AN ATLAS OF MALI - Ifoghas and Ménaka

By Olivier Walther, University of Florida

This atlas explores the geography of the Adrar des Ifoghas and Ménaka region in Mali, from Tessalit to Gao, through the 1:200,000 maps produced by the French National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the 1950s and 1960s. Each map serves as a starting point for a reflection on the nature of geographical space. Taken together, these commentaries show the variety of the Sahara and of the Sahel and the many ways in which societies have contributed to shaping these extraordinary regions.

This atlas also maps the North, the Delta and Gourma, and the West of Mali.

Map	Description
	31 – Taounnant. This map bears the name of a well, whose shallow fresh water must be particularly sought-after in this arid region of northern Mali. Saharan nomads have a very detailed knowledge of the depth, availability and quality of the water in the wells of their region. The northern part of the map bears the marks of the rough track linking Tessalit to Taoudenni. A network of fossil lakes is still visible in the vicinity of Erg Sakane, 100 km NW of the Adrar des Ifoghas.
	32/33 – Tessalit Ouest/Est. Tessalit is an important military center in northern Mali. To the north of Achemelmel, French, Malian, and United Nations forces have built an impressive base next to a military airport with a runway of 2.5 km. The military camp near Tessalit was captured by the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2012 after a prolonged fight with the Malian army. Tessalit was recaptured by French and Chadian forces in 2013. Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was killed 80 km east of Tessalit, in the Ourdjane oued, near Talahandak, by a French air strike in 2020.
	39 – Timetrine. To the west of Kidal, the oueds cutting into the Timetrine plateau have deposited large quantities of sediment, forming sharp crescent-shaped dunes known as barkhanes. These dunes, which are very common north of the twentieth parallel, generally sit directly on the bedrock. The French called their anti-terrorist operation Barkhane (2014-2022), a perfect metaphor for a mobile force, since a barkhane moves around while remaining true to itself.
	40 – Aguelhok. The Aguelhok military base in the Adrar des Ifoghas has always been a vital military site despite being very remote. Aguelhok was captured by the jihadist group Ansar Dine at the very start of the Malian civil war in 2012. The massacre of nearly 150 soldiers left a deep impression on the Malian and international community.
	41 – Aoukenek. The mountainous massif of Adrar des Ifoghas has long remained inaccessible. In the decades that followed Malian independence, the Adrar was a military region, before transforming into a stronghold for the Tuareg rebellion of 1990-1995. Violent combats between French forces and Jihadists took place north in Adrar Tighaghar. The commander of the Saharan branch of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abu Zeid, was killed in the Ametetaï valley about 60 km NE of Aguelhok, in February 2013 (map #40).
	42 – Ti-n Zaouâtene. The rural commune of Ti-n Zaouâtene in northeastern Mali is a twin city divided by a dry riverbed. On the Malian side, Ti-n Zaouâtene is made up of a scattered collection of small houses and tents, with no apparent roads or public infrastructure. On the Algerian side, by contrast, Tin Zaoutine is much denser, with better-built houses and infrastructure. Because of the war in Mali, thousands of civilians have fled their country for Algeria, contributing to the spectacular growth of Tin Zaoutine. A sandy berm built on the Algerian side now separates the cities. None of this is visible on the IGN map from the 1960s, which shows a fortified building nestled in the bend of the river upstream from the town’s current position. Ti-n Zaouâtene has become a highly symbolic location in the ongoing war between the Malian government, separatist rebels, and violent extremist organizations. In July 2024, the rebels of the Permanent Strategic Framework (and, reportedly, Jihadists) inflicted a humiliating defeat on Malian soldiers and Russian paramilitary from the Wagner Group near Ti-n Zaouâtene.
	43 – Ti-n-Srir. Only a narrow strip of Algerian territory is visible on this map of Ti-n-Srir, a remote well located on the border line between Mali and Algeria, east of Ti-n Zaouâtene (map #42). The border follows the I-n-Atakarer oued, a rather unusual feature in a region where colonial boundaries were generally drawn in a straight line. To the SE of the map lies the border separating Algeria from Mali and Niger, stretching as far as In Guezzam.
	49 – Anéchag. The 77 m deep Anéchag well lies to the south of the Timetrine massif. Much shallower wells (oglât in Arabic) can be found to the south of the region, as the many tracks leading to them attest. Dug in oued beds, these shallow wells are only available for part of the year, and have to be dug up again after the rainy season. This is probably why a modern water pumping station was created at Ammouk (-64 m).
