Azaouad
Encyclopedia
Tuareg languages
Tuareg is a Berber language or family of very closely related languages and dialects spoken by the Tuareg Berbers, in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, with a few speakers, the Kinnin, in Chad.- Description :Other Berber languages and Tamashaq are quite mutually...
-speaking parts of northern Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, northern Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, and part of southern Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Azawad is mainly made up of Sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
ian and Saharan vast flat lands inhabited by Tuareg nomads. It does not correspond to any single administrative region
Regions of Mali
||Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district. Each of the regions bears the name of its principal city. The regions are divided into 49 cercles. The cercles and the capital district are divided into 703 communes....
of Mali, Niger, or Algeria, but it includes portions of the Kidal Region
Kidal Region
Kidal is the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering 151,430 km². Its capital is the city of Kidal.-Geography:The region is bordered on the west by Tomboctou Region, to the south by Gao Region, to the east by Niger and to the north by Algeria....
of Mali and the Tahoua Region and Agadez Region of Niger, and large portions of southern Algeria. Azawad has a strong and distinctive Tuareg character, different from the official identities and characters of the central governments of Mali, Niger, and Algeria. Azawad emerged recently as a geopolitical issue due to the recent separatist movement, the Mouvement Populaire pour la Libération de l'Azawad (MPLA), that aspires to establish an independent Azawad republic with a Tuareg idenitity.
Geography
The Azawad has historically referred to the dry river valley, which once carried a Northern arm of the Niger RiverNiger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
. The Azawad river ran some 1600 km in prehistoric times (drying finally after the Neolithic Subpluvial
Neolithic Subpluvial
The Neolithic Subpluvial — sometimes called the Holocene Wet Phase — was an extended period of wet and rainy conditions in the climate history of northern Africa...
: 7th to 4th millennium BCE ), and created a basin of some 420000 km². Its valley, which geologists call the Iullemmeden Basin
Iullemmeden Basin
The Iullemmeden Basin is a major sub-Saharan inland basin in West Africa, extending about 1000 km north to south and 800 km east to west...
, forms in the western foothills of the Aïr Mountains
Aïr Mountains
The Aïr Mountains is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara desert...
curves through the Sahara Dessert of modern Niger and Mali, meeting the Niger near Gao
Gao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
. It is bordered to the east by the Adrar des Ifoghas
Adrar des Ifoghas
The Adrar des Ifoghas is a sandstone massif in Mali's Kidal Region, having an area of about 250,000 km².The area is characterized by wide, shallow valleys, and is strewn with piles of eroded granite blocks...
massif of modern Mali and Algeria, to the south by the Niger river in the west and the Ader Douchi hills in the east, and depending upon interpretation, runs north to the southern foothills of the Hoggar massif.
In Mali, the name Azawak is used for the area, while in Niger, Azawagh is often used. In Niger, Azawagh generally includes the towns of Abalagh (Abalak), In Tibaraden (Tchin-Tabaraden
Tchin-Tabaraden
Tchin-Tabaraden is a town and commune located in the Azawagh area of Niger, in the north of the Tahoua Region.It is the capital of the Region's Tchin-Tabaraden Department. It is the market center for the Iwillimidan Tuareg...
), Tiliya, In Gal
In-Gall
In-Gall is a town in the Agadez Region, Tchirozerine Department of northeast Niger, with a year-round population of less than 500...
, Tabalaq, a village where the sole lake of the region is located.
Azawad Region is generally flat, its 80.000 square kilometers forming vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges . The scarps separate a series of sandstone plateaus, the highest of which is reaching an elevation of 500 meters (1,640 ft), often rich in minerals, rise above the plateaus. Approximately three-fourths of Azawad area is desert or semidesert. As a result of extended, severe drought, the desert has been expanding since the mid-1960s.
Cultural groups
The area is dominated by the Kel Tamashek populations, as well as some nomadic Arab-ancestry tribes including Hassaniyya-speakers (also called Azawagh Arabs, not to be confused with Niger's Diffa ArabsDiffa Arabs
Diffa Arabs is the Nigerien name given to Arab nomadic tribespeople living in eastern Niger, mostly in the Diffa Region...
) in the northwest border and the Wodaabe
Wodaabe
The Wodaabe or Bororo are a small subgroup of the Fulani ethnic group. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel, with migrations stretching from southern Niger, through northern Nigeria, northeastern Cameroon, and the western region of the Central African Republic....
Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
in Niger. Azawagh is the centre for the Iwellemeden Kel Denneg federation.
- Population : 600,000 (July 1998 estimated)
- Life expectancy at birth : 50 years
- Ethnic groups : 70% Kel Tamashek, 30% other.
- Religions : 99% Sunni MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. - Languages: mainly Tamasheq ; Arabic (liturgical); FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(administrative); other languages spoken include: Old-Sudanese dialects, BambaraBambara languageBambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan , its designation in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people...
dialects.
In Moorish society musicians occupy the lowest caste, iggawin. Musicians from this caste used song to praise successful warriors as well as their patrons. Iggawin also had the traditional role of messengers, spreading news between villages. In modern Mauritania, professional musicians are paid by anybody to perform; affluent patrons sometimes record the entertainment, and they, rather than the musicians themselves, are then considered to own the recording.
Traditional instruments include an hourglass-shaped four-stringed lute called the tidinit and the woman's kora-like ardin. Percussion instruments include the tbal (a kettle drum) and daghumma (a rattle).
