Ben Bella

They spent a brief period in Algeria - where they were offered sanctuary by the country's first post-independence President, Ahmed Ben Bella.

Ben Bella, a leader of the Tuareg CMA alliance, told the BBC: "These statements will be followed by the arrival of fighters from Niger, Algeria and Libya to support us in the battle."

Algeria's football-loving President Ahmed Ben Bella scheduled two friendly matches for the occasion - one in Oran on 15 June, and one in the capital, Algiers, four days later.

However, on 17 June, Ben Bella's own Minister of Defence Houari Boumediene carried out a coup d'etat, deposing the president and cancelling the second match.

After France conceded independence to Algeria in 1962, she worked for the ministry of health under the newly independent country’s first president, Ahmed Ben Bella, and was granted Algerian citizenship.