ABSTRACT
Introduction: Indigenous Rights and a Future Politic amongst Algeria’s Tuareg after Forty Years of Independence The article serves as an introduction to the other seven articles in the volume, by describing the broad geographical, political and demographic situation of the various Tuareg groups and explaining the nature of the relationship between Algeria’s Tuareg and the Algerian state over the 40 years of Independence. The article focuses on the question of indigenous rights and concludes that if the two main instruments of indigenous rights legislation, the ILO Convention and the UN’s Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, were to be enacted in Algeria at this moment, Algeria would be found to be in compliance with the majority of clauses, and far more than neighbouring Tuareg states (Niger and Mali). The article shows that most of the problems facing Algeria’s Tuareg today stem from general problems of modernisation, along with the impact on the region of Algeria’s Islamist problem’, rather than any abuse of their human or indigenous rights. Indeed, the major criticism of Algeria is not of its policies towards the Tuareg but rather the quality of its governance. The article concludes by suggesting that the Central Sahara, or at least that part of it which traditionally belonged to the Tuareg, has reached a critical watershed. This is because the key issues underlying the current complex state of affairs in Algeria’s extreme south, namely the loss of tourism resulting from Algeria’s ‘Islamist problem’, the ‘invasion’ of the region by les gens du nord, the threats being posed to the region’s cultural and environmental heritage, the poor quality of local governance, and the security weaknesses exposed by the recent hostage crisis, have coalesced in a way that will almost certainly herald the development of a new politic, not only in the Algerian Sahara but throughout all Tuareg regions.
