Unpacking the Mystery of Mediation in African Peace ... - Swisspeace

North-Mali and North-Niger, Libya Engagement
Background of the Conflict
Chronology
The Tuareg, who are part of the Berber people,
are a nomadic pastoralist ethnic group residing in
several West African countries: Algeria, Burkina
Faso, Libya, Mali, and Niger. 139 In the 1990s,
Tuaregs in Mali and Niger claimed autonomy for
their traditional homeland, and voiced concern
over the exploitation of their region by government-backed
foreign companies. 140 Deadly
clashes between Tuareg fighters and the armies of
both countries followed, resulting in thousands of
deaths. Negotiations initiated by France and Algeria
led to peace agreements in 1995 and 1998
in both countries.
In 2006, Tuareg rebel groups rose up again to
press for inclusion in the political process and in
the economic development of their desert region.
In July 2006, Algerian mediation efforts led to an
agreement between the government of Mali and
the rebel group Democratic Alliance for Change
(DAC). One faction, led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga,
refused to sign the deal, saying it did not do
enough to help the Tuaregs. 141 He announced
that his movement had formed an alliance with
Niger’s Tuareg rebels, called the Alliance Tuareg
Nord-Mali pour le Changement (ATNMC).
However, the Tuareg Movement in Niger (Mouvement
des Nigeriens pour la Justice, MNJ) denied
the existence of such an alliance.
Since 2007, the fighting has led to hundreds of
deaths and hostage-taking. Mali’s President
Amadou Toumani Touré and Niger’s President
Mamadou Tandja have described the rebels as
‘bandits’, ‘terrorists’, and ‘arms smugglers’ that
use Mali as a base to attack Niger and vice
139 Before French colonization, the Tuareg were organized into
loose confederations, each consisting of a dozen of tribes. Each
of the main groups had a traditional leader along with an assembly
of tribal chiefs. During the colonial era, their confederations
were largely dismantled and reorganized.
140 Neither Mali nor Niger is ethnically polarized at the national
level, and the Tuareg population in both states is about ten per
cent. However, the group is regionally concentrated, and in
those units the predominant ethnic group.
141 It is unclear just how much popular support Bahanga has, but
he is believed by many Malians to be using the cover of a rebellion
for his own enrichment. His group is also responsible for
laying land mines on public roads, which have killed dozens of
people in the first half of 2008.
versa. 142 While Tandja has vowed to fight rather
than negotiate with the rebels and declared a state
of alert in the region, giving extra powers to the
military, 143 Touré appears to be ambivalent between
a civil or military response.
Causes of Conflict
The conflict is an example of a transnational ethnic
group involved in conflict in more than one
state. It is an inter- and intratribal conflict due to
tensions between governments, modern agricultural
schemes, and marginalized parts of the
population. The Tuaregs’ grievances range from
demands for their political integration to political
accountability on the part of the ruling elite. For
many decades, the North of Mali has felt excluded
from the national development agenda. In
addition, the uneven distribution of the wealth
generated by the exploitation of Mali’s and Niger’s
natural resources – uranium, 144 gold, and
oil145 – has exacerbated the abject poverty in
which the majority of the region’s people find
themselves.
In Niger, the process of administrative decentralization,
improved development in the north, and
disarmament that was promised in the 1995
Ouagadougou Agreement has been incomplete.
In Mali, the spill-over effect of Niger’s uncontained
crisis is evident, as is the dissatisfaction
among a small part of the Tuareg community
over the 2006 agreement. Regional governments
and analysts are divided, however, over the extent
to which the Tuareg rebels are driven by genuine
political grievances or whether they are fighting
to control lucrative arms, drugs, and migrant
142 Reuters AlertNet: “Rebellion in uranium region” (3 September
2007), (http://www.alertnet.org).
143 The attempts of Niger’s government to silence media coverage
on the issue and the 4,000 government troops sent to the north
have failed to stop the MNJ’s approximately 1,000 troops. Instead,
defections from government forces have reinforced the
rebellion, creating a quasi-permanent state of insecurity in the
north.
144 Niger hopes to become the world’s second-biggest uranium
producer by 2011 through the development of more mines in
the northern region. The uranium sector was long dominated
by former colonial power France, but Niger is now opening up
its mining areas in the north to companies from Canada,
China, Japan, and the US, despite grave security problems.
145 A number of Canadian, Chinese, Venezuelan, and Australian
oil companies and energy firms have signed lucrative deals with
Mali concerning oil exploration in the northern region.
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