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228 CHAPTER 5I have a question for my brothers in my nationConsider the situation you are in 77Egha can thus be seen as an emotion in itself: Hatred and the pain ofpowerlessness and revenge for any wrong committed, not just a wrong againstone’s honour. In Chapter 4, I have briefly explained the role of egha in Alfellaga,the 1963 rebellion. It is possible that feelings of egha were not stronglypresent among the former ifulagen after the rebellion was over. After all, aswarriors they had been able to immediately counter the strikes of the Malianarmy. But it is clear that those who witnessed Alfellaga as victims, and whosurvived, took strong feelings of egha towards those they saw as ‘the Malians’or ‘Mali’. These victims were the women and children, who hold feelings ofegha but do not have the social means to act out revenge since they cannotwield arms. Revenge is in violence only. Many of these children would laterjoin the Teshumara and the Tanekra movement.In 1963, Mali rose in its entirety against the Kel Tamasheq and started to kill people.They killed the camels too, and put everyone in prison in Kidal. The Kel Tamasheqlived through a war that was really (...) a real massacre. And me, I grew up seeingall this, and in my youthfulness I grew a really, really strong hatred. In those yearsan incredibly grave obligation fell upon us. It was they who owned us, like hostages.All young people of my age in that period had the same hatred, the same sentimentof being recolonised, and that caused a great feeling of hate in us. 78Acts of revenge are not necessarily committed against those who caused theoriginal feelings of wrath. They can be inflicted upon others who embody thesame entity that caused wrath. Thus, the killing of Malian soldiers by the rebelsin 1990 avenged the death of their parents killed by the Malian army in 1963.Of course, revenge provokes new feelings of hatred among those against whomrevenge has been taken, which can cause new reasons for vengeance. The KelTamasheq are fully aware of this cycle, but it seems to be accepted as inevitable.It is better to avenge and await new actions than to remain passive.At first sight, feelings of egha about Alfellaga and the contracted debt withMali would be limited to the Kel Adagh and those few groups outside theAdagh who assisted them. It could therefore be argued that the Tanekramovement should have been limited to the Kel Adagh if egha was the mainexplanation for the Tanekra and the second rebellion. There are a number ofarguments to counter this idea. First, as we shall see below, the Kel Adaghindeed played a leading role in the Tanekra movement for long, and some even7778Part of the lyrics of Matedjem Yinmixan (What is this division). Keddu ag Ossad,Mali, 1994. Available on: Tinariwen, 2007. Aman Iman. World Village, 468067.Interview with Mohamed Lamine ag Mohamed Fall. Kidal, 27/12/1998. In theTamasheq original the word egha was used where it is here translated as hatred orhate.