Contribution to the knowledge of the Idaksahak community (Case of Ménaka and Talatayt)

1. The word IDAKSAHAK

The name 'IDAKSAHAK' that the community of the same name gives itself certainly comes from a contraction of the word IDD-AGG ISHAK. Otherwise, neighboring communities call them DAW-SAHAK or DAW-ISHAK, depending on the pronunciation of the term 'ISHAK', a proper name whose connotation is rather Songhay and not the Arabic 'ISHAQ' from the Koran or ISAAC from the Bible. It could therefore be a reference to the name of a king, namely ISHAK I, Songhai Emperor of the Middle Ages.

Of course, the name IDD-AGG (son of in Tamasheq) followed by the name of the dominant Tobol chief was very common in the SUDAN, particularly in the Timbuktu areas of the Middle Ages before colonization, to designate a given community without reference to any genealogical tree. The same applies to the word DAW or IDAW or Oulad (son of in Arabo-Berber) followed by a proper name of a chief, a scholar or a spiritual man of great renown, in all cases, the name preceded by a prefix ends up designating an entire community.

Thus we can also speak of Oulad ISHAK as mentioned in some writings of the AHMAD BABA library archives of TOMBOUCTOU.

For the word 'DAW' - ISHAK, we can think of the meaning 'under the Tobol of ISHAK ASKIA', under the domination of….. ISHAK ASKIA

In fact, neither the Bible nor the Koran refer to the Tobol of King Isaac, let alone his domination, to introduce DAW which means under, in Tamasheq otherwise 'UNDER the domination of….. (ISAAC of the Bible or IS HA Q of the Koran)'. By analogy and in this order of ideas, DAWSAHAK is a formulation of a community name that is difficult to analyze tending towards a genealogical descent from IS HA Q or ISAAC, therefore Jewish.

Moreover, the IDAKSAHAK cannot deform the name of an ancestor they claim, namely 'IS HA Q'. Because their dialect is 'Fous ha', meaning a good pronunciation of the letters of the Arabic alphabet in the name Is-ha-q as written in the Koran.

Furthermore, each of the neighboring communities pronounces this name differently, but always keeping the part 'ISHAK' with a Songhay accent.

The IDAKSAHAK therefore appropriated, like other communities, the name that their neighbors gave them in reference to a TOBOL chief, in this case a SONGHOÏ. The pronunciation is contracted by the consonance of the dialect, IDD-AGG –ISAHAK becomes IDAK - SAHAK. Remember that the word Agg returns to the singular: Agg DAK – SAHK while retaining the part 'DAK' which has no place in the singular.

In any case, the construction of the singular could have been rather Agg Is-h-aq emphasizing the letter –h-, in a case referring to an ancestor according to a well-pronounced 'fous_ha' because the community is 95% literate in Arabic. Thus the singular in the form Agg DAK – SAHK clearly shows that the origin of the word IDAK – SAHK can indeed come from a contraction of idd – agg Ishak which designates the community with or without reference to an ancestor.

Note that the word daw, idaw, oulad or in particular AGG does not always mean son of, but also a professional appropriation, e.g.: AGG 'abaguày' is said for a professional in horse riding.

The ambiguity of the subject is aggravated by the existence of Arab communities that refer to the name IS- HA- Q, as well as those of the Muslim empire of Andalusia, however it could be a simple first name because Muslims use the pronoun ISHAQ.

In all cases, the opportunity is seized for a propensity to want to make a rapprochement with the name Is-haq from the Koran or Isaac from the Bible. This source, in the case of the IDAKSAHAK, opts for an Israelite, therefore Jewish, origin of this community. A hypothesis that cannot be excluded for lack of evidence or possibility of demonstration, but perfectly verifiable today by DNA analysis. It is also possible to study the well-known Jewish communities in the Timbuktu region.

The IDAKSAHK remember their displacement from TAFILALET southern Morocco via Timbuktu but nothing of a possible Jewish origin, unlike some communities of the Niger loop that keep a very vivid memory.

We emphasize that the IDAKSAHAK are not offended by a possible Israelite origin insofar as they consider themselves all Muslims, parents and brothers among themselves, moreover Islam or the Antichrist are in no way conditioned by an identity reference.

