This paper focuses on the impact of World War I on the political activism of the Mzabi community in the Algerian desert. With the French annexation of the Mzab Valley in 1882 and the military draft imposed in 1912, Mzabis, who are Berbers and of the minority Muslim sect of Ibadism, felt more and more threatened by French designs in the region and more particularly by French policies towards the Mzab and its inhabitants. This paper shows how the events of WWI and the prospect of a French defeat and an Ottoman victory provided Mzabis with the opportunity to link to trans-border anti-colonial movements, especially in Tripolitania and Tunisia, and to press their case for Mzab's independence from French Algeria. Those movements tied to Istanbul had emerged earlier during the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911 and were reinvigorated by the War and the Ottoman efforts of mass mobilization. Mzabis had financially supported resistance groups in Tripolitania and thus were able to easily integrate themselves during the War into cross-border anti-colonial movements. They perceived themselves as part of a pro-Ottoman North African movement opposed to European colonial projects and not part of an Algeria they considered to be 'French'. In particular, given their strong connections to Tripolitanian activists who were also Berbers and Ibadis and linked to Istanbul, they believed that they were better positioned to negotiate their independence from France than the Arab majority of Algeria. Their activism during WWI and struggle for their own independence as 'Mzabis', distinguishing themselves from the rest of Algerians, highlights three important themes. The first one is the significance and continuous relevance of the Ottoman context for the North African and Saharan communities in the definition of their political allegiances during the War. The second is the need to create one uninterrupted narrative linking the Italian invasion of Tripolitania in 1911 to WWI in terms of shaping cross-border alliances and strategies in North Africa towards the Allies. Third, and more important, is the alternative political imaginations Mzabi activism during WWI presents us. Rather than the usual perception of WWI as being the catalyst for nationalist stirrings in the region, the case of the Mzabis provides a counter-narrative to nationalist historiographies. The paper is based on archival material from Aix-en-Provence and Nantes in France, Arabic newspapers, and primary sources in Arabic.