Two Perspectives on Tuaregs’ Experiences in or Returning from Libya

Two pieces on Tuareg movements in Libya and the Sahel merit attention. In one, the BBC’s Celeste Hicks describes the rippling effects of Qadhafi’s fall on human movement in the region: Qadhafi’s defeat helped cause the return of Tuareg fighters to Mali, and the fighting in northern Mali has sent refugees into Niger, amid Nigerien fears of contagion from Mali – ie, renewed Tuareg rebellion in northern Niger. Hicks ends by detailing the Nigerien government’s efforts to prevent a Tuareg uprising inside its territory.

The second piece, in French (text here, mp3 here) contains an interview with a Malian Tuareg who fell in with pro-Qadhafi fighters during the civil war, and now “tells no one that he was part of the forces of the former dictator, for fear of being killed.”