	50 – Anefis. Anefis is an important strategic crossroads in the Tilemsi valley. National Road 19 (RN19), which climbs northwards, leads to Aguelhok, the Tessalit military base, and the Algerian border (map #40). The road to the east leads to Kidal, the political center of the Adrar des Ifoghas. Historically, the Tilemsi has been a major trade corridor between Mali’s Adrar des Ifoghas and Algeria’s Touat and Tidikelt. To the present day, food and energy supplies to northern Mali mainly come from Algeria. The area around Anefis was the scene of numerous clashes between Tuareg independentists, the Malian army and pro-government militias between 2013 and 2015. Anefis was recaptured by government forces and their Russian mercenaries in 2023.
	51 – Kidal. Despite its small size and geographical isolation, Kidal is a major political center in Mali. It is from Kidal that Tuareg rebellions have originated and in Kidal that the political power of the Ifoghas Tuareg lies. For the Malian armed forces and their Russian allies, reconquering Kidal, as they did in November 2023, was seen as necessary to the restoration of national sovereignty. North of Kidal are the ruins of Tadmakka (or Essouk), a major caravan center that developed from the eighth to the seventeenth century.
	52 – Ti-n-Essako. Ti-n-Essako is a village in the south-eastern Adrar des Ifoghas region whose recent history is inextricably linked with armed conflict. On this French map from the 1960s, the village is a military post connected to Kidal, 120 km to the west, and to another military post, Anou Mellene, on the Nigerien border. More recently, Ti-n-Essako has been the scene of clashes between Malian armed forces and terrorist groups. It is the birthplace of the rebel Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, founder of the Alliance démocratique du 23 mai pour le changement (ADC), who died in a car accident in 2011. The northern part of the map shows the old National Road 16 (RN16) linking Kidal to Ti-n Zaouâtene.
	53 – I-n-Tamat. The most spectacular feature of this map of I-n-Tamat is the east-west alignment of some 30 markers probably established before decolonization. The altitude of each point is indicated next to the marker.
	54 – Tazerzaït. The east-west alignment of markers observed near I-n-Tamat (map #53) continues on this map of the Tazerzaït region bordering Niger. The French cartographers of the IGN indicated that this is a “recommended motorable route” between the Niger River valley in Mali and the Aïr Mountains in Niger, a journey of 900 km almost completely devoid of permanent human settlements. In 1977, the Sand Cruise between Nouakchott and the Red Sea left several dozen beacons further south in an attempt to open up a new latitudinal route across the Sahara. Many of them have disappeared today.
	60 – Farit. This map of the eastern Niger River Bend illustrates how roads structure the Saharan space. In the vicinity of Bourem airport, visible in the SE corner of the map, all tracks lead to the goudron (tarmac in French). This region of wide pastures contains several megalithic sites.
	61 – Tabankort. The small town of Tabankort is located in the Tilemsi valley, a long depression that runs from the Algerian-Malian borders to the Niger River. Bordered by the Adrar des Ifoghas and Timetrine massifs, the Tilemsi is a fossil valley where an ancient tributary of the Niger River once flowed. Because of its strategic location between Gao and Kidal, Tabankort has been the scene of several battles since the start of the civil war in Mali in 2012. In 2014, the founder of the Movement for Unicity and Jihad (MUJAO), Ahmed al-Tilemsi, was killed near Abankort by French forces. In 2019, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS, now Islamic State - Sahel Province) ambushed a Malian patrol, killing 43 soldiers.
	62 – In Tebezas. The In Tebezas region lies to the south of Kidal, in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas. The well, visible in the NE corner of the map, borders the Esgueret oued. This large fossil valley passes through the town of Ménaka, more than 220 km to the south, and continues as far as Baleyara in Niger, where it joins the Azawagh fossil valley stretching from Tamesna. The valley takes the name Dallo Bosso until it reaches the Niger River.
	63 – Tegôrast. This map of the Tegôrast region follows the Esgueret oued as it runs towards Ménaka in eastern Mali. All the wells along the dry riverbed have dried up ("puit à sec" in French on the map). To the south of the map, the hydrographic network originating on the Ménaka plateau is blocked by a large expanse of sand, forming closed depressions called daya where run-off water collects.
	64 – Ténîkert. In this region of eastern Mali, the wells are shallow: only 3 m at Akaboun and up to 15 m at Ténîkert, which gives its name to the map. Not a single road is visible in this region, located only 70 km from the border with Niger.
	65 – I-n-Arouinat. The I-n-Arouinat well, located in Niger, is a focal point for the nomadic populations of the Azawagh region. The map clearly shows the beginning of the dry structural basin, which was once a tributary of the Niger River and remains a pastoral area of prime importance for the Tuareg, Fulani and Arab populations.
