2. Tuareg rebellion
The 2nd Tuareg Rebellion was an armed Tuareg uprising against the governments of Mali and Niger from 1990–1995 . The background to the conflicts was the resistance of the Berber people to oppression and marginalization by the respective states, as well as efforts to achieve autonomy .
prehistory
The rebellion was sparked by various Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali. The aim was to achieve autonomy or even to establish its own nation state . The events were preceded by severe regional famines and refugee crises in the 1980s, which coincided with a period of general political oppression in both countries. Famines of catastrophic proportions - especially in 1914 - led to the first violent uprisings by the Tuareg against the colonial power of France in the 1910s , which ultimately failed with the "Kaosen uprising" in Agadez in 1917. In Mali 1916 which entered amenokal Firhoun the Ikazkazan -Tuareg, followers of anti-French Senussi order , rebellious appearance.
Conflicts arose between the 7th and 14th centuries because the border between the light-skinned Arabo-Berber Tuareg peoples with (semi) nomadic livelihoods as livestock keepers and the sedentary , arable farming, dark - skinned sub - Saharan peasant peoples was or is fluid. The latter, for their part, had founded states and held public offices. The first Tuareg Rebellion (1961 / 62–1964), which was to be followed by further post-colonial rebellions, was the result of this conflict potential.
Many Tuareg wanted an independent Tuareg nation after French colonialism ended. Insofar as the Tuareg rebellion of the 1960s could be put down within a short time by means of vehement military resistance from the Malian government forces, discontent with the post-colonial governments grew so much that the Tuareg reared themselves considerably more intensively in order to defend themselves.
Political background
On the one hand, the Tuareg live as a relatively large majority in the Sahara, but are rarely found in other regions of the Sahara . In many cases, the Tuareg were marginalized by their governments from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahel . Desertification and drought in the 1970s as well as enormous livestock losses in the 1980s forced the Tuareg to deviate from their traditional migration routes, which led to conflicts with the local ethnic groups. The Tuareg were regularly not given any aid by the governments. Many Tuareg residents in Niger and Mali fled to the refugee camps in Algeria and Libya . Libya's head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi recruited mercenaries from the Tuareg who were deployed with the Tamil Tigers in war-trading areas such as Chad , Lebanon and Sri Lanka . Resistance agreements and rebel groups also formed in the camps. As early as 1985, a political opposition group among the Tuareg had formed in Libya, which called itself the Popular Front of National Liberation ( Front Populaire de Liberation Nationale-Chamssyya / FPLN ).
In Mali and Niger, the authoritarian but weak governments were economically overwhelmed by the famines, which led to great excitement in the communities of the countries. Mali was ruled by President Moussa Traoré , who, as a former military leader, had put himself to power in 1968 . The growing pressure of poverty and restrictive measures by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) curbed government spending. It had to be attested that the more than twenty years of one - party rule of the president was at an end. On March 22, 1991, he was overthrown in a military coup (see coup in Mali 1991 ).
The circumstances in Niger were hardly different. President Ali Saïbou , a Zarma and unelected military successor to General Seyni Kountché, who was put to power in 1974 , ruled there . Saibou faced similar problems. On February 9, 1990, students sparked peaceful protests. After attacks by insurgent Tuaregs on the sub-prefecture of the Tchintabaraden arrondissement with numerous deaths, the military laws were repealed. Saïbou was de facto ousted from power. In May 1990, the Nigerien military arrested and tortured several hundred Tuaregs in Tchintabarades, Gharo and Ingall , known as the Tchintabarade massacre . Saibou's term of office ended in 1993 with the presidential election won by Mahamane Ousmane .
The Tuareg outrage contributed to the creation of armed insurgent groups and parties: the Aïr and Azawad Liberation Front (FLAA), the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS-Amana) and the Témoust Liberation Front (FLT).
Civil war and peace agreement in Mali (1990–1996)
In Mali, the uprising began in 1990 when Tuareg separatists attacked government buildings around Gao , Mali. The Malian army retaliated and a full-blown rebellion ensued. The impossibility of defending themselves against this led to massive complaints by the Tuareg against the Moussa Traorés regime . The conflict temporarily subsided when a new government ( Alliance pour la Démocratie en Mali / ADEMA ) was formed around Alpha Oumar Konaré . Around 1992 the Tuareg were a little better integrated into society. As early as 1994, the Tuareg, trained and highly armed in Libya, attacked Gao again, which again led to reprisals by the authorities and the creation of the Ganda-Koy - Songhai militia of settled black African residents against the Tuareg. Mali now fell into a civil war.