2. The origin

The IDAKSAHAK and the DIARMA according to BOUBOU HAMA are the descendants of two brothers; for the SONRAÏ of the Gao river valley they are the people of ISYAKA or ISHAKA; finally for those of Timbuktu; it is a mixing from which new dialects were born by referring to other borrowed Songhay dialects well known in Timbuktu.

One source evokes an ISRAELITE origin supported by the KEL ESSOUK (those of ESSOUK) Egadech, ideologues of the suzerains of the IWILLIMIDEN who, like all the scholars of AZAWAD, master very little the settlement of the SAHARA, history not being a religious concept in this milieu.

Historians think that the IDAKSAHAK are known among the Berbers in Africa before Christ and in the Roman era of the GARAMANT and GOUDALA; among the Berbers in addition to the GARAMANT and the GOUDALA, we remember the Lemtouma; the Sanhaja; all these peoples are said to have come from YEMEN.

However; some IDAKSAHAK who recognize their affiliation with the GOUDALA or their kinship with the IGDALANE claim to be descendants of Fatimat, daughter of the prophet (pbuh). This belief is strong among those IDAKSAHAK who still remember a region (Tafilalt or Tafilalet) in the south of present-day Morocco where their old ancestral land is located. Thus, they hold a written Idrissid genealogical tree recited by heart. They attach themselves to a certain AÏTA (Moamed Elmoktar) who would have married a woman from the area and produced descendants.

The same version (AÏTA taking root in the area) is found throughout the GAO area among some IDAKSAHAK, the Touré and Arma; in TOMBOUCTOU among the sharifs of this entire region; in KIDAL among some IFOURAS of the Adrar mountain where the ruins of ESSOUK are still visible, capital of TADAMAKAT, a city that gave its name to the KEL ESOUK.

According to these sources, in each case, the genealogy is traced back to one of the four sons of AÏTA (Mohamed Elmoctar) who all took root in turn like their father who first passed through TADAMAKAT before descending to the SUDAN or vice versa. The fifth son of AÏTA had no children.

Independently of the descendants of AÏTA, we find white Sharifs KEL TAMASHEQ, ARAB and black throughout the edge of the SAHARA on both sides of the Niger River valley in the Republic of Mali as well as in Niger.

Entire IDAKSAHAK Fractions are called Sharifian descendants of the prophet (pbuh), implicitly recognized as such by all communities. The descendants of INKIBIT are distinguished. The nickname INKIBIT, their ancestor, would come from the miracle manifested about him; the arrival of an unusual black wind following a refusal opposed to his request for the hand in marriage of a girl from the IDAKSAHAK milieu.

His testimony is finally taken into account supported by the mark on his stick. The stranger, finally rehabilitated, wins his case and takes root in the IDAKSAHAK milieu, his descendants are also called sharifs.

According to a popular source, INKIBIT would have arrived in an IDAKSAHAK camp led by one of the grandsons of AÏTA who could be named Sharif TINDER. The descendants of INKIBIT keep the appellation Sharifian among the other fractions including those who claim AÏTA (Mohamed Elmoctar), the only difference being that they do not possess a written or recited genealogy going back to Fatimat, daughter of the prophet (pbuh) or even to the Al INSAR of Medina.

It is good to remember that most of the Tamasheq communities living on the edge of the Sahara have components that preserve their genealogies dating back to the Hegira; AL INSAR and CHERIFEN, one claiming Medina and the other Mecca, the rest of the TUAREG are generally named otherwise, the IMGHAD being the most numerous in the area of interest to us, among which an IMIDDIDEGHEN family is considered descended from AÏTA (Mohamed Elmoctar), like the ICHIDNHAREN kel ACHOU and other families of certain fractions of AZAWAD.

It is certain that the IDAKSAHAK community, which has several fractions and nearly 400,000 souls in total, like other ethnic groups, does not have a single origin; their sharifian and their Al INSSAR would only be a minority in the IDAKSAHAK ethnic group.

The IDAKSAHAK would surely be among the first groups of 'Berbers' to descend from the MAGHREB towards the SUDAN (Timbuktu). They must have at some point actively participated in commercial transactions between the land of the blacks (SUDAN) and southern Morocco. This activity must have forced them to speak Songhay, the language of communication of Sudanese markets (in this area and at that time), before entering and integrating into southern Morocco. During iterative displacements, a fringe may have ended up residing in the Niger valley after a good stay in Timbuktu, before residing in the current regions of Mali and Niger.

