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REVOLUTION: TESHUMARA AND TANEKRA 245animosity is now presented as complicated and dating from the early colonialdays. The Ifoghas form the largest tewsit within the Adagh, followed by theIdnan. At the advent of colonial conquest, both tribes held a precarious powerbalance, which was upset when the colonial administration gave preference andpolitical power to the Ifoghas. Their leader, Attaher ag Illi, was made amenokalover the federation and therefore held power over the chiefs of other tewsiten.The Ifoghas at present contend they had held formal power well before thearrival of the French. They had created an ettebel, or political federation, in theearly 19 th century. The Idnan do not deny the existence of this Ifoghas federation,but they do deny that it had power over the Idnan. Some Idnan evenargue that they had made their own ettebel – the drum, symbol of politicalpower – shortly before French arrival, but that the French denied this ettebel itslegitimacy as symbol of supremacy over the other tribes because they preferredthe Ifoghas at the head of the federated Kel Adagh. In short, the struggle overpower within and over the Kel Adagh federation is presented to date back atleast a century. This power struggle gained new historical context and meaningin the 1980s in the struggle over leadership within the Tanekra. In reading thefollowing interview excerpt with Kel Ifoghas Mohamed Lamine ag MohamedFall, one has to keep in mind that of the four initial leaders of the Tanekra – theformer ifulagen Issouf ag Cheick, Amegha ag Sherif, Younes ag Ayyouba andElledi ag Alla – the two most important were Idnan and that the younger men inthe movement, notably those of Ifoghas descent, challenged their power andintentions.In 1985, Algeria started to understand what was happening. Algeria still workedwith Issouf and they asked Issouf: “you told us that you were the leader of all theKel Tamasheq and now we see that the movement develops more and more”. Issouftold them: “That is because of the Ifoghas. They are stronger than I am, I cannotcommand them”. The Algerians asked him what to do. He replied that they shouldbe weakened and to weaken them, all their leaders should be arrested. The restwould be weak. They arrested about eighty men among the leaders. The soldiersburned all the houses at Tamanrasset, at Timiaouene, at Djanet, the houses of theIfoghas. They started to beat people up and to arrest the Ifoghas or their parents. TheIfoghas left for Libya and for other countries. That was in October 1985. It continueduntil August 1986. 107This is generally known as the ‘Tamanrasset War’, after its main location inthis Algerian town. The story is here presented from an Ifoghas point of view,and the allegations made at the address of the Idnan should be seen in this light.What is clear, however, is that during 1985 a large number of Ifoghas and otherKel Tamasheq in Tamanrasset were arrested. Also, a small number of murders107Interview with Mohamed Lamine ag Mohamed Fall. Kidal, 27/12/1998. Idnan interlocutorswere less inclined to elaborate on this episode.