Taureg's Descend Upon Timbuktu in bid to Recapture their Inheritance...

AGADEZ, Niger - Booms from rocket launchers and automatic gunfire crackled Sunday around Mali's fabled town of Timbuktu, known as an ancient seat of Islamic learning, for its 700-year-old mud mosque and, more recently, as host of the musical Festival in the Desert that attracted Bono in January.
On Sunday, nomadic Tuaregs who descended from the people who first created Timbuktu in the 11th century and seized it from invaders in 1434, attacked the city in their fight to create a homeland for the Sahara's blue-turbanned nomads.

news.yahoo.com...


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I guess the order of the day is people are settling the oldest of all the disagreements.

reply to post by michaelbrux


Hey, MB

I am very interested in the Taureg People. I was excited to find the link on ATS. Thanks for bringing it to our attention; I'm gonna go check it out.

X.

I guess the order of the day is people are settling the oldest of all the disagreements.

Simple, straightforward insight in my opinion, I agree. Plus, there is something irresistibly romantic about the Taureg owning Timbuktu; awesome.

I hope you don't mind, MB.

I wanted to bring the taureg more in to focus for us.

Did you know that their name, Taureg roughly translates as Freeman?

They are pastoralists and their economy and culture revolve around the keeping of livestock. The Taureg extend over a large region so the livestock that they tend varies a bit, but they are powerful camel pastoralists, possibly the most powerful in modern times.

They have been fighting for their ancestral lands for many, many years.

Please realize that Timbuktu is in Northern Niger.

What's in Northern Niger?

Yellow cake Uranium, and they aren't interested in letting anyone mine it.

Today the heart of the Tuareg region is divided among four nations. Rich uranium deposits located on their grazing lands remain a contentious issue with the Niger government.

ngm.nationalgeographic.com...

Thanks again. MB.

X.

Originally posted by Xoanon
I hope you don't mind, MB.

I wanted to bring the taureg more in to focus for us.

Did you know that their name, Taureg roughly translates as Freeman?

They are pastoralists and their economy and culture revolve around the keeping of livestock. The Taureg extend over a large region so the livestock that they tend varies a bit, but they are powerful camel pastoralists, possibly the most powerful in modern times.

They have been fighting for their ancestral lands for many, many years.

Please realize that Timbuktu is in Northern Niger.

What's in Northern Niger?

Yellow cake Uranium, and they aren't interested in letting anyone mine it.

Today the heart of the Tuareg region is divided among four nations. Rich uranium deposits located on their grazing lands remain a contentious issue with the Niger government.

ngm.nationalgeographic.com...

Thanks again. MB.

X.

edit on 1-4-2012 by Xoanon because: .

Then if what you posted is true outside forces are instigating this move by a faction of the Tauregs so as to get their hands on natural resources. This type of move is happening all over Africa.

reply to post by Xoanon


even though i'd heard of them (Taureg) and of course the city Timbuktu...the idea that the last time they held it was over 500 years ago...makes for interesting reading.

some of the articles about the situation are confusing, so i'm still trying to build a picture of what is happening and why now....

reply to post by Chai_An


are you suggesting that the Taureg are prostituting themselves for yellow cake uranium wealth...

and that the idea they seek to be reconciled with their destiny is bunk?

does anyone on earth fight for REAL things?

reply to post by Chai_An

Then if what you posted is true outside forces are instigating this move by a faction of the Tauregs so as to get their hands on natural resources. This type of move is happening all over Africa.

That seems really likely, doesn't it? I suppose we should find out who it is, if we can. My mind went right there as well, but considering the long history of the Taureg, and other pastoralists in the region, I hate to think that it is simply because someone came along and tipped the scales with access to rocket launchers. That is probably the way it went, but let's check it out. I will get back when I have something.

Good post.



X.

reply to post by michaelbrux

does anyone on earth fight for REAL things?

Hey MB,

I know, The Taureg are so bad ass that it is hard to believe they would vary or swerve from their iron resolve and mistakenly throw in with assholes.

Don't sweat it man, we will figure it out. I suspect they are going to come out clean and we will still be able to admire and respect them.

