Frontiers in North Africa

(b) The Saharan borders

The basic administration of the Algerian Sahara was laid down by a law passed by the French national assembly on December 24, 1902. This provided that all Algeria south of a line running parallel to the Mediterranean coast but about 200 km inland was placed under the direct control of the governor-general and would be subject to a separate administration. This was to consist of four separate military commands, each answerable directly to the governor-general (Journal officiel 1902; 8457-8458). In August 1905, the commands were defined as the territories of Ain Sefra, Oasis (Adrar), Ghardaia and Touggourt (AGGA 8H41). This decision came just after the ministries of the interior and the colonies in Paris had laid down the first basic delimitation between Algeria (TDS) and the AOF.

The delimitation had come about as a result of the French conquest of the South Saharan Touareg nomads (Trout 1969; 183) in 1904 and the conjunction of troops from Algeria moving south from the Tidikelt and troops from the AOF moving north from Bourroum. The line, as proposed, was designed in its eastern section to delimit Touareg territory so that it fell within the TDS. The western section was simply derived by linking up the line delimiting Touareg territory with Cap Noun, then assumed in Paris to be the southern limit of Moroccan territory. This was the result of pressure on the French government by local commanders in the AOF who wished to extend what was to become the administrative entity of Mauritania - which was to become a colony in 1920 - northwards while the Algerian administration wanted to occupy Morocco from the south (Trout 1969; 188).

The delimitation began south of the Ahaggar massif and north of the Adrar des Iforas in the Tanezrouft and followed physical features to east and west - rivers and valleys - until it reached In-Guezzam in the east and the mid-point of the route linking Marabouti and Taoudeni. To the west it then followed a geometric straight line towards the mid-point on the Fezzanese frontier between Ghat and the place where the route between Agades (in Niger) and Murzuk crossed the frontier (Brownlie 1979; 46).

The 1905 arrangements - typically based on administrative convenience and only in small measure concerned with delimitations linked to population location and movement in the Adrar - were in large measure confirmed by the 1909 Niamey Conference which was finally approved in 1911 by Paris. The modifications that were introduced concerned the southern and south western elements of the line and were solely designed to improve administrative control of the Touareg (Trout 1969; 191-192). Otherwise, the line remained unchanged, although all mention of Cap Noun as the southernmost extent of Moroccan sovereignty had been dropped - partly because, no doubt, of the arrangements that had been made with Spain over its ambitions in the Western Sahara.

The sole remaining problem was the accurate location of the two tripoints on the delimitation line. The tripoint between Mauritania, Mali and Algeria was finally defined by the Kayes Treaty, drawn up on February 16, 1963, which provided the definitive delimitation between Mauritania and Mali. Although Algeria was not a signatory to this treaty, there is no evidence that the Algerian government has ever objected to the location of the tripoint under the treaty, particularly as it corresponded to the location defined by the Niamey Conference and the restatement of its location under the 1944 government decree delimiting the French Sudan (Mali) from Mauritania (Brownlie 1979; 407-410). The location of the tripoint between Mali, Niger and Algeria is far more problematic since the only agreements that delimit Niger and Mali were French administrative measures and these are not exact. As a result, the tripoint has become accepted by international usage and Algeria has not disputed this decision (Brownlie 1979; 417).

Since the end of the colonial period - Mali, Mauritania and Niger all obtained independence from France in 1960 under the provisions of the Gaullist Communauté francais legislation, while Algeria obtained independence under the Evian agreement in 1962 - there has been no evidence of dispute over the Niamey delimitation. Demarcation, however, is another matter and there has been constant friction over precisely where on the ground the boundary line should run. On January 31, 1970, Algeria and Mali announced that they were to demarcate their common border, while a similar announcement was made by Algeria and Niger on July 28, 1971.

Mauritania and Algeria made no comment on their common border until 1983, when they announced that delimitation and demarcation had been achieved as part of the process of Mauritania's adhesion to the Algerian inspired Treaty for Concord and Fraternity. Similar announcements were made in conjunction with Niger and Mali in the same year. In this case, it is clear that the 1964 OAU Cairo Resolution provisions have been applied.