The exodus of the IDASAHK group from the North to the South continues and can still be observed today in a helical form with an expansion towards the East in the IWILLIMIDEN basin (Mali/Niger).

The IDAKSAHAK of Mali and Niger still remember legends about the land of 'Tafilalt'; Tafilalet of Morocco from where emigration reached the Niger valley. This certainly explains in part, with the help of commercial transactions, the Songhay syntax of Timbuktu in the base of their spoken dialect. Later they became attached to the iwillimiden group, with which they still coexist divided into two blocks, Kel ATARAM and Kel DINNIG, a relatively recent fact and whose memory is still in the mouths of popular chroniclers.

The separation of the IDAKSAHAK from the SONGHOÏ group in the middle of the 17th century would come from a misunderstanding born of a brawl among young people supported by elders, thus breaking the peaceful coexistence in the river valley area.

However, the IDAKSAHAK do not seem to be part of the settlement groups of 'TADAMAKAT'. Indeed, the popular memory of their milieu does not mention this legendary cradle and reference territory of the dominant class Kel EKIMED, IFOURAS, the class of KEL ESSOUK which borrows the name of the capital of this country, the classes of the various other tribes. This certainly explains why the IDAKSAHAK are not found in the hierarchical organization of the Tuareg.

In fact, unlike other ethnic groups, the IDAKSAHAK do not know 'Addaoulat (country) TADAMAKAT' nor the capital Essouk engraved in the memory of the Kel Tamasheq of AZAWAD and part of those of the Republic of Niger.

However, the IDAKSAHAK community had indeed stayed in the ADRAR where 'TADAMAKAT' is located, a fact attested by the toponymy of certain wadis such as 'Ibdaqqane' and by several popular accounts of the existence of very ancient family ties with the great family of IFORAS.

The stay in the territory of the ADRAR DES IFORAS is certainly linked to the very high mobility of herders whose obligatory passage was the Telemsi, a valley where ancestors are buried, whose names are still cited.

3. The dialect

The IDAKSAHAK do not speak the Tamasheq language, which they do not understand at all, nor those spoken throughout the SUDAN. This dialect does not use feminine pronouns, unlike Tamasheq, hence all the difficulties of learning it by the IDAKSAHAK who often speak Tamasheq without taking into account grammatical gender.

The Tadaksahak language is therefore distinguished from other dialects by its purely Songhay syntax, like that of the IGDALANE belonging to the same group. Example: 'Huru Hugu Gna Hawru' (enter the tent, eat the meal). Ex: 'keedi bari darjed hawu koss - anga' (ride a horse, chase the cow, and cut its hamstring) - Thus the syntax or 'grammatical analysis' of Idaksahak speech is Songhay par excellence. It is very difficult to build similar sentences with only Tamasheq words (subject, verb, object).

This dialect remains a sabir, a mixture of Songhay, notably of Timbuktu, and Tamasheq Iwillimiden with a few words from ancient Arabic or words of Arabic origin from Timbuktu, e.g.: 'daghnu (cream), zambu (residue), achiguim (ladle)…' words not found in other Arabic dialects except those influenced by the Songhay language, however the IDASAHAK dialect also contains words from ancient literary Arabic, the same as in Tawullimit, e.g.: y-nbezan nabaza in Arabic.

Thus TADAKSAHAK, a dialect, is composed above all of the Songhay of Timbuktu from which the maximum number of verbs that regulate syntax and names of things, notably mothers or roots of words, are drawn, the specifics being reserved for other borrowed dialects, in particular Tawullimit and Taguilgalt (Arabo-Berber borrowed from Songhay). As for literary Arabic words, they remain common with Tawullimit.

Examples of verbs of Songhay origin are very numerous: zouru (to run), keeni (to sleep), gorgor (to laugh); in Tawillimit the verbs are more difficult to cite: digummut in Tawillimit is said to make a mount (horse) run. Names of things, for their part, are shared, however specifics are generally drawn from Tawillimit.

The name Kamba (the arm) is Songhay but we say tikmert (elbow), adad (finger), eshkar (nail), Tawillimit names. The same for animals: yaw (camel) in Songhay but (alagod) the young is in Tawillimit, we also say feeji (sheep) in Songhay and ajàmàr the young in Tawillimit. The same applies to all animals except the cow, for which we say 'hawu (the cow) and handi the young, both borrowed from Songhay.

