ASC-075287668-2887-01

REBELLION: AL-JEBHA 281tewsit had formerly protected others, this shifted to some extent to groups ofindividuals protecting others within the same tewsit.These conflicts between former illellan and tilaqqiwin, between formerlydominated and former dominators, came especially to the fore in what becameknown as the ‘fratricidal war’ between the ‘modernist’ ARLA and the ‘traditionalist’MPA in 1994. In February 1994, members of the ARLA ambushedand killed MPA’s second man Bilal Saloum. Bilal was a Kel Adagh of bellahorigins and a close friend to Iyad ag Ghali with whom he had fought inLebanon. Bilal had been a Colonel in the Libyan army, a rank he kept in theMPA. As a bellah, Bilal was the exception proving the rule of bellah absencewithin the movements. His high-ranking position within the MPA despite hisbellah origins was often presented by the MPA as denial of its traditionalistoutlook. As a high-ranking MPA officer, Bilal had integrated the mixed patrolscreated in 1993. In his function of officer and mixed patrol leader, he toured theAzawad region in search of ‘bandits’ or renegade rebels. On one of these patrolsARLA members ambushed and killed him. 50 The ARLA attackers took Bilal’sweapons, car and body with them. The MPA demanded the ARLA to returnBilal’s arms, car, and body. Failure to fulfil this demand would be taken as adeclaration of war. The ARLA sent a mission to fulfil the MPA demand, butthis mission was in turn ambushed by the MPA, who disarmed the ARLAfighters and injured their commander. In reaction to the MPA counter-attackARLA troops invaded Kidal on 6 March 1994 and kidnapped Intalla ag Attaher,the symbol of Ifoghas dominancy in the Adagh. The Ifoghas and their movement,the MPA, considered the kidnapping of their supreme leader an outrage.The next day an MPA unit attacked the ARLA forces, killing three ARLAfighters and capturing a number of their men, among whom their leaderAbderrahmane ag Galla. 51 An exchange of hostages was arranged and in April1994 a treaty was signed to close the ranks of the movements in view of anupcoming meeting between the MFUA and the Government in Tamanrasset.This did not end the conflict. In July 1994 ARLA fighters belonging to thetewsit Idnan conducted a new attack against the MPA near Ti-n-Essako. Finally,in August 1994, the MPA and Intalla ag Attaher’s private militia managed tooust the ARLA from its base at Tigharghar, with the logistical assistance of theMalian Armed Forces. By accident, Intalla had managed to obtain a number ofweapons from the Malian Armed Forces, destined to defend himself and hisentourage against attacks by the rebels. 52 In 1994, his militia, in alliance withthe Ifoghas movement MPA, would start a campaign to re-establish Ifoghas and505152‘MFUA. La mort du colonel Bilal fait monter la tension’, L’Essor, 26/02/1994.‘Nord. Le rapt d’Intallah fait monter la tension’, L’Essor, 08/03/1994.Klute, G. 2001: 421.