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ALFELLAGA 173behaviour and warrior conduct was still expected from the Malian forces, asbecomes clear from the following account by Mohamed wan Daghada.Interviewer: You, who have experienced the conflict of 1963, does the present oneremind you of it? Are things better at present in your opinion?Mohamedd wan Daghada: They are two different wars that do not resemble eachother at all. The first conflict, which was ours, was played out in broad daylight. (...)As soon as they brought me the news [of a skirmish near a camp], we took to theroad, at night, and we travelled all night to arrive. In the early morning we werejoined by other groups; Elledi’s, Azzezen’s, and Didari wan Ibelouten’s group. I toldthe group that the soldiers were very close to the camps and in those conditions wecould not attack them. The others replied they agreed and that we should warn thesoldiers. I went to look for two women, Badaweise and her little sister Tichya – themother of this young man – whom I asked to go and warn the soldiers. I told thewomen to go and tell them there was a group of men with bad intentions and thatthey should leave. Badaweise went to see them and she called aside a goumier of theIdnan tribe who is called Mohamed wan Kharam Kharam, to whom she said:“Today, I have seen a group of men who do not belong to you and who are scary”.The goumier asked her who they were and the women replied that it was a largegroup from which she knew no one and which prepared for attack. The goumierasked: “What are we going to do (...) Should we run away”? The women replied thatno, they should not flee. While Mohamed – the father of this young man – andmyself took positions, surrounding the enemy, one of ours, Ikhlou Saloum openedfire and the fight started immediately. The firing had alerted the people in the campwho fled. Combat went on until the destruction of one of the vehicles of the enemy.They had wounded men too, which forced them to fight in retreat. 40Mohamed wan Daghada makes clear that his war does not resemble thesecond rebellion at all. His war was fought in broad daylight, in open combat(apparently in contrast to the behaviour of the new generation of fighters), andafter announcement. He makes clear that he and his fellow ifulagen made sureno civilians fell victim in the fight if they could help it. They would not fightthe Malian army in the vicinity of camps. Thus, he first went to the camp towarn the inhabitants, and then had a message sent to the Malians soldiers toinvite them for combat elsewhere. This message was passed through the intermediaryof a woman to whom, the ifulagen trusted, no harm would be done.Only then the ifulagen engaged in combat, leaving time for the civilians to bringthemselves to safety. In the first months of the conflict, the main aims of attackalso followed the rules of aqqa and tewet. The ifulagen primarily raided thecamel herds of the goum units of Kidal and the GNIG14, probably withoutannouncement and with the aim to loot, which made them tewet attacks. A first40Interview by Ibrahim ag Litny with Mohamed wan Daghada. Kidal, August 1994.Courtesy of Georg Klute.