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ALFELLAGA 179clude extreme obesity brought about by fattening from early adolescence. 57Many Kel Adagh tried to live up to these noble values with devastating effectsfor the women involved when forced to perform hard physical labour. Even forthose women who were accustomed to work within the Tamasheq householdeconomy, fabricating clay bricks was a totally alien occupation that struck themas utterly humiliating. Not unsurprisingly, many women had to endure physicaland sexual harassment by their guards. Some were forced into marriage orconcubinage since their husbands or male relatives were (presumed) rebels,prisoners, or dead.I have the honour to send to you Atakora Oueled Sikema, originating from yourArrondissement, for the following reasons: (...) In fact, the concerned is at presentunder the threat of the knife of one of the co-wives of the gendarme Mallet Keïtawho insists on marrying her despite her irregular situation. It is most important toconsider that the presence of this woman in Tessalit is harmful to Mister MalletKeïta’s family and risks producing grave consequences in the future, since the manadamantly insists on making her live in his house without entering into a legal marriagecontract. 58The forced marriages were unbearable in many ways. First of all, some ofthese women were already married or engaged, but with their husbands andmale relatives away or dead, they had no choice but to accept their situation. Ionce heard a story about the Kel Adagh wife of a former officer who served inthe Adagh during Alfellaga. Her husband imposed his marriage proposal bykilling most of her male relatives in front of her eyes. Whether this story is trueor apocryphal is beside the point here. The existence of these stories informs uson what Kel Adagh think has happened and on their opinion on the MalianArmed Forces’ lack of civilisation in warfare and the taking of booty. Apocryphalor not, it is certainly true that many Malian soldiers and officers whoserved in the Adagh married Kel Adagh women, especially of free descent andof pale complexion, whom they regarded as prestigious prizes to take home tothe South. In the 1970s and 1980s, marrying a career soldier serving in theNorth became an exit strategy out of misery for many Kel Tamasheq women,causing much disturbance among Tamasheq men who regarded these marriagesas a further cause of collective social shame. Second, in Kel Adagh society, asin all Tamasheq societies, monogamy is the norm. To these Kel Adagh women,their status as co-wife must have been equivalent to being a concubine, a positionpreviously only held by women of slave origins. Her new role as wife to anon-Tamasheq also brought her tasks she was unaccustomed to performing:5758So far this important aspect of Tamasheq and Bidân culture has generated only oneserious study. Popenoe, R. 2004.Chef d’Arrondissement de Tessalit à Chef d’Arrondissement d’Aguelhoc, 25/02/1965. ACK.