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242 CHAPTER 5They serve as an explanation for a development that still puzzles and embittersmany former organisers of the Tanekra: Why was there so much infighting,discord and outright hostility within the movement? Whereas in theory theTanekra strove towards the unity of all the Kel Tamasheq in one nationalmovement, in practice this unity was not reached at all. What foreclosed unitybetween all the Kel Tamasheq was a substratum of older political practiceswithin Tamasheq society: The wish for hierarchy; and the validation of groupaffiliation through confrontation along the faultlines of tribe and clan. Internalpolitical culture ingrained the idea that unity had to be reached under the aegisof one group. But which group? That would remain constantly open to dispute,leading to open friction and even conflict between factions, based on tribalaffiliation.The FPLSAC episode had as its only salutary effect the training of a largenumber of Kel Tamasheq soldiers. But most of the Malian and Nigerienishumar, especially those who had volunteered for Lebanon, did not see theFPLSAC representing their cause. In Lebanon, the ishumar had maintained anorganisation of their own, in close contact with Palestinian hosts of the PopularFront for the Liberation of Palestine. A few documents on the structure of bothFPLSAC and the organisation in Lebanon survived as correspondence in thePLO archives, which were captured by the Israeli army during operation Peacefor Galilee. 99 From the documents, it becomes clear that the Tanekra organisationin Lebanon had gained organisational strength, and that it had disconnecteditself from the defunct FPLSAC. The official dominancy of Nigeriensand Arabs within the FPLSAC, as well as the name of the movement itself,were looked upon with disfavour by many Kel Adagh Tanekra leaders. As thevolunteers in Lebanon wrote to their Palestinian superiors:At the congress of el-Homs, at which the organisation was founded, the selectedrepresentatives did not represent the people, neither in their personalities, nor intheir targets. And it happened that they did not listen to the representatives of thepeople, despite what they said as members of the executive office. As an example ofthis: The person that was appointed as general secretary of the organisation was notpresent at this congress and was not known among the people, nor among its representatives.100During the early 1980s, the Tanekra movement in Libya and Algeria remaineddivided and loosely structured. Treason and internal mistrust had fracturedthe fragile FPLSAC structure. Limam Chafi, its Secretary General, hadbeen arrested in Algeria. The Malian Government had been informed of the99A selection from these archives, including a small number of documents on theTamasheq movement, were published. Israeli, R., ed., 1983. Documents 56, 57, 58.100Letter by the Tanekra representatives in Lebanon to the PLO. Document 56A-1(dated October 1981). In: Ibid. 195. Translated by Paul Schrijver.