It is relevant to deduce that the first animals domesticated by the IDAKSAHAK were cows, hence the retention of the name of the young 'handi' in Songhay. This hypothesis agrees with those who think that the IDAKSAHAK were cattle herders who descended towards the Niger River valley coming from the North (southern Morocco). This does not mean that the IDAKSAHAK did not know other animals, whose mother names remain borrowings from Songhay and their young in Tawillimit, simply that their domestication was later.

All the remarks and analyses made on the TADAKSAHAK dialect would also be valid, with a few exceptions, for that of TAGDALT, also a mixture of Songhay and TAWILLIMIT. The Igdalane community belongs to the same group as the 'IDAKSAHAK' through a dialectal proximity whose syntax remains Songhay.

However, some people think that TADAKSAHAK like TAGDALT are dialects that, with the SONGHAY language, constitute variants of Berber languages (i.e. Tamashèq). Adherents of this hypothesis refer to the advent of the Islamization of Sudan by the Almoravids, whose IDAKSAHK and IGDALANE groups would have imposed their language. The maraboutic role of the IDAKSAHAK does not exclude borrowing from a Songhay language, a SUDANESE dialect.

The reference may also bear on elements of words of Berber origin such as 'KUSU (pot) in Songhay and Tadaksahak; a word considered derived from akuus, tukusé' (heat); finally, there are very significant examples from a linguistic point of view tending to consider Songhay languages as close to Berber, therefore Hamito-Semitic and not Sudanese.

4. Habitation territories

The ancestral lands of the IDAKSAHAK are very far today from the City of 333 saints; it should be remembered that AHMAD BABA of Timbuktu is an 'AGDAKSAHAK', an 'AGDAL' and not a Songhay or an Arab. Therefore, it must be recognized that the IDAKSAHAK stayed for a long time in Timbuktu. The composition of the Songhay borrowed words in the TADAKSAHAK dialect is above all TIMBUKTUAN. Indeed, this speech uses names (foufou for cold, bassi for dipper, talissit for cushion, zambou for cream residues, etc.) and verbs (gogor for laugh, zawkàt for bring back, etc.) that remain specific to the Songhay of TIMBUKTU, which differs from DANDI, the Songhay of GAO or DIARMA.

The dialects that can be linked to the TIMBUKTUAN speech and very far from this area currently are those of the IDAKSAHAK, IGDALANE and ISSAWAGHAN. These communities reside in the NORTH and NORTH-EAST of the Republic of Niger, with a minority in Mali. Let us also emphasize the similarities of animal marks (Azguit, Tilift, Tahimimt, Agayd, Askum or Agayog, etc.) common to all these peoples and those of animals in the Timbuktu area, whose populations also share certain very specific societal customs, in particular the free Quranic education for young people.

Consequently, it seems that the IDAKSAHAK have been 'neighbors' of the SONGHOÏ for a long time, medieval SONGHOÏ Empires? Era of the Almoravid conquests? Are the IDKSAHAK among the Almoravids with the IGDALANES? Peaceful people and men of the sword, unlike the Kel Essouk, holders of the ideology of the populations of TADAMAKAT since its peak. The IDAKSAHAK and IGDALANE, closer to the Songhay world, over time would have been assimilated as a linguistic minority.

Of course, the IDAKSAHAK and all the groups that speak a Songhay/Tamasheq sabir remain communities of deep Muslim Berber roots, maintaining family and kinship ties among themselves, and good neighborly relations with the Kel Tamasheq and other communities. They share with the populations of the Niger River valley, the Songhay and the Diarma, family ties, grain markets, cattle markets, and especially grazing and watering areas for animals along the river. The low-water areas and crossings of the riverbed to the Gourma are used in times of famine due to frequent droughts or in cases of extreme insecurity in Hausa land, as happened several times in recent history during the great droughts of 1930, 1973, 1984 or in times of unrest in 1916, 1990, 2012.

5. Active life

The IDAKSAHAK tribe coexists especially with the Kel Tamasheq (those speaking the Tamashèqt dialect), notably Tawillimit (a dialect borrowed by Tadaksahak along with Songhay) in the dry area south of the Kidal region. They share with other ethnic groups the TUAREG culture, some of whose customs are analogous to those of the Songhay, namely the semi-sedentary lifestyle, housing, clothing, entertainment and the exploitation of pastoral resources.

