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CREATING MALI 57Moroccan AJM members. With the creation of the Nahda in Mauritania, aSoudanese branch of the party was created with sections around Kayes andNara. Later, local sections were founded in Timbuktu and Gao as well. With theFrench-Moroccan war in West Sahara and Mauritania at its height, the Nahdaunder Bouyagui’s leadership became more pronouncedly pro-Moroccan, whilemaintaining the idea of a greater Mauritania. The French and the Soudanesepolitical elite feared that the Bidân from Soudan Français would come intocontact with the ALM via the Nahda. Many observers were apprehensive of amassive Bidân exodus from Soudan Français to Mauritania.The Soudanese leaders do not seem to have worried as much about theMoroccan claims as they did about the French OCRS project, but they wouldhave been well aware of Bidân support for the Moroccan cause, propagated byBouyagui’s Nahda. In return to this threat, the US-RDA laid claim on parts ofMauritania, especially on the Cercle of Timbedgha, which it had lost to Mauritaniain 1944. 91 In 1959 problems arose in the Cercle when a dispute broke outamong the local Bidân political elite about election results. As a consequencesome of them retreated to their pasture areas in Soudan Français, from wherethey demanded the reintegration of Timbedgha in Soudan Français. Anotherpart of the disgruntled joined with yet another small Mauritanian party: theUnion des Originaires de la Mauritanie du Sud, which defended the interests ofthe riverain sedentary population along the Senegal River. These political forcescreated the Union Nationale Mauritanienne (UNM), which demanded theintegration of Mauritania in the Mali federation. This would solve the problemsof trans-border migrations of the Bidân population of the border area and ensurethe position of the sedentary population along the Senegal. Both the UNM andthe Bidân of Timbedgha were actively supported by the US-RDA, especially intheir claims to join the Mali federation, angering Mokhtar ould Daddah. 92 In1959, Mokhtar ould Daddah managed to unite all Mauritanian political partiesinto one single party, the Parti du Peuple Mauritanien. 93 Together with theUnion Nationale Mauritanienne, the Nahda was dissolved, its aspirations unfulfilled.The break-up of the Mali federation a year later was greeted with relief inMauritania, but the border dispute and the Malian threat were not over. From1960 onwards, Mali actively supported the persisting Moroccan claims onMauritania. Border incidents proliferated between 1960 and 1961, culminatingin the assassination of the administrator of the nomad population in the MauritanianCercle of Nema, which Mauritania accused to have been plotted by919293Ould Daddah, M. 2003: 195-211.Ibid.Marchesin, P. 1994.