Amenokal

Amenukal (Berber: ⵎⵏⴾⵍ, ⴰⵎⵏⵓⴽⴰⵍ) is a title for the highest Tuareg traditional chiefs; he is the head of an "ettebel" (drums, command...) and chosen from among the few relatives of the deceased amenokal. The term amenokal means "supreme chief, king, emperor". European observers have proposed several words to describe the scope of an amenokal's command (ettebel): confederation, political grouping, or "drum groups".

==History== Prior to the colonial period in the Maghreb and Sahel, the nomadic Tuareg federations chose a chief from among the wise men of their tribes to rule these confederacies. In what is now Algeria, an Amenokal was at the head of the Kel Ahaggar Tuareg confederation since its establishment (). It was maintained under colonial French suzerainty since 1903 but no longer recognized after the Algerian independence. It was finally abolished in 1977. In the northern mountains of what is now Niger, in the early 15th century, a state called Aïr was founded by the Tuareg confederation there, under an amenokal, who was also designated by the Arabic Muslim title Sultan; hence, it is also called a Berber sultanate.