Ménaka Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the
Gao Region of
Mali. Its administrative center is the town of
Ménaka. Ménaka Cercle's population as of 2009 was 56,104 people. Ménaka Cercle is a rural, isolated, and largely desert area, crisscrossed by seasonal
wadis, part of an ancient dry river system of the
Azawagh region (the
Iullemmeden Basin). The area includes the rocky outcrops of the Ader Douchi hills. Most of the small population are nomadic are
Tuareg tribal populations, as well as
nomadic minorities, including the
Wodaabe Fula and sedentary
Songhai people. The area is a traditional center of the
Kel Dinnik Tuareg confederation, with the town of
Andéramboukane, near the
Nigerien border, being one historic center for transhumance communities. During the
2012 Tuareg rebellion, it was part of
Azawad, the northern part of Mali that was separated and declared independent by the
National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). In the course of the conflict, the MNLA lost their control of the territory to Islamist militias. On March 6, 2013, the Islamists lost control of the village of Tin Keraten, a village directly next to the
Gao Cercle, and near the border of the
Ansongo Cercle, to French and Malian troops in the
Battle of Tin Keraten, becoming the first village in the Ménaka Cercle to come under allied control during the war.