Bankilare

Bankilaré town had an estimated sedentary population of 4,000 in the year 2012, mainly ethnically Tuareg and related Tuareg related groups^[5] The major Tuareg group centered on Bankilaré are the "Tenguereguedesh" ^[6][7] or "Tinguereguedech", a Uladen Aulliminden sub group, formerly a sedentary group bonded to the noble Kel Igirer Aulliminden.^[8][9] The name "Tinguereguedech" is derived from the Tamasheq language phrase meaning "I am under the protection of..."^[8] Smaller local nomadic populations also include the Loghmatten and Doufrafrak former bonded sub groups of the Kel Ansongo Tuareg,^{[1] [10]} and the Fula Gaobé. The Gaobé historically practice a combination of rain-fed seasonal farming and semi-nomadic cattle raising.^[8]

Other local sedentary ethnic groups include the Songhai - Djerma peoples, and Gourmantche. The concentration of Tuareg population here sets the commune apart for the rest of the department, with the area north of Niamey and east of the river a largely Songhay "cultural zone".^[8] The rural areas immediately around the town are seasonally home to at least 10,000 nomadic Tuareg,^{[11] [12]} who take their animals to pastures far north and east of here during the rainy season (roughly June to September).

Large portions of the local Tuareg population were historically slave or other bonded classes. One 2005 study found "practices related to slavery still exist among the Tuareg in Bankilaré" who continue to form "an endogamous group with special rights and obligations but without denying this group a Tuareg identity". Many from this community make seasonal migrations for seasonal labor to the Abidjan area, mirroring nomadic tuareg migrations north.^[13][14]

Bankilaré's economy is based around pastoral livestock, local subsistence farming, and services to these populations.^[1] Bankilaré is also known for its large market, where nomadic and sedentary groups buy and sell goods.^[15]

Because Bankilaré is a dry season transhumance center for Tuareg groups which range as far north as Algeria, in 1999 the town was chosen to pilot what became a very successful radio project in which locals would broadcast pasturage conditions to desert populations across the region. Because of this it has since become the site of several Nigerien government and foreign radio and internet based community communication programs.^{[11][16][17][18][19]}

Bankilaré commune was particularly hard hit by the 1983-5 drought and famine which struck the region ^[20] and faced notable food insecurity again in the late 1990s and 2005.^[21]