In 1995 a peace settlement was negotiated. The weapons were destroyed in 1996 in Timbuktu as a symbolic end to the conflict and some were burned. The monument "La Flamme De La Paix" in Timbuktu has been commemorating this since 1996. Although there was no separatist aspiration, the situation remained very tense, as there were fears that the conflicts would break out again. The Malian Tuareg rebels had often participated in the peace processes. The peace offers made in 1995 stipulated that the rebellion would end and promised the repatriation of Tuareg communities to the south of the country and opportunities. In addition, Malian Tuareg should be involved in the central government in Bamako .
Rebellion and Peace Accords in Niger (1990–1995)
The rebellion in Niger began in 1990 when sporadic fighting began and continued in the Aïr Mountains. Foreigners were evacuated from the tourist centers of Agadez and the traditional trading town of the Tuareg, Ingall, as well as from the uranium mining town of Arlit because the Nigerien army put the locals in arms. There were only a few attacks at first, which is why this measure proved to be sterile. The economic damage, on the other hand, was enormous, especially since no foreign currency flowed into the regions.
The two main rebel groups in Niger did not agree to a ceasefire until 1994, parallel to the resurgence of acts of war in Mali. Two umbrella organizations were formed, which emerged as the “Organization of the Armed Resistance (Organization de Resistance Army, ORA)” and the “Organization of Coordinated Armed Resistance (Coordinasion de Resistance Army, CRA)”. They conducted a number of negotiations with the government, but punctuated them with recurring violence on both sides. The "CRA" signed an agreement in October 1994 that was already obsolete in 1995 because conflicts with the government broke out openly. The "ORA" then negotiated a peace agreement in April 1995, but this was rejected by the other umbrella organization. Mano Dayak, the "CRA" negotiator and pioneer for the peace treaty as well as the leader of the Tuareg rebels in the Ténéré region, died on the way to the peace negotiations in Niamey when the plane exploded while taking off for unexplained, mysterious reasons.
Finally, on April 15, 1995 , a peace agreement was negotiated with all Tuareg and some Tubu rebel groups in Ouagadougou , the capital of Burkina Faso . That sealed the end of most of the fighting. In 1998 the last rebel group submitted to the settlement. In the late 1990s, the government even agreed to grant various former rebels military careers or, with French help, to return them to a productive civil life.
Involved rebel groups
Malian Tuareg groups
Numerous rebel groups were active in Mali.
- Arab Islamic Front Azawad (FIAA)
- Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA or MPA)
- Azawad Revolutionary Liberation Army (ARLA)
- Azawad People's Liberation Front (FPLA)
- Arab Azawad Movement (FNLA)
- Autonomous group of Timitrine
- Azawad Autonomous Liberation Front (FULA)
- Patriotic Movement Ganda-Koy (MPGK)
Most of the rebel movements mentioned merged in 1991 to form the United Movements and Fronts of Azawad (MFUA).
Nigerien Tuareg groups
There were mainly two rebel movements in Niger:
- Aïr and Azawad Liberation Front (FLAA)
- Témoust Liberation Front (FLT) led by Mano Dayak
literature
- Samuel Decalo, Historical Dictionary of Niger , Scarecrow Press, London and New Jersey (1979), ISBN 0810812290
- John Frank Clark, David E. Gardinier, here: Myriam Gervais, Niger: Regime change, economic crisis, and perpetuation of privilege , in eds .: Political Reform in Francophone Africa , Westview Press (1997). ISBN 0813327865
Individual evidence
- ↑ Samuel Decalo in Historical Dictionary of Niger , listing of events of the revolt Kaocen (s. Literature)
- ↑ Lieutenant Colonel Kalifa Keita, Army of the Republic of Mali: Conflict and ConflictResolution in the Sahel: The Tuareg Insurgency in Mali (PDF; 314 kB)
- ↑ John Frank Clark, David E. Gardinier, here: Myriam Gervais, Niger: Regime change, economic crisis, and perpetuation of privilege (see literature)
- ↑ M. Mohamed Anako rompt le silence - Les sociétés minières ont une grande responsabilité dans ce que nous sommes en train de vivre ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Rebellion in Niger - Timeline from 1974-1995
- ^ The 1991 coup and its consequences
- ↑ Barbara Worley, Visit of a Twareg Leader to the US
- ^ Barbara Worley, Mano Dayak, 1949-1995
- ^ Mali: Information on the current relationship between Tuaregs (Touaregs) and the government
