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REVOLUTION: TESHUMARA AND TANEKRA 203their identity from Islamic learning. Their name refers directly to the city ofEssuq Tademekkat, which they all claim to be their place of origin. Hence, inTamasheq discourse, as in that of many other peoples, Muslim scholarship isintimately linked to urban culture. In short: city, intercity caravan trade, and thewider Muslim world have been part of Tamasheq culture for at least a millennium.In that view, urban life and an outward look are not new. But the colonialperiod had changed things. The French focus on Tamasheq existence as nomadexistence, to the detriment of urban life; the competition of European tradehouses against the caravan trade; and the creation of colonial borders: Thesedevelopments had contributed to a retreat into pastoral nomad existence duringthe 20 th century. And of course, the droughts had taken away the means topursue traditional caravan trading to the cities or villages of the Sahara andSahel. Tamasheq city life had to be reinvented.As many other young Malians, many young Kel Tamasheq became involvedin a seasonal migration towards the cities to look for temporary jobs known asl’exode. 27 But as few new durable means of existence could be found in NorthernMali, many drought refugees stayed in their places of exile in Algeria,Libya, Niger and the rest of West Africa. The first Kel Tamasheq to migrate toAlgeria were the Kel Adagh fleeing army retaliation during Alfellaga. Theysettled in the border towns of Bordj Mokhtar, Ti-n-Zaouatene and especiallyTimeaouene, from where they could venture back into Mali with their herds totheir pasture grounds, to retreat back into Algeria where they were protectedfrom the Malian administration. Although these refugees became semi-sedentarised,they remained as close to home and as close to their way of life aspossible. It should be noted that, as elsewhere on the planet, cities can onlyexpand to the capacity of economic and infrastructural possibilities. Work orcommerce, water, food and energy should be available in pace with the growingpopulation. Many Kel Tamasheq chose their dwelling place according to theavailability of sufficient water and firewood, until the introduction of modernwells and pumps reaching the Saharan aquifers, subsidised food, transport andhorticulture, and canned butane gas for cooking. From Ti-n-Zaouatene, Timiaoueneand Bordj Mokhtar, the Kel Tamasheq diaspora spread out in a haphazardway, depending on family and tribal affiliation, the availability of workand means to live on, the spread of technique and commerce .28Since the 1970s, the towns of the central Sahara, both in Algeria and Libyaare booming. Conscious efforts to develop the Sahara and the Saharan towns bythe Algerian and Libyan Governments resulted in the attraction of migrantlabour from sub-Sahara Africa, notably the Sahel countries. By far the most2728Gary-Tounkara, D. 2008: 200.Bellil, R. & B. Dida 1995.