Operation Serval and Omar Ould Hamaha were killed, while Mokhtar Belmokhtar fled to Libya and Iyad ag Ghali fled to Algeria. The operation is named after the medium-sized African wild cat species Serval. In January 2012, following an influx of weapons that occurred after the Libyan Civil War, Tuareg tribesmen of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) began a rebellion against Mali's central government. In April, the MNLA said it had accomplished its goals and called off its offensive against the government, proclaiming the independence of Azawad. In June 2012, the MNLA came into conflict with the Islamist groups
Operation Sangaris Operation Sangaris Operation Sangaris is a military intervention of the French military in the Central African Republic, from late 2013 till 2016. It has been the 7th French military intervention there since the independence of the country in 1960. On 30 October 2016, France announced it officially ended Operation Sangaris. According to Jean-Vincent Brisset, senior researcher at Iris, the name refers to the African butterfly "Cymothoe sangaris", and was chosen because "butterflies are not dangerous, do not last very long, are considered pretty and are politically correct". In late 2012, President François Bozizé requested international aid from France and the