Conflict and separatist movements
Traditionally, there has been some resentment of central Malian control and several separatistSeparatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
or other rebel
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
groups have been active in the region, notably in the civil war in Mali
Tuareg Rebellion
The Tuareg Rebellion was an uprising by various Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali with the aim of achieving autonomy or forming their own nation-state. The insurgency occurred in a period following the regional famine of the 1980s and subsequent refugee crisis, and a time of generalised political...
of the early 1990s. In this period, groups claiming independence for the area, and also for the broader Azawagh and Ayr region
Azawagh and Ayr region
The Tuareg regions of Azawagh and Ayr were annexed by the French to the newly independent state of Niger in 1960, and have been struggling for independence for more than two decades....
first appeared.
Some of these movements have claimed it as part of a wider pan-Saharan
Saharan
The term Saharan is used in the English language to denote someone or something from the Sahara desert, including:* Sahrawi , referring to the people of the Western Sahara* Saharan languages, a subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan languages...
Touareg homeland, while others have been content to demand improved services and/or autonomous
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
status for the region. In late 2006, a flare-up in fighting in the Kidal Region
Kidal Region
Kidal is the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering 151,430 km². Its capital is the city of Kidal.-Geography:The region is bordered on the west by Tomboctou Region, to the south by Gao Region, to the east by Niger and to the north by Algeria....
was ended by Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n mediation between the central government and Touareg rebels.
As Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
gained independence in 1960, Azawad become a part of Mali territory With independence, numbers of indigenous Black African peoples (soudanais or Haratines) And white peoples or Azawadis ( Arab and Touareg ) were lived peacefully in this State, with their brother citizens in Mali.
Many of these inhabitants (Azawadis) became clerks, soldiers, and administrators.
By increasing pressure to Arabize many aspects of Malian’s life specially their own Region (Azawad) , such as education.
A schism developed between those Moors who consider Azawad as a part of Arab countries, and those who seek a dominant role for the non-Moorish peoples even in this region, with various models for containing the country's cultural diversity suggested, but none implemented successfully.
This ethnic discord was evident during intercommunal violence that broke out in 12/05/ 1991 (the " 1991 Events") , directly after killing of about 50 men of Arab civilians , Azawadis considered this event as a racism politic against them, a big assassination was happened and a lot of innocent people died from both sides , the Azawadi people left their home to stay in refugies mainly in Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
.
The discovery of oil in 2006 in Azawad territory and the War anti-Terorrism specially after repports indicated presence of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in this area, these issues will open the page of the crisis (conflict between Government of Mali and the Azawadi rebels) calling for an independent territory in their own region, or at least their rights in equality and dignity according to human rights organization, Azawadi people were victims of terror the Ex-Mali Government and need for help to live normal life even after their return to Mali after the agreement between Revolunist of Azawad and Mali Government.
Organizations using the Azaouad name
- Tuareg RebellionTuareg RebellionThe Tuareg Rebellion was an uprising by various Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali with the aim of achieving autonomy or forming their own nation-state. The insurgency occurred in a period following the regional famine of the 1980s and subsequent refugee crisis, and a time of generalised political...
of the 1990s- Arab Islamic Front of AzawadArab Islamic Front of AzawadArab Islamic Front of Azawad was a militant rebel group in northern Mali. It was headed by Zahabi Ould Sidi Mohamed....
- Popular Movement for the Liberation of AzawadPopular Movement for the Liberation of AzawadPopular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad , a Tuareg militant rebel group in northern Mali . Initially based amongst exiles in Algeria and, especially, Libya, MPLA launched an armed campaign in June 1990. This fed into the disturbances already underway in Mali, and started a civil war...
- Arab Islamic Front of Azawad
- Second Tuareg Rebellion
- Niger Movement for Justice(MNJ)Niger Movement for JusticeThe Nigerien's Movement for Justice is a largely Tuareg ethnic, northern Niger based militant group...
- Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara(FARS)Revolutionary Armed Forces of the SaharaRevolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara is a Toubou militant group in Niger, presumably of separatist intentions, who kidnapped two Italian tourists in August 2006. Boubakar Mohamed Sogoma, ethnically Toubou, is a commander of FARS in 2008.- External links :...
- Niger Movement for Justice(MNJ)
Geographic and geologic features
- Sahara Desert
- Air Massif
- Niger RiverNiger RiverThe Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
- Niger Basin AuthorityNiger Basin AuthorityThe Niger Basin Authority is an intergovernmental organisation in West Africa aiming to foster co-operation in managing and developing the resources of the basin of the River Niger...
Prehistoric Sahara
- Sahara pump theorySahara pump theoryThe Sahara pump theory is a hypothesis that explains how flora and fauna migrated between Eurasia and Africa via a Levantine land bridge. The theory observes that extended periods of abundant rainfall lasting many thousands of years in Africa are associated with a "wet Sahara" phase, during which...
- Neolithic SubpluvialNeolithic SubpluvialThe Neolithic Subpluvial — sometimes called the Holocene Wet Phase — was an extended period of wet and rainy conditions in the climate history of northern Africa...
- Prehistoric Central North AfricaPrehistoric Central North Africa- Early and middle Paleolithic :Earlier inhabitants of central North Africa have left behind equally significant remains. Early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa, for example, were found in Ain el Hanech, near Saïda ; in fact, more recent investigations have found signs of Oldowan...