In the Middle Ages, the region inhabited by the IDAKSAHAK groups, in a nomadic pastoral lifestyle, remains the same as that occupied by the Kel Tamasheq, which is today called AZAWAD in its widest extension in Mali.

In the South, commercial transactions are carried out with the Songhay and MOSSI countries (FADANGOURMA market) and even with GHANA (Koumassi market). To the West and North-West, commercial transactions are carried out with the Fulani countries (DJENNE markets), the Maghreb and Morocco (Touaten markets). To the North-East and East, the commercial transactions of the Idaksahak are carried out with the sultanates of Agadez and the markets of Tawa and even Libya. To the South and South-East, commercial transactions are carried out with the HAUSSA country through the markets of BADEM and KANO.

The economic base of this trade in the West and North-West is based on live cattle and slaves sold for gold, salt, dates and later tobacco.

The economic base of this trade in the North, East and North-East is based on live cattle sold for slaves, fabrics and cottons, to which must be added basic necessities and harnesses for mounts (horses and dromedaries).

From the armed conflicts of the two world wars, all commercial transactions on the edge of the SAHARA were disrupted not only by border closures, particularly between France and Great Britain, but also by various colonial penetrations.

The IDAKSAHAK of Mali and their brothers in NIGER, always particularly attached to commercial transactions in the EAST and SOUTH-EAST (Tawa and Badem in Nigeria), fleeing dune farming lands incompatible with livestock and insecurity, were pushed towards the northern regions of present-day Mali (the Aazawak Valley) and those of Niger (Chintibaraden). They vainly tried to continue their natural supplies, particularly from the HAUSSA countries, but suffered losses of innocent and victimized human lives.

On both sides of the border resulting from colonization, the IDAKSAHAK group found itself divided in two, with some being attached to the present-day Sudan (Republic of Mali) with the western iwillimiden 'KEL ATARAM' and the others to the Republic of Niger with the eastern iwillimiden 'KEL DINNIG'. The IDAKSAHAK group among the KEL DINNIG ended up speaking Tamasheq at the expense of their dialect, unlike those who remained with the KEL ATARAM, less assimilated and less integrated into the KEL TAMASHEQT.

Note that the Tadaksahak dialect continues to be spoken in AGADEZ in the border area of KEL DINNIG's influence; a particularity to study because in the confines, the language is nevertheless abandoned under the influence of 'KEL DINNIG'.

Throughout the colonial period, the IDAKSAHAK did not fundamentally change their pastoral lifestyle. Their mobility disregards state barriers and they indifferently occupy a large area, the exploitation of which remains temporary according to the availability of water and pastures, sometimes in Mali, sometimes in Niger.

Their adaptation strategy for supplying basic necessities consisted of creating local markets such as Filingué, Aerou, Abala in Niger, Ansongo, Ménaka, Anderamboucane in Mali.

Always at the forefront of live cattle trade transactions in their areas, the IDAKSAHAK, due to insecurity resulting from the Tuareg armed conflict with the states, brought more local markets to their camps, which have since been transformed into real villages with weekly markets: in the Ménaka district: Inchinane, Aghazraghane in the AZAWAK valley; Infoucarayten, Tinfadimata, Ikadewan in the AZGUERET; in the Ansongo district: Indelemane, Talatayt; nothing had been planned in this regard by the administrative authorities.

The mobility for undifferentiated transhumance from one state to another was not without consequences for the IDAKSAHAK. Thus we find populations whose centuries-old ancestral lands are located in the country of Niger. However, they continue to be subject to the Malian Administration through its chieftaincies, without being able to benefit from any basic services (education, health, drinking water, employment) that the mother fractions remaining in Mali benefit from. A similar situation is experienced by the Fulani in Mali considered nationals of Niger.

6. Cohabitation

The IDAKSAHAK live in good neighborliness with the Kel Tamasheq (those speaking Tamasheqt, particularly Tawillimit) in the dry area where they share the nomadic lifestyle and the exploitation of pastoral resources while keeping a foothold in the Niger River valley area. Like the Tamasheq, they share with the Songhay a culture that has many similarities, particularly in clothing.

