Tuareg trade troubles

The city of Agadez in northern Niger has served as a market for Tuareg nomads trading camels, salt and gold for centuries. In recent years, European tourists have used the town as a base to visit the Sahara’s spectacular dunes, but these days business is suffering.

Niger’s army has launched a campaign to crush an uprising by rebels of the Niger Movement for Justice that started in February. The Tuareg guerrillas want the government to give their community more political power and a larger share of the wealth generated by the country’s uranium mines. They say they have benefited little from a scramble for exploration permits by foreign mining companies lured to their homeland by soaring uranium prices, driven partly by growing demand from China.

Tourist traffic has slumped since the government declared a ”state or alert” in the north and the prices of camels and goats sold by Tuareg traders have halved.

Soldiers man roadblocks outside Agadez or race past in pick-ups mounted with machine-guns.

Niger’s government dismisses the rebels as bandits and refuses to negotiate. The MNJ has vowed to continue its insurgency until its demands are met. Tuareg people caught in the middle have little to fall back on but their herds, and a resilience forged over generations in the desert.