Bankilare

Bankilaré (var. Bankilare, Bankilary)Eric Komlavi Hahonou, Mohamed Idrissa, Salou Ali
Les premiers pas de la commune de Bankilaré (an 4)
: Observatoire de la décentralisation au Niger. Etudes et Travaux n° 77, Laboratoire d’études et recherches sur les dynamiques sociales et le développement local (LASDEL) Niamey. June 2009. is a village and rural commune in Niger, Tillabéri Region, in the northwestern corner of the country. The town lies 60 km north of Departmental capital Téra, and around the same distance from the Burkina Faso border (to the west) and the Mali border (to the north).

Demography

Bankilaré town had an estimated sedentary population of 2,000 in the year 2002, mainly ethnically Tuareg and related Tuareg related groups The major Tuareg group centered on Bankilaré are the "Tenguereguedesh" or "Tinguereguedech", a Uladen Aulliminden sub group, formerly a sedentary group bonded to the noble Kel Igirer Aulliminden.Hélène Claudot-Hawad
Iwellemmeden Kel Ataram (Touaregs)
in Encyclopédie Berbère XXV (2003) article 176b : 3822-3828. The name "Tinguereguedech" is derived from the Tamasheq language phrase meaning "I am under the protection of..." Smaller local nomadic populations also include the Loghmatten and Doufrafrak former bonded sub groups of the Kel Ansongo Tuareg,
and the Fula Gaobé. The Gaobé historically practice a combination of rain-fed seasonal farming and semi-nomadic cattle raising.

Other local sedentary ethnic groups include the Songhai - Djerma peoples, and Gourmantche. The concentration of Tuareg population here sets the commune apart for the rest of the department, with the area north of Niamey and east of the river a largely Songhay "cultural zone".Eric Komlavi Hahonou. Une communauté nomade face à la décentralisation. In Claude Fay, Yaouaga Félix Koné (eds) Décentralisation et pouvoirs en Afrique: en contrepoint, modèles territoriaux français. Colloques et séminaires - Institut de recherche pour le développement Editions, 2006 pp.385-406 The rural areas immediately around the town are seasonally home to at least 10,000 nomadic Tuareg,Bankilaré : The Starting Point of the RURANET/ICD Initiative
in Rural Communication: A Strategic Link for Poverty Alleviation in Niger. by Djilali Benamrane. United Nations, FAO: Natural Resources Management and Environment Department. 2000-09-18.
who take their animals to pastures far north and east of here during the rainy season (roughly June to September).

Large portions of the local Tuareg population were historically slave or other bonded classes. One 2005 study found "practices related to slavery still exist among the Tuareg in Bankilaré" who continue to form "an endogamous group with special rights and obligations but without denying this group a Tuareg identity". Many from this community make seasonal migrations for seasonal labor to the Abidjan area, mirroring nomadic tuareg migrations north.

Economy

Bankilaré's economy is based around pastoral livestock, local subsistence farming, and services to these populations. Bankilaré is also known for its large market, where nomadic and sedentary groups buy and sell goods.

Communications center

Because Bankilaré is a dry season transhumance center for Tuareg groups which range as far north as Algeria, in 1999 the town was chosen to pilot what became a very successful radio project in which locals would broadcast pasturage conditions to desert populations across the region. Because of this it has since become the site of several Nigerien government and foreign radio and internet based community communication programs.

Drought and food scarcity

Bankilaré commune was particularly hard hit by the 1983-5 drought and famine which struck the region and faced notable food insecurity again in the late 1990s and 2005.

Governance

Bankilaré's importance as a pole for nomadic populations is reflected in the history of local governance. Prior to independence Bankilaré's administration was overseen by a series of "Tuareg specialists" within the French colonial service, notably Michel de Geyer d'Orth, who was "chef de poste" at Bankilaré from 1957, after serving in the northern Tuareg communities of Agadez and Iferouane. The French implemented a governance policy, while based in a single town, which governed nomadic groups (called "Fractions") wherever they traveled over the course of migrations.Michel de Geyer d'Orth, Les actions de développement. In Edmond Bernus (ed.) Nomades et commandants: administration et sociétés nomades dans l'ancienne A.O.F.. KARTHALA Editions, 1993 pp.127-138 This model was implemented in 27 "Administrative Posts", including Bankliare, from the founding of the Republic of Niger (as a devolved authority from France) in 1959 and independence in 1960. After this local authority was centralized back to the departmental level, the Administrative Post and "fraction" model was re-implemented in part during the decentralization process of the late 1990s that created the Bankilaré commune.

Bankilaré's ethnic differences from nearby towns are echoed in its relations with local "customary leaders" (pre-colonial leaders who now hold limited political roles) and its devolution from local political authority. Bankilaré is bordered by the Songhay majority towns of Yatakala, Gorouol, and Diagourou. This has meant that at times, Bankilaré is an ethnic enclave within Songhay majority local authorities, for long periods governed under a now defunct "Gorouol Canton". In 1992, Bankilaré was in fact made an official "Minority group" area by the Nigerien government. Since the 1990s Tuareg rebellion and the 1995-2002 decentralization process, Bankilaré Commune's distinct status has been reinforced by the structures of local government.

References

Further reading

*Pierre-Marie Decoudras. Territorialités plurielles à l'example des Touaregs de la région de Bankilaré (Niger). Les cahiers du CERVEL, Bordeaux, n° 4, 1998, pp. 143–165.

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Communes of Tillabéri Region