Because of their difference, particularly their dialect, the IDAKSAHAK distinguish themselves and adapt to their neighbors' kinship ties. Sometimes it is contempt resulting from conflicts arising from the exploitation of natural resources because they are large transhumant herders. However, inhospitality can be deep and lasting when the 'FATWA' of the Kel Essouk cadi makes the goods of the IDAKSAHAK lawful to the suzerains of the IWILLIMIDEN.

However, the IDAKSAHAK community always managed to issue refuting FATWAS through its own scholars who each time forced the Kel Essouk to rally. This was the case of the IDAKSAHAK cadis HADAHADA known for his relations with DAN FODJO, of Cadi HAMA-HOUDA (Talataye Ménaka) and those of the Kel Essouk under the reign of KAWA (AMENOKAL OF THE IWILLIMIDEN CONFEDERATION); also the case of Mohamed AG YAGNA, Mohamed AG ALY and Cadi ALBAHRI of the Kel Essouk Egadech in 1940; Elmouner AG ADEM, Abdu Salam AG MAHAMMAD and Acheck Almahmoud of the Kel Essouk of the valley in 1960; Ahmadou Ag Adem and Fadil Ag Alhassane and their counterparts Kel ESSOUK since independence.

Thus, debates on Islamic law between the IDAK-SAHAK and the Kel Essouk have always existed and maintained a strictly religious rivalry, a situation that attests to the very ancient knowledge of the IDAKSAHAK. In this fundamental debate, the IDAKSAHAK perceive the Kel Essouk as unconditional supporters of the dominant 'Imajeghan', the summit of the sociological stratification of the TUAREG.

The IDAKSAHK, a peaceful people, did not respond to aggression, even very intentional, except in cases of deliberate humiliation or obvious provocation. This community had always opted for non-violence aimed essentially at safeguarding their economic base from a permanent risk of destruction in a cultural context of raids and counter-raids.

However, the community never gave in to resignation in the name of peaceful culture, because when necessary, it sometimes supports very violent conflicts with any Kel Tamasheq ethnic group or not that deliberately and repeatedly transgresses the implicitly known rules of good neighborliness.

The wealth of the 'IDAKSAHAK' has always been coveted by their neighbors who coexist with them on the same ancestral lands. The outcome of open conflicts has always been in their favor in living memory; likewise throughout the colonial period until the independence of the Republic of Mali. Their actions always remained anonymous, which was not always profitable for them.

Recently in 1990, they suffered as many losses in property and human lives as other ethnic groups during the armed conflicts against Mali. They did not gain much from it, neither during the integration of ex-combatants nor in reintegration projects, despite their alliance with the MPA (Popular Movement of AZAWAD) which managed quantities of weapons, including the most sophisticated, deposited by IDAKSAHAK fighters.

Confined to the edge of the Mali/Niger border, forced into self-defense, the IDAKSAHAK have in recent years been ensuring their own security internally and externally. Brawls with other communities, notably the Fulani, and the pursuit of stolen cattle in reciprocity did not end on either side of the border, while the AZAWAK markets remain permanently the target of road cutters.

The salvation of the 'IDAKSAHK' was largely due to their own internal organization, their solidarity cemented by blood ties and good neighborliness with others, but above all to a deeply Muslim culture, unobtrusive and full of humility.

7. Hierarchy

The dominant groups are highly hierarchical: the KEL IKIMED Iwillimiden and the Iforas of the Adrar constitute the dominant layers capable of influencing the traditional and scholarly chieftaincies of the IDAKSAHAK.

But in fact, the entire Tuareg society, including the IDAKSAHAK, remains highly hierarchical, and within the same class there are the great, the middle and the small, considered as nothing in their eyes, even in the case of very close kinship, blood ties with a less 'noble' branch. The classes of the Tuareg hierarchies are individualistic, closed and operate according to communitarian management.

In the hierarchy of the Kel Tamasheq, there is no place for the IDAKSAHAK, who are often considered a class not speaking the same language, 'bourgeois' at least the families of traditional chieftaincies, because they own enormous herds and many slaves. But generally speaking, the IDAKSAHAK community is implicitly classified among the dominated. Nevertheless, their property was never inherited by any 'group'. This attests that the domination of this community in the current area of the iwillimiden 'kel Ikimed' in Ménaka is relatively recent in historical time, unlike other dominated whose relations date from the peak period of 'Tadamakat'. Until recently, certain Imghad classes of Ménaka and TAWA were always stripped of their property, often inherited by iwillimiden, leaving the orphans to their fate.

