ASC-075287668-2887-01

REBELLION: AL-JEBHA 263The ‘confused’ rebellion: January 1991 to February 1994In the first six months of the rebellion, the movement had no fixed name. TheArabic terms al-Jebha (the front) and ath-Thawra (the revolution), or theTamasheq term Tanekra (the uprising), were used internally. To the outsideworld, the names Mouvement de Libération Touareg; Mouvement de Libérationde l’Azawad; and even Mouvement de Libération Malien were used. TheTamanrasset Agreement changed this. Although only one man signed the agreementon behalf of the rebels, Iyad ag Ghali, he did so in the name of twomovements; the Mouvement Populaire de l’Azawad (MPA), and the FrontIslamique Arabe de l’Azawad (FIAA). Where the MPA represented the KelTamasheq, the FIAA represented the Bidân members of the movement. TheBidân feared that their contribution to the movement might be underestimatedand that they would be left out of the negotiations with the Malian authorities,despite sharing the problems of their Tamasheq ishumar colleagues. This problemwas solved by creating a separate movement with its own name to representthe Bidân section within the movement. The FIAA was nevertheless representedby the paramount leader of the movement, Iyad ag Ghali. It is in factunclear whether or not Bidân representatives were present during the Tamanrassetnegotiations. One informant even stated that the Bidân only joined themovement and the negotiations at the last moment, in fear of being left out.During the preliminary contacts between the movement and Tamasheq tribalchiefs no Bidân representative was present. However, during the later phases ofthe rebellion the FIAA and its representatives would play crucial roles. Thecreation of the MPA, both the name and the movement it came to represent, ismore complicated. The Tamanrasset Agreement did not bring an end to hostilities.In February 1991 rebel units attacked the village of Bourem. In March, thevillages of Tonka and Goundam followed. The attacks were claimed by theFront Populaire de Libération de l’Azawad (FPLA), a name the movement hadalso sometimes used previous to the Tamanrasset Agreement. Where the creationof two movements during the negotiations in Tamanrasset – one KelTamasheq and one Bidân – had not been the result of a serious political orideological divide within the movement, the creation of the MPA and FPLA canbe analysed as resulting from ideological and political differences within themovement. These can be retraced through the negotiations leading to theTamanrasset Agreement. The ideological conflict within the movement boileddown to the principles of the rebellion: Fighting for independence, or not. Thestart of a hot debate can already be read in the minutes of the meeting betweenthe movement and the chief delegates of the Malian Government in October1990.