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Tuareg Separatism in Mali and Niger

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Secessionism in African Politics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in African Borderlands Studies ((PSABS))

Abstract

This chapter provides a contextualized overview of Tuareg separatism and the violence that has accompanied it in Mali. The chapter sketches key episodes and developments in the conflict between the Malian state and Tuareg separatist nationalists and outlines Tuareg political goals and internal dynamics. The chapter examines the impact on Tuareg separatism of the presence of international Jihadi-Salafist movements in the region and the resulting intrusion of the so-called War on Terror (Overseas Contingency Operations) during the past decade.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ibn Hauqal (1964).

  2. 2.

    Klute (2013a) and Lecocq (2004).

  3. 3.

    Bernus (1981) and Nicolaisen and Nicolaisen (1997).

  4. 4.

    Olivier de Sardan (1976)

  5. 5.

    Berge (2000).

  6. 6.

    Grémont (2010) and Triaud (1993).

  7. 7.

    Aouad-Badoual (1993).

  8. 8.

    Blanguernon (1983).

  9. 9.

    Clauzel (1992, 1963), Henry (1996), Lecocq (2010) and Hall (2011).

  10. 10.

    Lecocq (2003).

  11. 11.

    Correale (2009) and Lecocq (2010). See also Porges (2018) in this volume.

  12. 12.

    Badi (2010).

  13. 13.

    Boilley (1993) and Lecocq (2010).

  14. 14.

    Lecocq (2010) and Hall (2011).

  15. 15.

    Lecocq (2010) and Boilley (1993, 1995).

  16. 16.

    Fluchard (1995).

  17. 17.

    Lecocq (2010).

  18. 18.

    Boilley (1999).

  19. 19.

    Kaufmann (1964).

  20. 20.

    Lecocq (2010).

  21. 21.

    Klute (2013a) and Lecocq (2010).

  22. 22.

    Lecocq (2010).

  23. 23.

    Klute (2013a).

  24. 24.

    Salifou (1993).

  25. 25.

    Boilley (1999).

  26. 26.

    Lecocq (2010) and Klute (2013a).

  27. 27.

    A similar name for an independent land, Azawagh, which essentially means the same as Azawad, was adopted by Tuareg movements in Niger in the 1990s. This topographical indicator––the word essentially means “prairie” or “steppe”––would become a strong issue between Tuareg nationalists and Malian patriots. Leo Africanus’ Description of Africa (1550) already indicates the Timbuktu region as Azawad, and from his description, the name found its way to European maps of the late sixteenth century. Yet most Malian patriots deny the term any historical validity and maintain that the only name the region has historically been known under is as part of the Malian empire.

  28. 28.

    Klute and von Trotha (2000).

  29. 29.

    Klute (2009).

  30. 30.

    Klute (1995).

  31. 31.

    Klute (2013a).

  32. 32.

    Poulton and ag Youssouf (1998).

  33. 33.

    Klute (2013a).

  34. 34.

    Klute (2013a).

  35. 35.

    Silberzahn (1995).

  36. 36.

    Ethnographic literature on the Tubu is scanty. See in particular Baroin (1985), Chapelle (1982), Kronenberg (1958), and Le Coeur (1950). The historian of Chad’s Civil War, Robert Buijtenhuijs, has also elucidated the role of the Tubu therein (1978, 1987a, b, 1988).

  37. 37.

    Lecocq (2010).

  38. 38.

    Brachet (2009) and Scheele (2012).

  39. 39.

    Lecocq and Schrijver (2007).

  40. 40.

    The Arabic name of the movement, at-Tanzîm al-Qâeda fi Bilâd al-Maghreb al-Islâmiyya is generally translated as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, abbreviated as AQIM. The correct translation would be The al-Qaeda Chapter in the Islamic Lands of the West. Translating al-Maghreb to “The West,” referring to both North Africa and Western Europe, would do more justice to the global intentions of this movement.

  41. 41.

    Lecocq (2010).

  42. 42.

    Lecocq (2010).

  43. 43.

    For more details on the foundation of the MNA and the profile of its first leaders, see Morgan, Andy (February 6, 2012). “The Causes of the Uprising in Northern Mali”. Think Africa Press. Retrieved February 10, 2012. [http://thinkafricapress.com/mali/causes-uprising-northern-mali-tuareg; last accessed 28/11/2012] and http://www.maliweb.net/category.php?NID=82864 (last accessed November 6, 2011).