	71/72 – Gao/Gao Est. With an estimated population of 87,000 in 2024, Gao is one of the most important cities of the Sahel. Historically, the city has been a commercial center since the early Middle Ages and the capital of the Songhai Empire until the late sixteenth century. Since the beginning of the war in Mali, Gao has become a major epicenter of Jihadist violence in Mali. North of Gao is the village of Taoussa, where the Niger River suddenly changes course and heads south through Niger and Nigeria. Geographers have long debated whether this sudden bend could mean that the ancestral Niger River had captured another stream that flowed into a large lake in the Central Sahara.
	73 – Telataï. Telataï (or Talataye) is a small village in the Ansongo region, NW of Ménaka. The region is rugged with fossil valleys carved by rivers that used to flow into the Niger River, hundreds of km further south. In 2022, Telataï was the scene of a battle between the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), allied with the Malian government, and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), another Jihadist group. After conquering the town and killing some of its inhabitants, the ISSP Jihadists set fire to it and withdrew. JNIM and MSA fighters retook the town the following day. This kind of confrontation is typical of the Malian conflict since 2012, where alliances between government forces, rebels and religious extremists are extremely fluid.
	74 – Tidarméné. The most striking feature of this arid region is the Esgueret oued that runs west of the small village of Tidarméné (or Tidermène). This large fossil valley was once connected to the Niger River. The road linking Ménaka to Kidal also runs along the bottom of this valley. Like Telataï (map #73), Tidarméné was seized by the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP) in 2023, during its offensive in the Ménaka region.
	75 – Ouaritoufoulout. This spectacular map of eastern Mali shows the full extent of the Azawagh, an immense fossil valley that was once connected to the the Niger River. Originating in the Talak region of Niger, the Azawagh river flowed for almost 1,600 km in what geologists call the Ouilliminden (or Iwellemmeden) basin, named after the Tuareg confederation living in this region. Connected to Ménaka by a rough track, Ouaritoufoulout is the last Malian village before the Nigerien border.
	76 – Tillia. Mali occupies only a small part of this map of the Tillia region, located in the Azawagh, NW of Niger. The village is at the center of a vast pastoral zone extending as far as Tchin-Tabaradene. It was in the latter town that the Tuareg rebellion began in May 1990, after the Nigerien army massacred hundreds of civilians.
	89 – Ansongo. The Niger River goes by many names along its 4,200 km course, from its source in the Fouta Djallon to its mouth in Nigeria. The Tuareg call it “the river of rivers” (Ghir-n-Igheren), while the Arabs simply call it “the sea” (El-Bahr). The Niger River is “the one that sings” (Djoliba) in Mandinka, while further downstream, in the Ansongo region, the Songhai call it “the great watercourse” (Issa Béri).
	90 – In-Délimane. In-Délimane is north of Mali’s National Route 20, some 160 km east of Gao. The region of In-Délimane has been the object of 40 violent incidents between security forces, rebels and extremist groups since Tuareg defense groups started to clash with militants from the Islamic State - Sahel Province (ISSP) in 2017. The worst incident took place in November 2019, when the military camp of the Malian army was attacked by militants from the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), killing 53 soldiers and one civilian.
	91 – Ménaka. The emergence of the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP) in eastern Mali has turned the Ménaka region into a major conflict zone in the Sahel. Several deadly attacks against government forces have taken place in the vicinity of the town, such as in Tongo-Tongo (2017) and Indelimane (2019, map #90, #92), illustrating violent nature of the jihadist insurgency underway in this region. In 2022, ISSP launched a massive offensive against the Malian army and two pro-government Tuareg militias, the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and the Imghad Tuareg and Allies Self-Defense Group (GATIA) (see map #92). The French forces of Operation Barkhane also intervened. This renewed conflict takes place in a context marked by intense rivalries between Fulani pastoralists, who are well represented among Islamic State militants, and Dawsahak (or Daoussak) Tuareg, who lean more towards the MSA.
	92 – Tigézéfen. Of all the maps showing the Azawagh fossil valley in Mali, this one is the most impressive. In this region of western Mali, the valley is over 15 km wide. At Tigézéfen, the Azawagh merges with another large fossil valley, the Azawar, and follows the international border for several dozens of km. The most central place on the map is not the small village of Tigézéfen, on the Nigerien side, but the Malian town of Andéranboukane in the west of the Ménaka region. The highly strategic town of Andéranboukane has been the scene of violent fighting between the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), and two pro-government militias, the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and the Imghad Tuareg and Allies Self-Defense Group (GATIA) (map #91).