Tinariwen

reply to post by michaelbrux


Just because they have been given the means, doesn't mean that they don't believe in what they are fighting for. And it doesn't mean that they are jumping to someone elses tune, just perhaps that certain interests have polarised with theirs. This is a people with a very long and noble history, of which they are incredibly proud of, I honestly don't believe that they could be bought off, but I do believe that they could be simply acting in accordance with the needs of others. Especially if those motives are that they want the Tuaregs to have control of the region because the Tuaregs are opposed to exploiting the Uranium reserves and will thus prevent others who may have had that idea in mind.

Just another example of Islamic conquest, where the native culture is pushed aside by Islam.

The problem is that all too often when others get involved, it makes matters work.

reply to post by Xoanon


Yellow cake uranium is not mined...it is processed from raw uranium...yellow cake is a by product of crushed uranium...you don't just pick it up off the ground. If uranium is present...its not necessarily a gold mine as lots of money must be spent to mine it then process it and so on...so no yellow cake is not the reason perhaps it is uranium they are after but most likely just wanting what they consider their homeland back from whom has control over it now. And because of a huge surplus of yellow cake uranium which is unenriched and used primarily in the production of fuel rods...no one is going to get rich quick or even make money off it...its rather abundant at the moment.

reply to post by Chai_An


I like your avatar, very thread appropriate.

en.wikipedia.org...

Herodotus is an excellent source for the early history of these peoples and describes the North African tribes as being polygamists...but in the women's favour. Women were very highly favoured and would wear anklets for each of their loves to demonstrate their success. Fascinating people and history.

Originally posted by Biliverdin
reply to post by michaelbrux

 

Just because they have been given the means, doesn't mean that they don't believe in what they are fighting for. And it doesn't mean that they are jumping to someone elses tune, just perhaps that certain interests have polarised with theirs. This is a people with a very long and noble history, of which they are incredibly proud of, I honestly don't believe that they could be bought off, but I do believe that they could be simply acting in accordance with the needs of others. Especially if those motives are that they want the Tuaregs to have control of the region because the Tuaregs are opposed to exploiting the Uranium reserves and will thus prevent others who may have had that idea in mind.

I don't believe they will be bought off either, nor do I think they are operating on behalf of outside interests...that the valuable minerals happen to be on their land, gives them something to work with, if they choose to do so.

it just seems that many people believe that in all situations people everywhere are motivated to act in such ways for light and transient causes.

This is interesting...

www.france24.com...

REUTERS - An influential former Malian rebel, believed to have been involved in the trade of looted weapons from Libya, has been killed in the north of the country, officials said on Friday.

It was not immediately clear how Ibrahim Ag Bahanga was killed, with one version of events blaming an accident while several other sources said he had been involved in a row with fellow smugglers ferrying weapons back from Libya.

"He had got his hands on lots of weapons in Libya, where they are fighting and he hid them on the border with Algeria and Niger. He was recruiting fighters to launch a new rebellion in Kidal," the military source added, referring to the northern Malian town that was a base for previous uprisings.

Bahanga was one of the founders of the "May 23 Alliance", a rebellion that was launched in northern Mali in 2006. He never fully accepted peace deals and spent several years in exile in Libya before returning to Mali last year.

So that at least explains where the arms were coming from...but it also suggests a recent change in leadership which is slightly more worrying.

Even more interesting...from March 2010...

Western anxiety over the spread of al-Qaeda-style Islamist militancy in the vast and inhospitable Sahara and Sahel regions of northern Africa has had unforeseen consequences for the survival of hardcore nomadic rebels operating in this eternally porous region. For ethnic-Tuareg insurgent leaders like Mali’s Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, this recent emphasis on security threatens the Tuareg’s traditional way of life that relies on their control of Trans-Saharan trade routes through laregly ungoverned space. Growing intra-regional security cooperation between the nations of the region (instigated and supported by the United States [1], France and others) is driving old-school rebels like Ag Bahanga to adapt to new circumstances. In this case, Ag Bahanga appears to be using the threat posed by al-Qaeda to effect a transition from rebel commander to counter-terrorist leader.