  44. 44.

    See also Schomerus and de Vries (2018) in this volume.

  45. 45.

    This was the reasoning of Ahmeyede Ag Ilkamassene, one of MNA’s leading figures, in an article published in its press release website Toumast Press on 23 December 2011 “Azawad, it’s now or never!” [http://toumastpress.com/autres/analyse/196-azawad-maintenant-ou-jamais.html; last accessed November 27, 2012].

  46. 46.

    http://www.mnlamov.net/ (last accessed March 23, 2012).

  47. 47.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IrCUoBUMWM&context=C461258fADvjVQa1PpcFOiaSz-oISwGTTz67955NwvoxwVCKX6uVw= (last accessed March 23,2012).

  48. 48.

    Klute (2013b).

  49. 49.

    Lecocq and Belalimat (2012).

  50. 50.

    http://www.mnlamov.net/ (last accessed Novermber 28, 2012).

  51. 51.

    Sahelien.com. “Intalla Ag Attaher: « La seule manière de garantir la paix définitive, c’est. la division du pays » December 14, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E34iBeHArd4 (last accessed March 18, 2017).

  52. 52.

    Amnesty International (May 2012).

  53. 53.

    Bellagamba and Klute (2008).

  54. 54.

    No formal statement of this kind has of course ever been issued, but anonymous French diplomats at the EU confirmed so much to one of the authors as well as to some other colleagues.

  55. 55.

    http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minusma/background.shtml (last accessed May 15, 2017).

  56. 56.

    http://www.eutmmali.eu/ (last accessed July 22, 2013).

  57. 57.

    Lecocq (2013).

  58. 58.

    United Nations Peacekeeping: fatalities by Mission and Appointment Type up to March 31, 2017. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/fatalities/documents/stats_3mar.pdf (last accessed 05/15/2017).

  59. 59.

    Accord Préliminaire a l’élection présidentielle et aux pourparlers inclusifs de paix au Mali. Ouagadougou June 2013.

  60. 60.

    See Klute (2013b), where global actors in the region, their objectives and ideologies are discussed in more detail.

  61. 61.

    For example, Bøås and Torheim (2013).

  62. 62.

    Despite long months of negotiations in Algiers between the Malian government and movements fighting for independence or autonomy of Northern Mali, they failed to conclude a peace agreement. Under the pressure of the international community, the Malian government and militias of the “platform” loyal to the government’s cause then signed a peace agreement in May 2015, which the movements struggling for independence joined one month later. [http://www.aps.dz/monde/24902-la-signature-de-l-accord-d-alger-par-la-cma-fortement-salu%C3%A9e-%C3%A0-bamako,-hommage-%C3%A0-l-alg%C3%A9rie].

  63. 63.

    Klute (2013a).

  64. 64.

    Jeune Afrique, September 9, 2016.

  65. 65.

    This was recently confirmed by Hassan ag Fagaga, President of the intermediate administrative authorities in the Kidal region in an interview to Jeune Afrique. http://www.tamoudre.org/geostrategie/hassan-ag-fagaga-jihadiste-nest-quun-homme-autres-kalach/ (last accessed May 274, 2017).

  66. 66.

    Lecocq et al. (2013).

  67. 67.

    The most spectacular jihadist strike against “supporters” of foreign powers present in Northern Mali was a kamikaze attack by al-Murabitun in January 2017. The attack targeted a camp of fighters of various militias (pro- and anti-Bamako) in Gao. The concentration and training of ex-fighters, foreseen in the Algiers agreement, is meant to prepare them to patrol Northern Mali together with units of the Malian army. The Gao attack caused about 200 casualties, mostly among fighters of the CMA (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attentat_de_Gao, last accessed 04/06/2017).

  68. 68.

    Forrest (2003).

  69. 69.

    Klute (2013b).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Baz Lecocq

  2. University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Georg Klute

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  1. Baz Lecocq
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Correspondence to Baz Lecocq .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wageningen University & Research, De Bilt, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Lotje de Vries

  2. Pomona College, Claremont, CA, USA

    Pierre Englebert

  3. Overseas Development Institute, London, UK

    Mareike Schomerus

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Lecocq, B., Klute, G. (2019). Tuareg Separatism in Mali and Niger. In: de Vries, L., Englebert, P., Schomerus, M. (eds) Secessionism in African Politics. Palgrave Series in African Borderlands Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90206-7_2

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