Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009)
The 2007-2009 Tuareg rebellion was an insurgency that began in February 2007 amongst elements of the Tuareg people living in the Sahara desert regions of northern Mali and Niger. It is one of a series of insurgencies by formerly nomadic Tuareg populations, which had last appeared in the mid-1990s, and date back at least to 1916. Populations dispersed to Algeria and Libya, as well as to the south of Niger and Mali in the 1990s returned only in the late 1990s. Former fighters were to be integrated into national militaries, but the process has been slow and caused increased resentment. Malian Tuaregs had conducted some raids in 2005–2006, which ended in a renewed peace agreement. Fighting in both nations was carried on largely in parallel, but not in concert. While fighting was mostly confined to guerrilla attacks and army counterattacks, large portions of the desert north of each nation were no-go zones for the military and civilians fled to regional capitals like Kidal, Mali and Agadez, Niger. Fighting was largely contained within Mali's Kidal Region and Niger's Agadez Region. Algeria helped negotiate an August 2008 Malian peace deal, which was broken by a rebel faction in December, crushed by the Malian military and wholescale defections of rebels to the government. Niger saw heavy fighting and disruption of uranium production in the mountainous north, before a Libyan backed peace deal, aided by a factional split among the rebels, brought a negotiated ceasefire and amnesty in May 2009.
Nigerien soldiers from the 322nd Parachute Regiment, Maradi, Niger, April 2007.
A United States 10th Special Forces Group soldier training Malian Armed Forces, 2004. The United States aided in the resupply of Malian forces during the siege of Kidal.
Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi made several personal interventions in both the Malian and Nigerien conflicts, providing refuge for Malian rebels in 2008 and 2009, and serving as an emissary during the 2009 Niger ceasefire talks.
The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria.
A Tuareg in Algiers, Algeria.
An artist's representation of Tin Hinan, an ancient queen of the Hoggar
Tuareg chief Moussa Ag Amastan arriving in Paris, 1910
A Tuareg man in Mali with his slave, 1974