Heather Alexander Tuareg continued to call for a separate, Tuareg state.40 As stated above, Mali briefly federated with what would become Senegal, but this ended in acrimony after two months with the withdrawal of Senegal. The status of Senegalese living in Mali would remain sensitive.41 Across the new nation, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity called into question the unity of a state dominated by the Bambara ethnic group. Socialist policy in the early 1960s favoured rapid agricultural development, the nationalisation of industry and the abolition of traditional class structures, including slavery. Diby Sillas Diarra, Mali’s administrator in the north during this period, is quoted by French historian Pierre Boilley as saying, ‘sedentarisation of the nomad is our objective (in the north).’42 Schools were an important assimilation tool of the Keïta regime, where minority languages were banned and children were taught songs and stories that focused exclusively on southern Malian culture.43 Mali also issued its own currency, a move which caused significant financial problems for the new state and arguably worsened poverty in the north.44 Only two years after independence, in 1962, civil war broke out in northern Mali between members of the Tuareg ethnic group and the government. As a result, northern Mali was governed as a military zone, which would affect the registration of the northern population and leave open the question of Tuareg nationality. Many Tuareg would leave the country as refugees, spending many years living in camps.45 Questions of national identity and Tuareg separatism would continue to impact Mali’s nationality law and complicate its implementation. 2.3 The 1962 Nationality Code In 1962, the government enacted a permanent nationality law, the Code de la nationalité Malienne,46 accompanied by a Circulaire d'application on its detailed implementation.47 The code, drafted with the assistance of international experts, reflected the government of Mali’s priorities, while adopting many provisions from the French nationality code of 1945.48 For example, Article 2, in keeping with French law, asserted the primacy of treaties over the Malian code.49 The code adhered to the basic structure of French nationality, including distinctions between automatic nationality at birth (nationalité d’origine), nationality acquired later in life by the non-discretionary processes of declaration or option, and discretionary naturalisation.50 The code also adopted the French principle of double-birth (automatic attribution to the second generation born in the territory, also known as double jus soli) for persons ‘of African origin’ 40 André Bourgeot « Sahara : espace géostratégique et enjeux politiques » in Afrique noire et monde arabe : continuités et ruptures, Jean Schmitz, ed. (IRD éditions 2000) 33-35. 41 Paul Decheix, « Le Code de la nationalité Malienne » 697 Penant 300 (1963) 303. 42 Boilley 360. 43 Lecocq 157-158. 44 Cheich O. Diarrah, Vers La IIIe République Du Mali (L’Harmattan 1991) 39-42, 47-48. 45 A. Bourgeot, Les sociétés Touarègues : nomadisme, identité, résistances (Karthala 1995) 267. 46 Le Code de la nationalité Malienne, Loi N. 62-18 AN-RM du 3 Février 1962, J.O.R.M. No. 112 (1 Mars 1962) p. 168 (1962 Code). 47 Circulaire d'application n. 331 sur l'application du Code de la Nationalité Malienne, Journal Officiel de la République du Mali, J.O.R.M. No. 114 (1 April 1962) p. 272 48 Decheix 300, 314. See also Alexandre Zatzepine, Le Droit de la nationalité des Républiques Francophones d'Afrique et de Madagascar (Paris 1963). 49 Under the French Constitution of 1958, Art. 55, treaties took primacy over acts of the French parliament. 50 Manby 44. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/11 - © 2020 Author(s) 7