Clerics, rebels and refugees: Mobility strategies and networks among the Kel Antessar

Abstract

This article focuses on the aftermath of the 1990–96 conflict between Tuareg rebel groups and the Malian army based on fieldwork carried out among the Kel Antessar in the region of Timbuktu. Cyclical factors of change and difficulties inherent in defining refugees as a sui generis category point to the importance of considering forced migration in relation to other variations of spatial mobility, namely labour or drought-induced migration and sedentarisation. The article analyses the implications of the refugee experience, organised repatriation and rehabilitation programmes by comparing the experiences of refugees, internally/externally displaced, and non-refugees, that is pastoralists who never moved during the conflict. This comparison suggests that aid provision alone is not conducive to sedentarisation and stability in the long term. Rather, it encourages dependence on aid, reinforces an uneven distribution of wealth and ultimately leads to conflict. In this scenario, whether voluntary or forced, migration has to be understood as a strategy to survive.