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EPILOGUE 321In most of Mali the new democratic Communes were put in place in 1996.However, the Région of Gao had to wait until 1998 and Kidal even until June1999 before elections took place. Most of the new Communes were createdalong the lines of the old Arrondissements within the Cercles, but in manyplaces the new administrative structure reopened old land tenure conflictsbetween communities. This was the case in the North as much as in the South.They were, however, played out less openly, since the rebellion could no longerbe taken as a pretext for open violence. Nevertheless, the revolt had shown thatthe Government could not prevent men from carrying arms and using them.Those fractions with more combat experience, courageous men and betterarmament saw themselves as fit to protect their vested interests in certain areas,and felt they had a certain right to do so. One such a conflict was the fight overthe wells of Tedjerert, a small hamlet on the border between Kidal and Ménaka,which was disputed by three main fractions in the area: the Iforgoumoussen; theChemennamas; and the Ishidenharen. Drawn in 1948, the border between theseantagonistic parties goes from well to well, without any specifications about therights to use these wells themselves. Violent conflicts over the wells at Tedjerertoccurred in 1948 and 1974, during the drought, but the worst came in September1997, when a fight between Iforgoumoussen and Chemennamas leftseveral people dead around the wells, whereupon both parties took to theirvehicles and drove into the Tamesna plain to pursue their fight. The areabetween the wells of Tedjerert (and other wells, like Ibalaghan and Sahin) andthe Tamesna plain north of it were an administrative imbroglio. After therebellion local politicians from all sides and sorts – traditional chiefs, newlyelected communal counselors and mayors, former rebels – tried to get theboundaries changed in their favour. Formally, Tedjerert belongs to the MénakaCercle and, after the decentralisation, to the Commune of Tidarmène. In 1999,during the communal elections, a number of former rebel fighters from theKidal area led by Ibrahim Bahanga, a fighter from the Iforgoumoussen tribe,kidnapped the election committee at Tidarmène to emphasise the claim thatTedjerert should be relocated to the Région of Kidal, within the ‘Commune-tobe-created’of In Tedjedit. Bahanga did not act alone. He had at least the tacitsupport of a number of traditional leaders in Kidal. His demands were not acceptedin Bamako and thus the conflict continued. In December 2000, IbrahimBahanga attacked an army patrol, killed its leading officer and took four menhostage, a tactics he would repeatedly use in the coming years. After tumultuousnegotiations led by his former commanding officer Iyad ag Ghali, Bahangareleased his hostages in February 2001, in exchange for the creation of the InTedjedit Commune of which he himself became the Mayor. Tedjerert however,remained within the Ménaka borders. On the day of the Tidarmène kidnapping,I witnessed the events at the house of a local politician, where most of the tribal