Mr. André Bourgeot, I feel compelled to respond to you today, as well as to certain former French officials and diplomats who have described Azawad as a “historical absurdity.” This statement reveals either a profound ignorance of Sahelian-Saharan history or a political will to deny the existence of a people and a historical territory that have been documented for centuries.
Azawad is neither a recent invention nor a political slogan that emerged in the 21st century. The word “Azawad” has long designated a Saharan and Sahelian geographical area known to local populations, trans-Saharan caravans, Arab chroniclers, and European explorers. Like Telemsi, Azawagh, Anchawadj, Eghazer, or Aghachar, Azawad refers to a territory of movement, life, and human organization in the heart of the Sahara.
For centuries, this region was traversed by caravans transporting salt from Taghaza, gold, manuscripts, dates, and other goods connecting the Maghreb, the Sahel, and sub-Saharan Africa. Timbuktu, Gao, Tadamakat, Araouane, and Es-Souk did not spring from nothing. They were built, protected, and brought to life by the Saharan peoples: Tuareg, Arabs, and other desert communities.
If Azawad had never existed, what would Al-Bakri, Ibn Hawqal, Leo Africanus, Heinrich Barth, René Caillié, and so many other travelers and geographers have been seeking in these caravan cities? Who controlled and secured the trade routes linking the northern and southern Sahara? Who administered these territories, collected caravan taxes, and guaranteed trade?
The peoples of Azawad possessed their own political, social, and cultural systems long before French colonization. The major Tuareg, Koiraboro, and Arab confederations had their own hierarchies, rules of governance, military alliances, and spheres of influence. The Kingdom of Tadamakat, the Songhai Empire, and the Oulliminden Confederation constituted organized and recognized political structures throughout the Sahel-Saharan region.
The archaeological remains of Es-Souk, the ancient capital of Tadamakat, still bear witness to this historical depth. Serious historians and honest archaeologists should visit these sites before denying the historical existence of Azawad.
Our people resisted invasions and external domination for centuries: conflicts with the Hoggar Mountains, rivalries with neighboring kingdoms, clashes with the Moroccans after the fall of Gao, and then resistance against the French colonial conquest. Paul Marty, Eugène Bonnier, Colonel Klobb, Lieutenant d’Ivry, Lieutenant Ours, and many other colonial officers were fully aware of the existence of the Tuareg and Arab societies they were fighting in Azawad. Colonial France did not face an empty desert; it faced an organized people.
The colonial riflemen sent against the people of Azawad did not erase our memory or our identity. We are an ancient people, rooted in this land for centuries, with our languages, our traditions, our social structures, and our history.
The name of a country matters less than the human and historical reality it represents. Many states in the world take their name from a river, a region, or a geographical area. Mali itself bears the name of a hippopotamus. Why then deny Azawad this fundamental right to historical and geographical existence?
Azawad exists in the collective memory of its people, in travelers’ accounts, in ancient manuscripts, in the ruins of caravan cities, and in the sacrifices of generations who defended this land.
One can contest a political project. One can debate modern borders. But to deny the historical, cultural, and social existence of Azawad is revisionism and shows contempt for the Saharan and Sahelian peoples.
Abdoul Karim Ag Matafa
Head of Administration and Offices, Azawad Liberation Front, FLA
12-05-26