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146 CHAPTER 3gerian independence. The presence of Clauzel and other former colonial officerswho had served in Soudan Français inspired distrust. Would they stay in Algeria,uninterested in Mali, or would they take the opportunity to spark unrestand rekindle the OCRS fire within the Adagh? Although the Malian Governmentlacked any tangible evidence of their further interest in Northern Mali,clearly these ‘agents of neo-colonialism’ could not be trusted. In October 1960,Minister of the Interior Madeira Keita wrote a circular to the Commandants inthe North about the possible presence of French spies and agitators in Mali.I have the honour to inform you that it has been brought to my attention that Frenchmendisguised as Bidân might have been sent from Senegal through Mauritania, inorder to spread subversion in the Republic of Mali. The elements concerned haveserved a long time in the Sahel and speak Bidân without accent. To mislead thepopulation, the elements concerned could visit the mosques, nomad camps, theycould act piously, recruit informers, select reconnaissance posts, introduce and distributefirearms, explosives and radio transmitters and receivers. 73These French subverters would be accompanied by young Kel Intessar whohad been educated abroad in Libya and at al-Azhar through the efforts of the‘anti-national’ Mohamed Ali ag Attaher Insar. In this atmosphere, any rumourconcerning the French was directly reported. Another document in the Kidalarchives contained a statement by Touhaya ag Bacrine, questioned by MohamedMahmoud, Chef de Poste at Tessalit, upon his return from Tamanrassetwhere he worked for a French official.I came back definitively to my country which is Mali, because I heard the Europeansat Tamanrasset say a war will break out between the French and the Malians to keepthe Efelings leaders in power in Mali. Yesterday night, upon leaving Timiaouene, Ileft [I saw] two aeroplanes, which brought arms and ammunitions to the base. (...)Upon our arrival at Tamanrasset, commander Clozé [Clauzel] and Captain Dogare[Godart] received us and invited us to tell them on Mali, that they would each giveus 10,000 metropolitan francs. Moussa and I gave them some information (here iswhat we said to those two French officers, Mali is poor, we die of famine, there isno grain, we eat the excrements of donkeys, there is no work, there are some Maliansoldiers who occupy the French air base at Tessalit. The Efeling leaders are numerousin Mali, especially in Kidal and Tessalit). (...) In my presence, Captain Dogarehas sent Agaly ag Boubacar to Kidal to inquire what is happening in Mali. Agaly agBoubacar returned saying to the Captain that Mali does no longer exist and that theEfelings rule from now on. 747374Missive confidentielle Ministre de l’Administration Territorial et de Sûreté à tousCercles et Subdivisions, 18/10/1960. ACK. Indeed, in 1961, the French army interferedmilitarily in Mauritania. Guillemin, J. 1982: 136.Déclaration de Touhaya ag Bacrine à Chef de Poste Tessalit, n.d. (September 1961).ACK. It is unclear who exactly Touahya meant with ‘efelings’. They could be eitherof two parties: The FLN or the Kel Effele, the Ifoghas fraction to which the family