Post Colonial Era and Conflicts

- In the 1960’s North African Territories were divided into the states we know today, Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso

"We fight for our independence... [but] the leaders have no patience. They throw us in prison for no reason... We are beaten and enchained in front of our women and children. There also is the marriage act which does not conform to Muslim custom. We are against Mali because all its institutions are anti-religious and against us. We want our independence.”

- Excerpt from “That Desert is Our Country: Tuareg Rebellions and Competing Nationalisms in Comtemporary Mali” 

- Due in part to their nomadic lifestyle, the Tuareg people have faced oppression since the end of the Colonial Era

• They have seen increased competition for food and resources
• Restrictions on nomadization because of high population growth
• Suppression of religious freedoms and discrimination
• Feel as if their culture is being attacked, and that they are being forced to change their way of life
• Expectation that an independent Tuareg nation would be created when the French Colonialism ended, led to disappointment, resentment, and a lack of representation politically

- Tensions between the Tuaregs and the Malian government over these issues led to the first Tuareg Rebellion in Mali in 1962

• Known as the "Alfellaga"
• Began with small raids against government tagets
• Attacks increased in intensity into 1963
• Rebellion did not last long because of the unorganized strategy of the Tuareg rebels, as well as their inferior weaponry compared to the Malian Army who had Russian firearms as well as the support of Algeria and Morocco
• Only about 1,500 Tuareg rebels 

- Despite the small number of combatants, the Malian Government acted with intense aggression, they conducted counterinsrugency raids and tortured and killed innocents, leading to an end of the conflict in 1964

•  Remaining Tuareg populations, including those who did not support the rebels, became repressed under and a military administration

- Tensions grew until 1990 when a second rebellion began

• Tuareg rebels clashed with Malian forces once again with the death toll coming into the thousands
• Malian Army created a special militia, called the Ghanda Koi, to fight the Tuareg rebels
• By 1993 Mali was in Civil War

- Peace talk occurred in 1995, the Tuareg people were offered an increased share in the nations mineral wealth in return for a stop in the fighting

• “La Flamme de la Paix” was a ceremony where more than 3000 firearms were burned and transformed into a monument in 1996 in Timbuktu

- Since then peace has been tenuous at best, more acts of violence have occurred

• The Tuareg people have been dissatisfied with the keeping of promises made during the peace talks
• Democratic representation is still not improving
• Economic inequality still exists, with preference given to foreign mining and southern political leaders