Mali

Mali intervention – The US take

By Craig Whitlock, Washington Post U.S. military planners have begun to help organize a multinational proxy force to intervene next year in Mali, the famine-stricken, coup-wracked African country that has become a magnet for Islamist extremists, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The international force would be led on the ground by several thousand Malian and West African troops but would … Continue reading →

Timbuktu Who’s Who Updated

Timbuktu Who’s Who.

Mali Administrative Districts

UN Dispatch – The View From Bamako

5/10/2012 Interview with Mark Leon Goldberg: As the international diplomacy surrounding a potential French-Backed, West African led military intervention in northern Mali intensifies, I caught up with reporter Peter Tinti in Mali’s capital. Peter is a freelance journalist and researcher in west Africa who has been reporting on the situation in Mali for Voice of America among other outlets.

RFI (Audio): Mali : les pays prêts à s’engager dans la future force africaine d’intervention

1/10/12 Par RFI Le gouvernement malien a officiellement demandé la semaine dernière le feu vert de l’ONU pour une intervention militaire internationale dans le but de reconquérir le nord du pays. Le vote d’une résolution au Conseil de sécurité devrait avoir lieu prochainement. En attendant, les pays ouest-africains réunis au sein de la Cédéao vont envoyer … Continue reading →

“Guerre et Paix” par Jean-Dominique Merchet

RIA Novosti 1/10/2010 Le nord du Mali s’étend, à peu de choses près, sur la même superficie que l’Afghanistan (650.000 km2). Comme lui, c’est un pays enclavé, une zone sans débouché sur la mer. Leur principale différence : la population y est clairsemée avec moins d’un million et demi d’habitants, soit deux par km2…  Il … Continue reading →

US Africa Command Gen Ham’s Presser in Algeria

30/9/12 Posted by the US Embassy Algiers  

Mali attracting Mujahedeen from Sub-Saharan Africa

By Serge Daniel (AFP) 27/9/2012 GAO, Mali — With his finger on the trigger and a menacing look, a 14-year-old recruit ordered a vehicle to pull over on the road from the Niger border to Gao, the biggest city in northern Mali, now under control of Islamist armed groups. “We have decided to reinforce security here … Continue reading →

Trying to Understand MUJWA

Originally posted on al-Wasat – الوسط:
Since it first burst onto the scene in December 2011, the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (generally MUJWA in English, or MUJAO in French) has been a difficult group to pin down. The group, originally characterized as a “dissident” faction of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), its actions…

Mali’s Islamist Coalition Responds to External Intervention Discussions

Originally posted on Sahel Blog:
Plans for an external military intervention in war-torn Mali are gathering momentum. Mali’s interim government has agreed to allow the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to base a 3,000-strong force in Bamako. The European Union is “considering requests to support West African-led military intervention in Mali and to…