ASC-075287668-2887-01

MALI’S MISSION CIVILISATRICE 117If it wanted to integrate French-educated Kel Tamasheq, the Malian Governmenthad no other option than to recruit members of the Kel Intessar tribe whohad a reasonable level of education thanks to the Collège Nomade in Diré. Butdue to their background, these Kel Tamasheq administrators would never befully trusted by the Keita Government either. Former Kel Intessar chief MohamedAli was in exile in the Middle East and North Africa, due to the Awad elDjouh affair. Besides, he was a former PSP stalwart, and from his place of exilein Morocco he had furthered the cause of a Tamasheq state, or inclusion ofTamasheq country in the Maghreb states. Mohamed Ali’s pupils – those KelIntessar he had managed to integrate in the Saudi, Egyptian and Libyan educationalsystems – were suspected of anti-Malian sentiments as well. Althougheducated, and although the present chief of the Kel Intessar, Mohamed Elmehdi,was an important US-RDA member, Malian leaders felt that the Kel Intessarcould not be entirely trusted. This distrust, although undoubtedly other motivationsexisted as well, resulted in a large number of administrative posts in theNorth not being given to these educated Tamasheq, to the discontent of theexcluded. In August 1961, Zeïni ag Hamouta, a Kel Intessar school teacher inTimbuktu, wrote a letter to Minister of the Interior Madeira Keita:We both agree that the nomadic populations of the Niger Bend have participated inthe expulsion of the enemy and in the destruction of the OCRS chimera. Therefore,their rights within the nation should be respected. We want a two colour government,in which both sedentary people and nomads figure. (...) The nomadic populationsof the Niger Bend consider the sedentary representatives as usurpers in Goundam,Timbuktu, [and] Gao. To be recognisable, one needs a bi-coloured [bi-couleur]representation. We do not have a nomad minister since we do not have nomadrepresentatives; we do not have nomad representatives since our sub-section committeesconsist solely of sedentary people, and the regional congresses work underpolitical boycotts (the fractions are not represented). In fact, the representatives andthe politicians of the Niger Bend have never approved of a nomad with politicalresponsibilities (local or national), and that is the real racism, since we want to trustour affairs to capable men, nomadic or sedentary. 5In November that year, Zeïni was joined in his protest by Mohamed Ayoul agMohamed, another Kel Intessar, who wrote a letter of the same purport toModibo Keita himself, in the name of the Kel Intessar party committees.We thank God who has taken us out of slavery and who gave us our freedom. Also,glory to God, who saved us from the hands of the Christians and who lets us becommanded by Muslims, because of our understanding and our unity. (...) We arevery happy to see our enemies (the French) leave the country. The chiefs of thenomad committees wish you a long life, Mister President, while presenting you withthis letter to tell you that we Malians, we have only found our freedom through5Lettre de Zeïni ag Hamouta, professeur d’école à Tombouctou, à Monsieur leMinistre de l’Intérieur et de l’Information. Tombouctou, 21/08/1961. ACK.