Independent-minded Nigeriens or Nigerois (inhabitants of Niger), the ethnic Tuareg (Touareg) people in the northern desert regions frequently opposed the central government in Niamey, the capital. In May 1990, army troops retaliated against attacking Tuareg separaatists in Tchin Tabaraden, killing hundreds of nomadic Tuaregs and arresting many others. But rebel attacks on security forces and tourists persisted in the northern regions, and in August 1992 army reprisals resulted in the arrest of members of the Tuareg Liberation Front of Air and Azawad (FLAA), one of the various Tuareg groups. The government declared a state of emergency in the north, sought to aid thousands of refugees, and succeeded in prolonging a FLAA-declared truce through much of 1993. Meanwhile, Niger was torn by strikes, student protests, and mutinous soldiers because of a desperate economy. In 1994, the main Tuareg coalition, the Coordination of Armed Resistance (CRA), agreed to limited autonomy in a region to be set aside for some 750,000 Tuaregs. The CRA also signed a peace pact with the government on October 9, 1994, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Other Tuareg representatives agreed to peace on April 24, 1995, leading to the National Assembly granting full amnesty to former separatists and releasing all captive Tuaregs. The only Tuareg rebel group not signing the 1995 peace accord -- the Democratic Renewal Front -- acknowledged it in 1997.