The Tuareg of Burkina Faso

The Tuareg of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 196,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Tuareg Berber, indigenous to the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali and can also be known as Tomasheq, Bella. They are an Indigenous people, in the Tuareg people cluster of the Arab World affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Folk. They primarily speak Tamasheq.

Tuareg in Burkina Faso photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Katja Tsvetkova - Shutterstock Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North Africa and Middle East Peoples
Country: Burkina Faso
People Cluster: Tuareg
Primary Language(s): Tamasheq (taq)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Folk
Population: 196,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012454

Pray for the Tuareg of Burkina Faso

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Folk
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Folk Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tamasheq
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%
Tamasheq Speakers

Media Resources in Tamasheq:

Films:

Bible Resources in Tamasheq:

Or check out the Tamasheq bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Tuareg

The Tuareg are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Tuareg

The Tuareg are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Tuareg

The Tuareg are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Tuareg of Burkina Faso

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!
readPsalm 30:10

Pray that people in the depths of despair and suffering and living outside of relationship with Christ will cry out to the Lord and find help, peace, and joy in Him.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
readJob 1:20-22

Pray that those who mourn will worship God in the midst of their suffering and loss, recognizing He is the source of all good things and that He is worthy of their praise and trust.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
readHebrews 10:39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, and faithfully follow God, they will share Christ boldly with those around them. 

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Tuareg, Kidal reported in the following countries (ROP3):

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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