Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAMAKO713
2009-11-03 13:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

SEASONAL ETHNIC VIOLENCE ALONG MALI-NIGER BORDER

Tags:  PGOV PINS PREL PBTS ML NG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7294
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0713 3071333
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031333Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0856
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0694
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK//DOAM//
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000713 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINS PREL PBTS ML NG
SUBJECT: SEASONAL ETHNIC VIOLENCE ALONG MALI-NIGER BORDER

REF: NIAMEY 822

Classified By: PolCouns Peter Newman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000713

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PINS PREL PBTS ML NG
SUBJECT: SEASONAL ETHNIC VIOLENCE ALONG MALI-NIGER BORDER

REF: NIAMEY 822

Classified By: PolCouns Peter Newman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Malian press reports of violence between
Tuareg and Peuhls along the Mali-Niger border reflect a
seasonal phenomenon routine since the mid-1980s, but
according to contacts from the Gao region scarce resources,
differing pastoral cultures, and politics in Niger have
aggravated the situation. The Malian Government has
dispatched 200 National Guardsmen to Gao region, and Malian
local leaders are reaching out to their Nigerien counterparts
to form agreements on resource sharing and curbing militias.
End summary.


2. (C) Since the mid-1980s violence has periodically erupted
between the Tuareg and Peuhl ethnic groups along Mali's
border with Niger. In 2009, several attacks were highly
publicized, including one near Ansongo, Mali where Malian
Tuaregs killed 12 Nigerien Peuhls and close to 1,000 head of
cattle in retaliation for the murders of four Tuaregs and an
unknown number of cattle. The Malian National Guard sent an
additional 200 troops to Gao province in August 2009 to help
quell the violence.


3. (C) Embassy contacts from Gao region say population growth
and inadequate rainfall are stretching agricultural land
usage to its limits. This year, a 60 percent rainfall
deficit has caused estimated losses of 30 percent of some
populations' herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. Contacts
note that whereas Malian Tuaregs and Peuhls tend to settle
seasonally in established towns, Nigerian Peuhls, are purely
nomadic with no established towns or watering holes. They
use pastureland until it is exhausted then move on to new
lands. With increased environmental pressures in the past 20
years, these two distinct pastoral cultures have clashed more
frequently than before. Malian Tuaregs view the Nigerien
Peuhl nomads as parasitic since they do not attempt to manage
or improve the natural resources they are using. Competition
for land and water leads both groups to attack each other and
to engage in reprisals.


4. (C) Conflicts, generally occurring during the June-October
rainy season, are allegedly due to Nigerien agricultural
policy. Embassy Bamako informants claim the Nigerien
government orders nomadic Peuhls off agricultural lands near
the Mali-Niger border during the rainy season to increase
agricultural production, and allegedly gives them small arms
to facilitate their entry into Mali and use of Malian land
resources. Nigerien local leaders tell their Malian
counterparts the Nigerien central government protects the
Peuhl militias, and when Malian law enforcement officials
arrest Nigerien Peuhls accused of cattle rustling, the
Nigerien government allegedly sends delegations to negotiate
the prisoners' release. The violence seems to be calming
down as the 2009 rainy season comes to a close, but local
political leaders from Gao are concerned that problems could
expand further into the Gao region and Mopti region in coming
years.


5. (C) Comment: The Malian government is doing what it can
to improve security by sending additional National Guardsmen.
Putting an end to these predictable annual conflicts,
however, would require a diplomatic solution between the
Malian and Nigerien central governments to better share
resources and to disarm local militias on both sides of the
border. End comment.

6. (U) Embassy Niamey cleared on this report.
MILOVANOVIC