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94 CHAPTER 2lished. Many slaves indeed managed to reach the ballot boxes in the elections tocome. They interpreted their vote as an act of liberation, calling the votingbulletins ‘freedom papers’. 51 The effect of these elections in the Ménaka areawas that many slaves left their masters, taking part of their masters’ herds withthem. The end result was twofold. First the colonial administration finally tookthe issue of prolonged servitude of the former slaves seriously, and tookmeasures to promote their social and economic emancipation. Second, the US-RDA took ‘la question bellah’ as its battle horse in the North and did notdismount until the fall of their regime in 1968.The persistence of slavery in Soudan Français gave the US-RDA an argumentto put French presence into question. After all, continuing Frenchgovernance over Africans was publicly based on the idea of the mission civilicatricefrançaise. The abolition of slavery was part of that mission. The openfailure to put this practice to an end undermined the colonial raison d’être. Sureenough, servile conditions persisted (and persist) in all Soudanese societies. 52But continued servitude was (and is) literally most visible among the Bidân andthe Kel Tamasheq. First, the difference in appearance between former slavesand former masters can be seen, if not in physiognomy, then in bodily andsocial habitus. Second, in the Sahara, the colonial administration had not developedthe infrastructure or policies that had helped to emancipate the slaves inother parts of AOF. There were few villages de liberté – liberty villages – andless labour or army recruitment which had offered slaves the means to leavetheir masters elsewhere. 53 The few villages de liberté that did exist in the Northwere situated in the Niger Bend; further north they were entirely lacking. 54Pastoral existence in general and a lack of herd ownership in particular made itdifficult for former slaves to leave their masters while remaining in their regionof origin. This is especially true in the extreme north where agriculture isvirtually impossible. However, it was less valid in the Niger Bend where agricultureis possible and where many former slaves lived in villages and practisedagriculture. Finally, colonial policy towards slavery in Tamasheq society wasbased on political interests. Collaborating groups, such as the Kel Hoggar andthe Kel Adagh, had been allowed to keep their slaves and even to acquire somemore, while resisting groups, such as the Ouillimiden Kel Ataram and KelDenneg, saw their former slaves being diverted from their influence. 55Thus, the efforts of the US-RDA to abolish servitude, the most prominent ofall social inequalities, became focused on Tamasheq and Bidân society. Another5152535455Forgeot, A. 1955, CHEAM 2577. Also Klein, M. 1998.Mann, G. 2006.Winter, M. 1984.Bouche, D. 1968; Mariko, K. 1993.Klute, G. 1995.