People of the veil

by Baron Francis James Rennell Rodd Rennell of Rodd

This does not exclude the possibility of the Constantinople Embassy being true, but the explanation I have given of the slave kings of Air seems to be sufficient on its own merits and also reasonable. Every factor in the situation points to the care which was taken to eliminate all possible chances of dispute; even the relegation of the choice to one servile family singled out for the purpose would tend to diminish friction. On the whole the procedure may be said to provide a rational if cynical solution of what has always been a difficult problem in all countries.[95] Inasmuch as the explanation also serves to elucidate a number of other problems, it may be said to receive confirmation.

Thus, the principal Minister or Vizir of the Amenokal is the Sariki n’Turawa,[96] a Hausa term meaning the “Chief of the White People.” The White People are the Arab traders from the north, who themselves call this official the “Sheikh el Arab.” His functions are those of Minister for Foreign Affairs:[97] his duties are to regulate the foreign community of Agades and settle all questions of trade with the outside world. Though originally appointed to deal with the Arabs of the north, he came eventually to have more to do with the Southland. He used to collect the duties on merchandise in Agades and accompany the salt caravans to Bilma, a service for which he received an eighth part of an average camel load of salt. After the salt caravan returned, the Sariki n’Turawa proceeded south with the camels returning to Sokoto, and then went on to Kano. The latter part of his journey had already been discontinued in 1850, but he still accompanies the salt caravan as the representative of the Sultan and nominal leader of the enterprise. In addition to these duties involving foreign relations, he is the Amenokal’s chief adviser and “Master of the Interior of the Palace,” with the Songhai name of “Kokoi Geregeri.” He is also known as the “Wakili” or Chief Agent of the king. The reason for the Chief Minister in Agades being also Minister for Foreign Affairs needs no further comment after what has been said of the Sultan himself and his raison d’être.

Other officials and courtiers round the Amenokal include the Sariki n’Kaswa, or Chief of the Market Place, who collects the market dues and supervises the prices of commodities. There are, besides, police officials or policemen who are also the executioners, and a number of persons called after the class from whom they are chosen, the “magadeza.” The word seems to be a corruption of “Emagadezi,” meaning People of Agades, but has acquired a more restricted meaning, and is commonly applied to a number of rather fat men who are reputed to be the posterity of the attendants of the first Yunis who came from Constantinople.[98]

By virtue of his own position the Amenokal enjoys very little authority. He is used as an arbitrator and Judge of Appeal. In cases where the disputants are both from the same group of clans their quarrel would normally be referred to the head of their aggregation, except amongst the Kel Owi, over whom the Añastafidet is the administrative authority, or court of the second instance; in minor matters the tribal chief can, of course, decide on his own initiative. But in disputes between persons of different tribes who cannot agree on the finding of the chief of either of their factions, the case may be referred to the Sultan, on whose behalf the Kadhi renders judgment. Such functions as the Sultan performs are executed with the consent of the governed. Although all serious cases might be referred to him in theory, in practice his authority has never run in local tribal affairs. He has a common gaol for criminals, used in the first instance for those of the city, but also for such as cannot be satisfactorily punished under the tribal arrangements of a nomadic and semi-nomadic people. There were cases when chiefs of tribes might be, and were, imprisoned at Agades, but then it was because the power behind the throne had so desired it. The Sultan apparently at one time also had a dungeon with swords and spears fixed upright in the floor upon which criminal malefactors were thrown; but already in 1850 it was rarely used.

It cannot be too carefully emphasised that the rule of the Sultan as the elected head of the State of Agades was founded upon the consent of the governed. He is the figure-head of the community and performs the same useful duties which so many heads of more civilised States undertake. The Tuareg have probably never had occasion to discuss the social contract, and the works of J. S. Mill or Rousseau are not current in Air, but nowhere are these theories of government more meticulously carried into effect or do they assume the practical form which they have often lacked in Europe. With all their aristocratic traditions of caste and breeding, the Tuareg have never favoured an established or hereditary autocracy. The government they prefer seems to be a democratic monarchy. Their king is a slave elected by the representatives of certain, at one time doubtless the most important, tribes; he exists and carries out certain functions because the mass of the people desire it so. Authority is not inherited, and even men of inferior caste may become chieftains. The evolution of society has also inevitably rendered the king dependent for support upon the principal men of the country, and the latter upon the smaller chieftains. Where there is much rivalry or where the ruler is weaker than usual the frequent changes and inconsistency inherent in democratic government ensue. Equally the ascendancy of one man’s personality independently of his position may override the voice of the people, but in the absence of organisation or bureaucracy the conditioning factor is efficiency and competence. Tribal leaders are selected because they can lead; when they cease to lead they are deposed.

The unenviable position of the king and his dependence on the influence of the chiefs seem consequently to have been the same throughout the ages. Leo[99] refers to the practice of deposing one king and electing another from the same family who was more acceptable. Bello on the subject has also already been quoted. We have just seen how often and why Osman Mikitan and Brahim changed places. Barth recounts how in his day Abd el Qader was completely in the hands of the Kel Owi, who were represented by the dominant personality of their paramount chief, Annur. His own tribe was not even, as a matter of fact, among those responsible for the selection of the Sultan, but his personality was such that the Amenokal, at his request, or with his support, felt himself strong enough to imprison three turbulent chiefs of the Itesan who were stirring up the people in Agades in favour of a pretender. Yet the Itesan, a tribe of the southern Kel Geres, are the foremost of the tribes responsible for the Sultan’s very election and his maintenance in power. Without Annur’s support, Abd el Qader was powerless.

OMAR: AMENOKAL OF AIR

I think that the persistence of tradition shows how essential the method devised for choosing the head of the community was, and is still considered to be among the Air Tuareg. Even to-day the Itesan retain their predominant voice in the election, though they live in the Sudan and are in part within the border of the country administered by the British Government, and though their king is in French territory hundreds of miles away. They were the deciding factor in the election, after the death of Tegama,[100] of Omar from the collateral branch which lives with them.

Only in rare cases was the Amenokal a leader in war. Muhammad Hammad is an instance in point, but it is clear he was an exceptional man. When raids had taken place or were threatening in such a manner as to affect the people of Air indiscriminately, or where individual tribes might not consider themselves sufficiently involved to occasion reprisals, the Sultan used to lead a counter-raid recruited from several clans and provisioned according to his direction from those groups most capable of supplying the needs. In no case could a Sultan lead a raid against an Air tribe, whether in the north or in the south, unless he had definitely thrown in his lot with a local intrigue, which theoretically would, and usually did, entail his eventual deposition. Within Air the Sultan was neutral, or as we should say “constitutional.” He could only take the field against people like the Aulimmiden of the west, or the Tebu of the east, or the Ahaggaren of the north beyond the borders of his country. As a general rule, however, leading in war was the task of tribal chieftains and not of the king.