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318 EPILOGUEreceived electricity. Abundance seemed to return and so did the refugees fromthe conflict. By the end of 1998, about 130,000 of the total estimated 160,000international Kel Tamasheq refugees had returned. Even the Kel Essuq KelTakailelt, who had fled to Niger after the massacre of their tribe and zawiyanear Gao in October 1994, did return. In June 1999, the UNHCR closed itsmission in Northern Mali. Those Kel Tamasheq who had not remained nomadiccould find means of existence in other ways. After the rebellion was over, thetrans-Saharan traffic in consumer goods, set up in the 1970s, grew in importance.Apart from the basic consumer goods smuggled from Algeria (oil, sugar,flour, pasta, dates, essence), smuggler trade evolved in electronics, cars, arms,cigarettes, and, more recently, drugs. The most lucrative of these forms of tradeis the transport of cigarettes along the ‘Marlboro Road’ that stretches fromMauritania, via Mali and Niger to Algeria and Libya and, finally, to Europe.This trade in consumer goods was doubled by a lively traffic in prospectiveAfrican migrants to the Maghreb and Europe. The tightening of securitymeasures against illegal immigrants in ‘Fortress Europe’, together with thegrowing marginality of young men on the continent, led to a growing trans-Saharan traffic from West to North Africa, in which Kidal grew to become atransport hub for young Africans en route for the Mediterranean coast. Anotherimportant source of income came from international donor-money for thereconstrucion of Northern Mali. The Timbuktu roundtable in 1995 had providedvast amounts of money for the peace process. Part of this money was spent on abuilding-boom in the North. The administrative decentralisation discussedbelow brought about the necessity to build a vast amount of new governmentbuildings, as well as new schools, health care centres and other facilities. Somelong awaited and very necessary infrastructure was finally put in place. On 22September 2006, on the celebration of Malian independence, the WabariaBridge connecting Gao to the right bank of the Niger was inaugurated. It hasdecisively contributed to the economic connection of the North to the rest ofMali. Telephone, both landlines and mobile phones, as well as internet wereintroduced between 1996 and 2002, connecting Northern Mali to the globalisationhype spanning the world. Kidal now has its own website: Kidal.info.With more or less success, depending on their work experiences as ishumar,many former rebels started construction companies, winning a good deal of thebuilding contracts written out under the development programmes. After theFlamme de la Paix ceremony, a large-scale Disarm Demobilise and Reintegrate(DDR) programme started with the integration of former fighters in civil life. 55From 1996 till December 1999 this programme was known under the name Programmed’Appui à la Réinsertion des ex-Combattants au Mali, PAREM. From 2000onwards it was known as Consolidation des Acquis de la Réinsertion au Nord,