Tuareg, Tamasheq

The Tamasheq-speaking Tuareg (Kel Tamasheq, 'the people who speak Tamasheq') are the Tuareg of northern Mali: the Timbuktu region, the Niger bend and the Kidal mountains of the Adrar des Ifoghas, with branches in Burkina Faso and Niger. They are a Berber people whose ancestors moved south from the Sahara over the last millennium, organised in confederations (Kel Ansar, Kel Intessar, Tenguereguif and Igawdaren around Timbuktu, Kel Adagh around Kidal) of noble lineages (imajeghen), vassal herders (imghad), religious lineages (ineslemen), smiths (inaden) and the descendants of slaves (iklan, called Bellah in Mali). They rose against French and then Malian rule in 1916, 1963, 1990-96, 2006 and 2012, when the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad declared independence before jihadist groups took the north; each rebellion sent tens of thousands of Tuareg into exile in Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Tuareg life centres on herds of camels, cattle, goats and sheep moved between dry-season wells and rainy-season pastures, and on tents of hide or mats that belong to the women. Men veil their faces with the tagelmust, often indigo-dyed, from adulthood; women go unveiled, own the tent and much of the property, and lineage passes in part through the mother. Tamasheq is written in the ancient Tifinagh script; poetry, the imzad fiddle played by women, tende drum songs, and the guitar-led desert blues of bands from the Timbuktu and Kidal regions carry history and politics. Hospitality and three glasses of strong green tea mark every visit; millet, milk, meat and dates are the staples, and smith families make the silver jewellery, leatherwork and swords the Tuareg are known for.

The Tuareg are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school, converted over many centuries; religious lineages (ineslemen) teach the Quran, judge disputes and make amulets. Beside orthodox Islam they keep beliefs in spirits of the wild (kel essuf), the evil eye and the power of saints' tombs, and wear protective amulets. Practice is often relaxed by the standards of reformist preachers; the jihadist occupation of 2012 imposed a harsh version that many Tuareg rejected, while some joined armed Islamist groups.

Tamasheq has the New Testament, the JESUS film and audio recordings, and Christian radio and audio material exist in Tamasheq. Joshua Project counts the Tamasheq Tuareg as an unreached frontier people with almost no Christians; a few believers and small fellowships have existed in Mali, mainly around Timbuktu and Bamako. War, insecurity and the refugees' scattering make outreach very hard.