Since Algeria's independence in 1962, over 50.000 Touaregs have been massacred by Algerian military expeditions into the Central Sahara without an outcry from the international community.

In 1986, Algeria did not hesitate to expel more than 15,000 Tuareg refugees from Tamanrasset, only to find themselves in camps in the borders of Mali and Niger. Without papers, and hence without citizenship, the Kel Tagglemoust people were being bounced from one country to another.

Today, Algeria has adopted an ambiguous attitude with regard to the suffering of the Tuareg of Mali and Niger. It seems to be split between the desire to expand its diplomatic influence and the will to play on the issue of the community of origin of the 'white' Tuareg and Algerian populations in order to enjoy privileged relations with the governments of Niamey and Bamako and to appear as the natural protector of these populations, while in other respects, the agitation of the Tuareg of the south overcome their brothers in Algeria. This anxiety has become a deciding factor with the increasing flow of refugees stationed in the Ahaggar. This also explains the very active mediation role played by Algeria in an attempt to appease the Tuareg rebellion in Mali and Niger. 

In general terms, the main aim of Algeria's policy in the Sahara was to integrate the Tuareg into the Algerian system, a system whose 'socialist' values, such as 'freedom' and 'equal opportunities,' are incompatible with the traditional values of the Tuareg. Thus, one of the first priorities of the Algerian authorities was to attempt the settlement of Touareg tribes in towns in order to fit them into the official economic circuit and would eventually end up in a narrow dependence.

If the French administration had established relations with the Tuareg through the traditional chief, Amenukal, independent Algeria proceeded with a complete change in the distribution of authority.

The Amenukal lost his status of traditional chief and became nominally the 'elected' representative in the new 'popular democracy,' receiving a salary as a member of parliament.

Authorities in Algeria have always cast a suspicious eye on the Tuareg, not hesitating to take harsh measures to destroy their hierarchical traditional society in order to proceed with their assimilation. Since Algeria's independence in 1962, a policy of settlement and assimilation has been forced upon the Tuareg tribes in the southern part of the country.

The Algerian authorities repression of Tuareg has claimed some 50,000 victims. Without media attention, this human tragedy of unspeakable dimension, went unnoticed and the international community implicitly and indirectly endorsed the Algerian military's policy of eradication.

The Tuaregs indigenous rights have been seriously flouted. Indeed, 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 not complying with the majority of clauses, and far more than neighbouring Tuareg states (Niger and Mali).

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 are undergoing a new social and political change.

This change is interpreted nowadays as a sense of regionalism to endorse the potentially inflammatory notion of Le Grand Sud.

The subtle and unnoticed ethnic cleansing embarked upon by the Algerian authorities since independence, should be exposed the international community so that the Tuareg tribes in the Sahara may enjoy a peaceful period of stability free of interference from the centre of power in Algiers and run their own lives in a dignified manner and according to their customs and traditions.

Further down in the south, in the Sahel countries of Mali and Niger, genocide has for years been perpetrated by the regimes of the two countries against the Tuareg people, and to which the entire world seems to turn a blind eye. The Tuareg tragedy has not been a priority of world opinion simply because it is a slow burning conflict. This community has been systematically abused, repressed and eradicated with impunity. It has also become fragmented, uprooted and subjected to dislocation and alienation.

The Tuaregs today find themselves dominated, humiliated and, for some, reduced to the state of refugees partly because of administrative constraints and  political marginalisation coupled with geographical isolation and the sense of being a lonely voice in the vast Saharan territory.