From Camels to 4x4s: A History of The Tuareg Rebels
The coup against the Malian government was sparked by anger over its handling of an insurrection by Tuaregs, the impoverished Saharan nomads who were once known as the "masters of the desert."
Experts put the total number of Tuareg at between a million and 1.5 million, living on a territory nearly two million square kilometres (780,000 square miles) and comprising parts of Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso.
The Tuareg refer to themselves as the "Kel Tamasheq" -- "those who speak the Tamasheq language" -- rather than Tuareg, which is a name of Arab origin.
Most of them are found in Niger (approximately 700,000) and Mali (around 300,000).
The Tuareg, along with the Ethiopians, are the only African people with their own written alphabet, and are easily recognizable by their indigo-dyed veil, which rubs off on the skin, giving them the nickname "the blue men."
Some of them have turned rebels.
In the past two decades, the nomadic desert tribe has posed serious security risks, especially for Bamako and Niamey, with periodic uprisings over complaints of being marginalized by their governments.
At the start of the last century, the Tuareg controlled the cattle and caravan trades, and led resistance to colonialism, but gradually these former lords of the desert became the poorest people in the Sahara and Sahel.
They were also refused schooling under colonization, which left their position greatly weakened when already poor landlocked nations gained their independence, mainly in what had been French-ruled west Africa.
A government centered far away in the south of this vast land appeared to have little relevance for the tribes in the desert north.
The famines of 1973-4 and 1984-5 saw the disappearance of their herds, and thousands of young Tuareg migrated to the cities of Algeria or Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi incorporated many into his Islamic Legion -- a pan-Arab military force he envisaged to create a great Sahel nation.
A decade later, faced with the deterioration of the Libyan economy and a fall in the price of petrol, the young Tuareg exiles were forced to return, sometimes violently, to their home countries, where they rapidly swelled the ranks of groups fighting for autonomy from the central governments of Mali and Niger.
By then the Tuaregs had replaced their swords, daggers and old rifles with Kalashnikovs, their camels with 4x4s. They launched a rebellion in Niger and Mali in 1990.
This desert guerilla warfare was to last nearly five years, and according to official tolls left hundreds dead and thousands displaced across Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Algeria.
In both cases peace accords devolved some power to the Tuareg regions and led to greater autonomy.
In return, the Tuareg rebels were obliged to disarm, with paramilitaries incorporated into the army and civil service. However, these agreements were not followed to the letter and many deserted from the Malian army and led armed attacks and robberies.
Another rebellion sprung up in Niger in 2007 as Tuareg there demanded a greater share in uranium mineral wealth, eventually spreading to Mali.
A ceasefire was declared in 2009 but many Tuareg had fled to Libya, where they fought alongside troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, whose regime was battling a rebellion inspired by the Arab Spring.
With Gadhafi dead and his former regime defeated, the nomads -- heavily armed and battle hardened -- made their way back to Mali and united in late 2011 with other former rebels under the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA).
An analyst told Agence France Presse they are much better organized this time round -- they even have their own website -- and the coup will play to their advantage.
The Azawad, a region considered the birthplace of the Tuareg, stretches from the west to the north of Mali and the rebels say they want to free the region from "the illegal occupation of its territory by Mali."
Source: Agence France Presse
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