The needs and difficulties of Tuaregs were ignored and sometimes even despised by opinion worldwide.
They have always been marginalised as citizens. During and since the colonizal period, their existence disturbed their close neighbors, despite their ownership - fair or unfair - of these territories since time immemorial. Tuaregs have been translocated to shantytowns around the big cities of Niger and Mali or have been exiled to refugee camps.
Tuaregs took to weapons and a few years ago began a Rebellion.
The first announcement of war occurred in 1963 in Mali and in response, intensive repression resulted in thousands of deaths among the Tuaregs - history repeated these tragic facts many times between 1990 and 1996.
Next part : The Tuareg Rebellion - 1990-2000
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