Ambiguous relations in the Sahel region

The Southern Times
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Opinion & Analysis
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Ambiguous relations in the Sahel region



This is the first of a two-part article by Bankie F Bankie, in which he looks at the Afro-Arab relations in the Sahel region.

"There are sizeable Black African populations in south Libya, northern Chad and south Algeria - but less in the latter. I can hardly see any African-Arab borderlands in 100-1000 years. The African people will be freed and taking a lead, turning the tables on the oppressors". Garba Diallo (a Mauritanian)

"Chad is a Black nation with a minority of Arabs in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Yes, southern Libya and Algeria are Black countries with millions of invisible oppressed Africans, but we do not hear their voices or see their faces". Dr Jibril Abdelbagi - Darfuri

"Despite the profoundness of the intercourse between Arab culture and Black, Bantu and Neolithic cultures, big or secondary, the relations between these two cultural worlds continues to be amongst the most unstable". Prof Helmi Sharawy - Egyptian

Those interested in African affairs would have noted the difficulties in following and understanding what goes on in the Afro-Arab Borderlands, hereinafter called the "Borderlands", stretching from Mauritania on the Atlantic, through Mali, Niger and Chad, to Sudan on the Red Sea.

This is not accidental but a deliberate conspiracy to conceal from Black Africa the goings-on by Arabian and western interests in this area of ambiguous relations.

Fluency in Arabic give some access to the truth. Otherwise physical habitation over time opens the area up to comprehensive understanding. This is an area where African interests have historically been purchased "for a song".

Because of our weaknesses we now find our helplessness makes us the laughing stock of the global community as regards the on-going slaughter of Africans in Darfur. Not one African state has been able to raise a finger in defence of the Darfuri.

Yet Darfur was proceeded by the 39 years of fighting in South Sudan, called "Africa's longest war", which war witnessed the same genocide, use of rape as a weapon, aerial bombardments , Mujahedeen/Muraleen as witnessed today in Darfur.

Africans remained silent during this tragedy. Something which Southern Sudanese will never forget or forgive. This text exposes the truths of the Borderlands. It was largely the work of the Bush Administration, Colin Powell and the white charismatic churches in the United States which placed the world spotlight on Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur, leading to the issue of the International Criminal Court writ (ICC) against Sudan President Al-Bashir in March.

Along the Mali-Niger Borderlands, before colonisation, the Touaregs were the sole masters of their region throughout the Sahara Desert. The coming of the European colonisers deprived them of their essential means of survival. Since then, and particularly after the self government of Mali and Niger, the Touaregs have continually rebelled against the regimes in the new states created by France, but with a clear objective in mind: the creation of a Touareg state, separate and independent.

Between 1963 and 1990, several disputes took a tragic turn between the central government in Mali as well as in Niger, the Touaregs, and the sedentary populations.

To better understand the hidden objective of these various disputes and/or rebellions, and the Touareg's attitude toward the newly independent states, one needs to consider several factors and to bear in mind that Touaregs are being settled today in Darfur in the villages from which the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa have been expelled by the Khartoum government.

The Touareg, a black people, are completely Arabised and Islamised, culturally, whereas the Darfuri retain their African identity. The Touareg are to all intents and purposes, Arabs.

In 1905 the French aggravated the downfall of the Touaregs by abolishing slavery, and formally liberating the Touareg's slave, the Imrads and the Bellas. Subsequently, in 1909, instructions were given to the local French authorities in Gao, Mali, pertaining to the new status of the slaves and their social insertion. The instructions also demanded that both the owners and the slaves be treated equally from then on.

For the Touaregs, any attempt by the local colonial authorities to implement these instructions meant the destruction of their society and they were not prepared for that. They were indeed hurt both in their wealth and in their prejudices. The French later realised that they could not free the slaves, either mentally or physically. Slavery was deeply embedded in the way of life of both parties - the masters and the slaves, as it is in Mauritania today

France was preparing to balkanise its empire, breaking it up into pieces, which would become Independent states, in effect deconstructing Pan-Africa. The territories concerned were :

Two departments of Algeria: Saoura and Oasis

Three communities of French Sudan: Goundam, Tombouctou and Gao

Two communities of Niger :Tahaua and Agades

Three communities of Chad : Ennedi, Bornou and Tibesti

Although the project itself was withdrawn for obscure reasons, it most certainly triggered

in the mind of the Touaregs the idea of an independent state free of the domination of their former black slaves, namely the leaders of the Independent states of Mali, Niger, and Mauritania.

In the Borderlands, unlike in Southern Africa, colour is of little or no importance. What counts is culture. A man may be dark black, as most Touaregs are, but will consider himself an Arab, due to his adherence to Islam and practice of Arab culture dating back hundreds of years. The Arab arrival in Africa predates by many hundreds of years the arrival of Europeans in Southern Africa. The Darfuri, although black and Islamised, are considered by Khartoum as insufficiently Arabised and inferiors, and are thus considered to be Africans and worthy subjects of genocide.

The use of Arabic in education, administration and state affairs.

In 1960 the notabilities and the chiefs of the Adrar took advantage of an inspection trip by the civilian Chief Administrator of Gao to explain their perceptions of and wishes for the future administration of Mali. More than anything else they insisted upon giving primacy to the teaching of Arabic over that of French, and securing equitable jobs/positions within the newly created administrative structures for community members who were literate in Arabic.

It is obvious that the implementation of such measures meant the systematic exclusion of non-Arabic speaking ethnic groups. Thus governance and all other forms of participation in power and in the management of power in the northern regions would be the responsibility and the privilege of the Arabs, the Touaregs and the Moors of Moroccan descent.

As soon as he came to power, Colonel Gaddafi, of Arabo-Berber descent, expressed his ambition to create a Saharan state which would include all the Sahelo-Saharan countries, especially those inhabited in their northern territories by the Kel-Tamasheq.

In 1989, on the twentieth anniversary of the Libyan Revolution, it was declared that Mali, Niger and Chad were part of the Arab world. Meanwhile young nomads were receiving military training to go to fight in Israel, Lebanon and Chad. Some of them were later directed to Mali and Niger to organise themselves into liberation movements (Toure 1999 ).

In the mid-1990s, when Libya became a target of the French and the Americans, and because of the political and economic difficulties of the country, with the embargo and travel restrictions amongst others, this project was temporarily abandoned. Yet Libya encouraged the former combatants to organise themselves into a movement called the Azawad Liberation Movement. (To be continued next week).


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