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
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Tuareg of Burkina Faso

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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

Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
readIsaiah 45:24

Pray that those who are weary and burdened by their own righteousness will find rest in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ alone.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember God's mercy and grace and experience joy as they walk in new life with Christ.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Tuareg, Kidal (ROP3 - 110232) reported in the following countries:

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.

Scroll to Top