Iferouane (french: link=no, Iférouane), also spelled Iferouan, is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

town and commune in northern

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAgadez Department. It is located northeast of

Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with A ...

in the northern Aïr, in the Ighazar valley near the Tamgak Range. Iferouane is also the location of the headquarters of the Aïr and

Ténéré The Ténéré (Tuareg: Tenere, literally: "desert") is a desert region in the south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over . The Ténéré's boundaries are ...

Natural Reserves, a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

covering more than . The Project for the Conservation and Management of the Natural Resources of the Aïr-Ténéré, a joint venture between the government of Niger, the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN), and the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

(WWF), is also based in Iferouane. The town has one airport: Iferouane Airport .

History

The Foureau-Lamy Mission, a French military expedition led by Fernand Foreau and

Amédée-François Lamy Amédée-François Lamy was a French military officer. He was born at Mougins, in the French ''département'' of Alpes-Maritimes on 7 February 1858 and died in the battle of Kousséri on 22 April 1900. Early years Lamy's ambition to become an ...

, spent a number of months at Iferouane in 1899. The expedition stopped at Iferouane on 24 February 1899 to acquire additional

pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft anim ...

s, their number having dwindled from 1,004 to 585, and departed on 10 June 1899, heading for

Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also ...

. During this time, the expeditionary force faced multiple attacks by

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...

nomads and saw the size of its

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

dwindle from 585

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

s to 75. During Niger's colonial period, Iferouane was the northernmost military outpost in the

French colony The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...

. In 1964, a few years after independence, the population of Iferouane '' cercle'' was approximately 10,000.

Second Tuareg Rebellion

Iferouane was the site of the first attack carried out by the

Niger Movement for Justice The Nigerien's Movement for Justice (in French ''Mouvement des Nigériens pour la justice'', MNJ) is a largely Tuareg ethnic, northern Niger based militant group. But the MNJ also includes other nomadic ethnicities, within this area, such as the ...

(MNJ), which marked the beginning of the

Second Tuareg Rebellion The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

. Numerous clashes between rebel and government forces subsequently took place near the town, including an attack in early December 2007 against a supply convoy heading for Iferouane that resulted in the deaths of three soldiers and, according to the government, eight rebels. In October 2007, the president of the SOS Iférouane Initiative, a local organisation involved with delivering supplies to the town, reported that – due to the insecurity caused by the rebellion – the residents of Iferouane had been without food for a number of weeks. He also reported an increase in the incidence of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

diarrhoea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

among the town's residents. In November, Iferouane's

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

reported that the town's entire population – approximately 5,000 residents – had left due to shortages of food, the Tuareg rebellion, and "harassment" by the army. The central government, based in

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital di ...

, confirmed that supplies to the town were blocked due to the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

of roads by rebels, but denied that the town had been emptied. In November 2008, a

Radio France International Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with D ...

reporter visited the town and described it as "empty of inhabitants", with the entire population having fled to

. During 2009, the inhabitants started to return and by September, about 90% of the population had returned and agriculture had restarted, despite damaged infrastructure.

Climate

Iferouane receives, on average, in excess of 50 mm of rainfall per year, which falls in the course of a few heavy downpours during the summer months. Mean rainfall per annum was from 1940 to 1989, and between 1990 and 2004.

Temperatures Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

as low as and as high as have been recorded.

References

{{Authority control Oases of Niger Communes of Niger

History

Second Tuareg Rebellion

Climate

See also

References