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EpilogueThe rebellion ended but despite the Flamme de la Paix ceremony, violenceremained an integral part of politics and everyday life in Northern Mali. TheMalian state made half-hearted attempts to reassume its powers in the North,while remaining faithful to its tradition to delegate state powers to local informalrulers. This delegation now included informal military power in thehands of local political elites, while at the same time efforts were made todisarm the local civilian population. Just how ephemeral these efforts in disarmamentwere became clear in a number of violent confrontations betweenlocal communities, despite the local peace treaties signed under the aegis of theBourem Pact. At the same time, the administrative decentralisation and implementationof local democracy meant that, after a short century of political dependenceand overlordship, the Kel Tamasheq could arrange their political lifemore freely. But here too, violence remained an integral part of the politicalprocess. Finally, in May 2006, almost exactly ten years after the Flamme de laPaix ceremony, a number of former rebels took up arms again in what seemedto be a renewed rebellion.What had changed by that time however, was the global position of theregion. Over the past decade, Kidal grew from one of the most isolated spots onthe planet to being a small global hub. After the rapid modernisation of the KelTamasheq world from the 1970s onwards, there followed a rapid globalisationof that world (again, I use both terms offhandedly in their popular sense). Fromthe 1950s onwards, more and more Kel Tamasheq left their homeland in searchfor work, new ways of life, and political and military experiences to furthertheir cause of a Tamasheq homeland. Now that the rebellion was over, theworld came to that homeland. African migrants en route for Europe or Libyaturned Kidal from a backwater into a small cosmopolitan city, while internationaltraffic and commerce, ranging between the customary Algerian foodstuffsto Colombian coke, provided income and provisions to the community, andturned it into a hub of renewed trans-Saharan trade. The takoubilt festivals,originally intended to further peace, attracted Western tourists, while Arabs