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76 CHAPTER 2the departure of the French would almost certainly be followed by a renewedperiod of Kel Tamasheq political dominance. As for the Tamasheq perceptionof, and consequent dealings with, the US-RDA political elite, it was not muchbetter and, in a warped way, complementary to the images held by the latter. Topaint the picture at its crudest: Based on the historical construction of localracial identities, and the pre-colonial socio-political realities of the Niger Bend,the Tamasheq political elite saw the politicians and inhabitants of the South asan overwhelming mass of religiously ignorant and uncivilised blacks, withwhom they had nothing in common and with whom they either had nothing todo or who they had previously dominated. Certainly, such people were unfit tocommand the Kel Tamasheq, especially since prior to the French conquest theKel Tamasheq had commanded them. Furthermore, the Kel Tamasheq leadersfeared that the nomad minority would be left out of politics and power if theywere included in the same state as this vast majority of sedentary Southerners.Like the US-RDA image of the Kel Tamasheq, Tamasheq fears about the US-RDA’s intentions held some truth.In his book Native Sons, Greg Mann argues that contemporary Mali, and inextenso Francophone West Africa, is as much a postslavery society as it is apostcolonial society, a phenomenon he holds to be perhaps more visible at thedesert edge than in Southern Mali. 6 In this chapter I will show that in the case ofNorthern Mali, the post in postcolonial is fully entwined with the post in postslaveryand that race indeed played, and indeed still plays, a major role in theperception of Tamasheq society and in the perceptions held in Tamasheq society.For the late colonial period it can be argued that it was in fact still partly aslavery society. Starting in 1946, the emancipation of these (former) slaves wastaken up by both the PSP and the US-RDA as a political rallying point in theircampaigns against French rule, as the persistence of servitude demonstrated thefailure of the French mission civilisatrice. Having its hands forced by politicalcampaigns, and in fear of social disturbance, the issue was subsequently takenup by the colonial administration. The ‘bellah question’, as the issue wasdubbed, developed its own dynamics through the agency of (former) slaves inTamasheq society. The issues of slavery, race, racism, and perceived colonialfavouritism toward Saharan societies were brought to a head by a notorious caseof slave trade from West Africa to Saudi Arabia in the 1950s, in which anumber of Tamasheq tribal chiefs were involved, or at least accused of beinginvolved. These two issues and the consequences they had for the way thefuture Malian administration would look at and subsequently deal with Tamasheqsociety will be at the centre of this chapter.6Mann, G. 2006: 7.