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EPILOGUE 327addition, American troops were stationed in Gao and Timbuktu, making regularpatrols towards Kidal.Meanwhile, internal politics in Kidal reached the boiling point. Local politicalpowers and the new powers of the state became more and more enmeshed,while at the same time these two different political structures had to faceintertwined crises. In the late 1990s an old generation of tribal leaders passedaway, creating a power vacuum in the chieftaincy dimension. While indulgingin some cases in internal struggles over tribal power, the chiefly lineages andtheir clans at the same time tried to grab the new decentralised democracy. Inturn, the members of the new political elites – former rebel leaders, ishumar andevolués – tried to strengthen their influence in local politics by either (again)disputing the legitimacy of chiefly power, or by even trying to become tribalchiefs themselves. In January 1999 Inguida ag Hibba, amenokal of the TaghatMellet died. His replacement went smoothly within the tribe, although it isnoteworthy that, for a short time, his function was taken over by Intalla agAttaher until the Taghat Mellet had found their new leader. This is significant asa demonstration of the power the Ifoghas could exercise over some of the othertribes in the Adagh. But this was not at all the case when Attaher ag Bissaada,the amenokal of the Idnan, died that same month. His death left the Idnanbitterly divided over his succession, which was violently disputed by theTalkast and Taitoq clans. 21 This dispute severely hampered ‘Doe’, a member ofanother Idnan clan, the Inheren, in her struggle to become Mayor of Kidal andgave new chances to the Kel Effele, the clan of the amenokal of the Ifoghas, tostrengthen their grip on the new democracy. By the new millennium, Intalla agAttaher, amenokal of the Adagh, had aged considerably. In June 2005 he had acar accident, which left him paralysed, but he did not die, leaving himnominally in power though effectively powerless. 22 Thus, other contestants tothe title of amenokal could come to the fore. Within the Ifoghas, the position ofleading clan had long been contested between the ruling Kel Effele and theIrayakan clans. This competition had last been in the open in the 1940s and1950s, when Alla ag Albachir, an Irayakan, defied the French authorities asmuch as he defied the authority of amenokal Attaher ag Illi. Now the Irayakanagain had a powerful contestant to Kel Effele supremacy: Iyad ag Ghali, formerrebel leader and leader of the Irayakan clan. Despite his extremely powerfulposition based on his prestige as rebel commander, leader of the MPA, andColonel in the Malian Army, Iyad held no formal power position within either2122Moussa ag Intazoume. “Quelle sécurité pour le Nord? Cas spécifique de Kidal étudeprospective des conflits dans la Région de Kidal”. (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2005).http//library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/mali/03534.pdfKidal info. Forum in Tamasheq Subject: Attayoub Author: Taywan Date 24/06/200513H02. http://www.kidal.info/Forum/TQ/lire.php?msg=78