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REBELLION: AL-JEBHA 303and organised the meetings. The meetings were organised on the initiative oflocal powerbrokers: Fraction chiefs; the heads of local NGOs; and powerfulformer rebels. The organisers sought the financial support of foreign NGOs whooften provided means of transport and money to buy the necessary food for theparticipants: Rice; sheep and goats; tea and sugar. Invitations to all communitiesinvolved were then extended, as well as to the local administration (often alsoinvolved in the organisation), which often formally presided over the meeting.The meetings involved extensive discussion between representatives of all tewsiten,often by mouth of the chiefs or religious leaders, on development; disarmament;banditry; and land and water tenure. Festivities, such as camel races,dance parties, and concerts by Tinariwen or other local bands, complementeddiscussions. The takoubilt meetings still form part of the political landscape inNorthern Mali, although a number of them have become world music festivalsand tourist attractions.History, a source for the justification of hate in the previous months, wasnow invoked to reconcile the warring parties. Whereas in early 1994 the GandaKoy stressed the otherness of the Kel Tamasheq and the historical differencebetween Songhay and Kel Tamasheq, now the common history and origins ofthe two peoples were presented.Even legend has cursed war between Songhay and Tuareg. Everyone who travels theNiger River knows the two stones called the Targui and the Songhay. According tolegend, they were two warriors of the same mother. The one had a Tuareg father, theother a Songhay father. During ethnic troubles each was ready to defend his father’sside. Despite their mother’s tears, they were ready to attack each other. God changedthem into stones looking at each other without ever touching. 93Another element used in normalising relationships was the concept ofsenankuya: Joking relationships between cousins or ethnic groups. Like in Tamasheqsociety, Mande social relationships are largely based on hierarchies andinequalities. These hierarchies and inequalities are mostly expressed throughage or generation and kinship relations, finding expression and justification inthe Sunjata epic or like epics in the Mande culture area. The social inequalitybetween group members is the fundamental principle of day-to-day socialinteraction between individuals. 94 However, they cannot form the basis ofinteraction between groups of strangers. The institution of the joking relationship,or senankuya in Bamanakan, helps to overcome this handicap. Jokingrelationships allow the denial of hierarchy through the ritualised exchange ofstandardised jokes and insults. Non-hierarchical relations exist on the familylevel between cross cousins and between grandparents and grandchildren. They9394‘Un regard de plus sur le problème du Nord’, Le Tambour, 22/11/1994.See Jansen, J. & C. Zobel, eds, 1996; and Nathan, F. 1972.