Intalou was elected mayor of Kidal in 1997, but Islamist pressures forced her to give up the post. President Alpha Oumar Konaré offered her a post of territorial adviser instead. In exile in Mauritania, she took part in the 2012 insurrection and became the only female member of the executive committee of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, a separatist group seeking an independent Azawad. Tiébilé Dramé, emissary of interim president Dioncounda Traoré, called her the "strong man" of the group. In October 2015, she became vice president of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.