Uranium Under the Sand, Anger Above

They are scattered across five North African countries and number about 1.6 million in Niger, or 11 percent of the country's population. After summer rains, hundreds of thousands of Tuaregs and other nomads travel to Niger's salt fields, a few hundred miles from Agadez, to celebrate and to fatten their livestock on mineral-rich grass.

But these ceremonial grounds are now dotted with red flags marking uranium deposits to be mined. Thousands of flags have been planted "without any of the peoples of northern Niger being consulted or even informed," said Issouf Ag Maha, a spokesman for the Niger Movement for Justice.

Ag Maha says that the Tuareg "have no choice but to fight or disappear." The rebels have ambushed government convoys accompanying foreign mining personnel and have taken soldiers and a Chinese mining official hostage. Niger's president, Mamadou Tandja, has repeatedly denounced the rebels as bandits and drug traffickers and has refused to negotiate with them. He declared a state of emergency in August, banned foreign correspondents from visiting northern Niger and muzzled the country's radio and print reporters. A Radio France International reporter accused of collaborating with the rebels has been imprisoned for seven months and faces the death penalty.

U.S. foreign aid to Niger is minimal, but we do support Niger's military by equipping and training their soldiers as part of the State Department's Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership. Ag Maha says that the United States should instead use its leverage to pressure Niger's government to "negotiate . . . and acknowledge the existence of democratic movements and bring peace in the region."

That hasn't happened yet. The rebels say that they want peace talks, but if the United States does not help arrange them, the Tuareg will probably look elsewhere for assistance. And as we should know by now, desperate people sometimes find help in the most unsavory places.

Meanwhile, Abdou is barely getting by. In February, he managed to make a trip to the capital more than 500 miles away to sell his jewelry, but landmines have since made the journey too dangerous. "Please pass our tears onto the world," he wrote. "Please help us get out of this misery."

cbrian8587@earthlink.net

Claire Spiegel, a freelance writer, has done humanitarian work with nomadic communities in northern Niger.