under the 2008 accord, would negotiate the movement of rebel forces into disarmament, possible reintegration into security services, and final cantonment at a base near Agharous, 50 km south of Kidal.
[7] On 6 February, the Malian Armed Forces claimed they had taken the last of the ATNMC positions, while Ag Bahanga and an unknown number of fighters had crossed the border into Algeria.