Behind the crenellated walls, slumber winding alleys, guard towers, underground galleries, footbridges, granaries, wells, testimonies of the genius of forgotten builders.
Generations of travelers have dreamed of the ruins of the Djado forts, located more than 1,300 km from Niamey, in northeastern Niger. Without ever solving their riddles.
Who built these "ksars", fortified villages built of salt stone whose remains haunt the oases of Kawar, a desert and isolated region in northeastern Niger? At what time? And why were they abandoned?
No excavation, no scientific dating has ever been undertaken in the area to definitively answer these questions.
Researchers and tourists have deserted this troubled region bordering Libya and Chad for twenty years because of insecurity. The Kawar, once an important node of caravan routes, is now a corridor for trans-Saharan arms and drug trafficking.
"Since 2002, there have been no foreign tourists. At the time when tourism was going well, it was an economic potential for the community," said Sidi Aba Laouel, mayor of the commune of Chirfa, which includes the Djado sites.
The fortress of Djaba, near Djado in Niger, May 21, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
The discovery of gold deposits in the area in 2014 breathed new life into the commune and attracted nationals from all over West Africa, as well as a swarm of bandits who have their hideouts in the nearby mountains. The ruins are of little interest to these new visitors.
Devastating raids
The mayor prefers not to advance on the history of the communal heritage. He refers to old photocopies buried in the closet of his office: those of a book by Albert le Rouvreur, a French soldier who was stationed in Chirfa during colonial times and tried unsuccessfully to solve the mystery.
By the time the first Europeans arrived in 1906, the ksars had lost their usefulness. That of protecting the inhabitants against the raids and invasions that have devastated the region for centuries.
Children move on donkeys through the old walls of the Fachi oasis, Niger, on May 24, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
The Sao, an animist people settled in the region since ancient times, are the first known occupants of the Kawar, and perhaps at the origin of its first fortifications. But the palm roofs that remain here and there in the ruins of Djado seem to indicate more recent constructions.
Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Kanuri settled in the area. Their oases were ravaged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by successive raids by Tuareg, Arab and Toubou nomads. The latter took root in Djado and established one of their fiefdoms there, until the arrival of the French military who definitively conquered the area in 1923.
Kanouri and Toubou are now mixed, but the traditional authorities of the region, the "maï", are still descended from the great Kanuri lineages. They are the customary owners of the ksars and custodians of the oral tradition, likely to provide answers.
The fortress of Djado, Niger, on May 22, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
Kiari Kelaoui Abari Chegou, "mai" of Bilma and its ruined ksar, however, came up against the same enigmas as passing travelers. "Even our grandfathers didn't know. We didn't keep our archives," he laments.
Endangered remains
Three hundred kilometers further south, another jewel of regional heritage lies in the hollows of a sea of dunes.
The oasis of Fachi is famous for its fortress and old town, with almost intact walls. Some symbolic locations of the ancient city are still used for traditional ceremonies. The muezzin of the locality is the ultimate inhabitant.
Aerial view of the dunes surrounding the oasis of Fachi, Niger, on May 25, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
Fachi's traditional authority, Kiari Sidi Tchagam, estimates the age of his fortress at "at least 200 years". Many ksars in other Saharan countries were actually built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
"According to the information we received, there was an Arab who came from Turkey, he was the one who gave people the idea to build this fort," he said.
In Dirkou, where the ruins of another ancient city are located, it is Agi Marda Taher, a former MP, who is an authority on the history of local heritage. According to him, the Turks established in neighboring Libya, were involved in the construction of several ksars and especially those of the Djado.
Aerial view of the old town of Fachi, Niger, on May 25, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
The Kanuri would then have erected their own fortifications at Dirkou, Bilma and Fachi, the main oases of the region.
A pride for their descendants, worried about the preservation of these fragile salt architectures threatened by the rains. "It is really imperative to include this as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We find ourselves through this fort, it's part of our culture, our whole history," said Kiari Sidi Tchagam.
The old mosque in Dirkou, Niger, on May 20, 2023 © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP
Since 2006, the Djado forts have been vegetating on a tentative list for a possible application for UNESCO World Heritage status.
Abandoned in the silence of the desert, the citadels still defend their heirs against oblivion.
© 2023 AFP