In the rocky expanses of the Tassili n’Azger, on the outskirts of the Algerian Sahara, a seemingly customary conflict has recently taken a political turn. Two figures are competing there for the title of Amenokal of Azger, the highest traditional authority of the region’s Tuareg: El Hadj Ghouma El-Bekri ben Ibrahim, an acknowledged leader and elder among the notables, and Hussein ben Kalala, grandson of historic resistance fighter Ibrahim Ag Abakda. Behind this rivalry, the issue at stake is the legitimacy of traditional power and its adaptation to the contemporary political framework.