By September 2007 Ag Bahanga’s forces had surrounded the government garrison at Tin-Zaouatene and fired on a U.S. C-130 aircraft dropping supplies to the troops (al-Jazeera, September 14, 2007; Radio France Internationale, September 14, 2007). For a year, Ag Bahanga and others carried out devastating raids and ambushes from their bases in the Tigharghar Mountains, but when most of the Tuareg rebels reached an agreement with Bamako in August 2008, Ag Bahanga left for Libya only to announce his return in December 2008 with a new series of attacks in northern Mali. By April 2008, Malian helicopters were brought in to strike Tuareg positions outside the regional administrative capital of Kidal to prevent the rebels from besieging it (Reuters, April 2, 2008).

Negotiations between Ag Bahanga and the Mali government in the summer of 2008 went nowhere, with the rebel leader unable to convince Bamako of the need to create an autonomous Tuareg region of Kidal or to reduce the number of Malian troops present in the north (El Khabar [Algiers], July 26, 2008).

A Malian offensive involving Tuareg ex-rebels who had become tired of Ag Bahanga’s irreconcilable attitude and the delay of development efforts in north Mali due to continued insecurity, succeeded in driving Ag Bahanga and his forces from northern Mali. By February, 2009 Ibrahim Ag Bahanga had once again decamped to Libya with some of his supporters. Ag Bahanga denies receiving Libyan military supplies, claiming his movement’s arms are obtained from the Malian army as a result of military operations. Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi has sought to exploit Tuareg unrest for his own interest for decades, going back to his incorporation of Tuareg fighters in Libya’s "Islamic Legion" during the 1970s.

In 2008, Ag Bahanga claimed to have 3,000 fighters under his command, all drawn from the Malian Tuareg, though it is likely that this figure is significantly inflated. At the time, he insisted that his movement did not seek separatism, but only "the improvement of the Tuareg situation" (El Khabar [Algiers], July 26, 2008).

www.jamestown.org...

reply to post by Biliverdin


the Tauregs are definitely using weapons from Libya...they were portrayed in the media as Mercenaries for Gaddafi.

they first came to my attention last summer as they were said to be protecting him...and Mali was mentioned as a potential place of exile for Gaddafi and his sons.

that being said and knowing the current situation of the Gaddafi regime...it was confusing to read that Tauregs were battling Malian government forces and the events of this past weekend are forcing me to take a new look.

the possibility that the media accounts are misleading and not properly explaining the situation is apparent.

reply to post by michaelbrux


Just reading through some of them myself. Seems Gaddafi was keen to keep them sweet in the hope that he could use them, but they consistently refused to be used to serve his agenda. The leadership of the Tuaregs though had repeatedly been welcomed in Libya by Gaddafi when they needed a bolt hole, so I think that it would only have been honourable to return the favour. I don't necessarily see that as meaning they supported his objectives, merely that they felt a filial obligation.

There is already talk of possible sanctions against Mali...and some sources are claiming that the Tuaregs do have Islamic forces backing them up.

This from Al Jazeera suggests that there may be an early resolution...

Diakite had called on Sanogo, a hitherto obscure US-trained army captain, to agree an exit plan before the deadline imposed by the 15-state ECOWAS for a return of power to civilians.

In addition to a threat to close borders to a country largely dependant on fuel imports, ECOWAS had vowed to starve Mali of funds from the central bank of the regional monetary union, and impose asset freezes and travel bans on individual coup leaders.

Banks in Bamako put a limit on withdrawals on Saturday in anticipation of a run on their cash stocks on Monday, while shares in mining companies in Africa's third-largest gold producer have plunged due to the unrest.

On Saturday coup leaders hinted they were ready for compromise, announcing after talks with Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso's president, that they would make new proposals for a transition to civilian rule.

"We do not want to confiscate power," Colonel Moussa Sinko Coulibaly told reporters in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, after talks with Compaore, named by ECOWAS as the main mediator in the crisis.

www.aljazeera.com...

reply to post by Biliverdin


Moussa is a popular name for coup leaders. Surely the Malian Moussa remembers well what happened with Moussa Dadis Camara after he seized power in Guinea and decided to make himself President.

Another article released today mentioned that the Malian military has reinstated the country's Constitution.