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In three days, this semi-arid area on the edge of the Sahara Desert was blooming with colorful flowers-red, orange, blue, fuchsia-and thousands of nomads wore their best costumes to celebrate. The festival of their culture.
Most of the time, the population of Inger, an oasis town, is only a few hundred people. But once a year, the traditional gateway to the Sahara Desert in northern Niger, known for its salt flats, is the gathering place of the Tuareg and Vodabe herders’ Cure Salee Festival.
The festival that ends on Sunday marks the end of the rainy season, when herders take their livestock to graze where they meet old friends, exchange messages, and strengthen cultural ties and traditions.
Banwo Marafa, 46, dressed in a purple polished cotton robe and a long white turban, said: “Every year we come here, we will meet people from Zinder, Tava, Tilia and Niger. Breeder.”
“We have known each other for a long time. We gather together in music and dance every year. This is a grand party.”
He said that this year’s scale was even bigger because last year’s gathering was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tuareg dance during Inger’s annual festival [Michele Cattani / AFP]“Before We Are Free”
Going further, his nephew and about 50 other young people, all men, danced in a circle on the beach.
They sang love and reunion in Fulani. Others watched from the sidelines, traditional sabers hung on their belts.
There is a festive atmosphere everywhere.
But when people sit down under the canopies of the tent, their mood changes, and the faces that were full of laughter and smiles quickly become serious.
Revelry is just a short interval in the lives of these herdsmen. As the task of finding water and grazing animals becomes more difficult, life becomes more and more difficult.
“Before, we were free. We used to take our cattle anywhere,” local leader Assamou Malem explained. “But in the past 50 years, problems have been piling up: lack of jobs, land problems, a lot of injustice.”
Niger, the world’s worst-performing country in terms of the Human Development Index, like the rest of the Sahel, nomads have been ignored by policymakers since independence in 1960.
After several Tuareg rebellions in Mali and Niger, the Sahel nomads were the first to be recruited by armed groups associated with Al-Qaida and ISIL.
These groups have been established in neighboring areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, but have not yet been established here.
However, the huge desert north of Niger is already a land for trafficking in human beings and undocumented immigrants. “Terrorists regard it as a territory that they are destined to gradually occupy.” President Mohammed Bazum held in Inger on Friday Warned at the opening ceremony of one of the forums. National and traditional chiefs.
He said that we must be prepared to “arm up to face the demands of these two groups.”
Brigadier General Mahamadou Abu Taka, who leads the powerful high-level peace consolidation agency, also warned communities against “skirts” that lead to large-scale violence.
A young woman rides a donkey to participate in the annual festival [Michele Cattani / AFP]At the 2021 music festival, NGO propaganda stations formed long lines, armored vehicles guarded the entrance of the VIP area, and an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, possibly from a nearby US Air Force base, flew over the blue sky above.
But among everyone interviewed by Agence France-Presse, except for President Bazum, no one would openly talk about the threats to the region by militants.
“We can’t wait for the fire to extinguish it,” Mohamed Anako, chairman of the Agadez Regional Committee, said obliquely.
Away from the building where the forum is held, the event still has a festive atmosphere like any other event-except that it takes place in the Sahara Desert.
Quechua camping tents with herders (preferring traditional tents during the festival); a group of Russian tourists; a concert by Tuareg star Bombino.
Someone installed a sound system to make people passing by dance.
At the same time, a group of young Fulani Wodaabe gathered around one of them who was attending the ceremony.
“It used to be much better,” said another group leader, who anonymously criticized the authorities for “politicizing” the festival.
“Initially this was an event organized by nomads for nomads,” he said. “We are just celebrating.”
Niger President Mohamed Bazum (center) waved when he arrived at the festival on Thursday [Michele Cattani/AFP]
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