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) 
 
¶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