Let us recall that other Imghad classes, particularly in the Gourma and on the outskirts of the Niger valley of GAO, had ceased to be subject to this subjugation well before the arrival of the colonizers, following the decline and weakness of the IWILLIMIDEN; added to this is the distance of those concerned from the dry area on the left bank of the NIGER river.

This decline was very favorable, with the complicity of France, to the emancipation of the populations of TOMBOUCTOU and the 'ADRAR des IFOGHAS'. Let us recall that at the end of the 19th century, ILLY, the grandfather of INTALLA, reorganized seven (7) tribes in the ADRAR, defended the Kidal region, drove away the iwillimiden, contained the attacks of Kel AHAGGAR and sealed an alliance with the KUNTA, sworn enemies of the IWILLIMIDEN. France later used this division deliberately against the IWILLIMIDEN by providing firearms to the Arabs.

The decline of the Confederation worsened with the reluctance of AMENOKAL Fihroun AG ALINSAR, after submission, to accept French domination (refusal of taxation, schooling and military enlistment) and especially the Oulimendène revolt (iwillimiden). In retaliation, colonization decreed a dispossession of land in the Niger valley for all nationals of the Confederation (at least what remained of it in the Ménaka area). It installed newly freed slaves there. These measures were aimed above all at the economic weakening of the recalcitrant dominant classes.

It should also be emphasized that in Timbuktu the picture of social relations was different because the land was not dispossessed and some dominated classes possessed 'small' Tobols while recognizing the 'great'. We can think that this was also facilitated by the fact that the armies of raids, encouraged and adored smugglers, are always recruited among the vassals who are also less inclined to know the precepts of the Islamic religion.

Let us emphasize that the IDAKSAHK, holders with the KEL ESSOUK of Islamic law, remain the only ones to obstinately refuse enlistment and participation in the raids organized by the confederation.

Some practices were considered in the very essence of IDAKSAHAK culture as theft, spoliation of others' property, vices abhorred in this community. It was for them to never fight except to defend their property, never steal the property of others unless it was a right of reciprocity, always remain on the side of peace and zonal or national stability.

Note that the IDAKSAHAK did not participate in the theft of 4x4 vehicles either in Mali or in Niger. However, they would not hesitate to seize property considered war booty when they participate in a conflict. It seems that this partly explains the rush of IDAKSAHAK youth towards gold recently discovered in the desert.

8. The status and role of the Idaksahak (Part 1)

Today, the IDAKSAHAK remember a recent past of political and ideological subjugation. Some of the most gullible still believe in the cantons established by the colonizer, although already effectively abolished, while others recall the tandem of religious knowledge and economic power that have always been their pride and independence from neighboring communities.

The IDAKSAHAK community remains and is an integral part of the IWILLIMIDEN CONFEDERATION, they accommodated its domination. This spared them to a lesser extent the usual hassles suffered by other TOBOL communities, except for the Kel ESOUK considered ideologues of the Confederation.

However, the IDAKSAHK did not participate in organized raids, rezzous in search of booty or larceny. This behavior was generally interpreted and considered by their neighbors as weakness, cowardice; even though they were brilliant in sword training and effective dexterity in judo and hand-to-hand combat, essential skills in past times and widely recognized in them.

At the dawn of the French penetration, the inability of the Confederation to protect the dominated and their property was exposed by the frequency of raids by enemies from other regions who swept away and took everything in their path.

The IDAKSAHAK then organized themselves locally, in order to safeguard their societal values and their property, against enemies who were often their own neighbors.

IDAKSAHAK contingents actively participated in conflicts against the invaders throughout the pastoral space of the great watersheds of the ADRAR DES IFOURAS: fossil valley of Telemsi; of the Azawak right bank, of the Aazgueret and those of the AÏR: Azawak left bank valley and Azar.

The IDAKSAHAK organized resistance against the AÏR, KEL GUERESS, RAGAÏBAT and AHAGGAR, who were the real rivals and enemies of the Iwillimiden, whom they never stopped fighting.

The IDAKSAHAK distinguished themselves several times during battles against the invading enemy inside the territory they shared with their dominants, who did not possess more trophies than them (Tazghait, swords of the greatest heroes of the defeated enemy).