[Diplomacy] Mali Crisis, Taureg rebels, French Troops, Algeria Hostages: Background, implications explained

1. What is Mali?
2. Players in Mali crisis?
3. Who are the Tuareg?
4. Gaddafi Angle: 2011
5. Azawad: Jan-April 2012
6. Mali President overthrown: March 2012
7. Entry of French Troops: Jan 2013
8. Back to Northern Mali
9. What is AQIM?
10. Implications of Mali Crisis?
11. Algeria Hostage Crisis
12. Mock Questions

What is Mali?

Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa, Earlier it was a French colony. Mali gained independence in 1960.
Players in this crisis?

Who are the Tuareg?

• Nomadic people who live in Sahara and Sahel regions of Libya, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
• In medieval times, they used to run Camel caravans across Sahara- trading gold, spices, salts and dates.
• Sometimes called the Blue People because they mostly wear dark blue / indigo colored traditional garments.

What is their problem?

• We reside in Northen Mali.
• While capital city = Bambako = located in South.
• Government sits there and does nothing for our development.
• We’re “light skinned”. And all good positions in Government and bureaucracy  manned by black people.
• We are not getting any jobs, education etc.
• Villages getting displaced due to mining activities, and the subsequent land-degradation =bad for our farms, cattle.

So Tuareg people had been rebelling against the “South” since a long time.

Gaddafi Angle: 2011

• Colonel Gaddafi (of Libya) had been hiring Tuareg tribesmen in his army.
• 2011=Uprising in Libya, Colonel Gaddafi gets killed.
• So these Tuareg tribesmen (from Libyan army) formed their own new rebel group called “MNLA”.
• They took possession of powerful weapons, surface-to-air missiles etc. from Gaddafi’s fallen army and decided to come back home.
• They came back home (Northern Mali) and started fighting against the Mali Government. (+Other Islamic militants were also active in the region so they got help.)

Azawad: Jan-April 2012

• From January 2012 onwards, there is heavy fighting between rebels and Mali army, in the Northern areas of Mali.
• But the army did not have powerful weapons. so They had to flee.
• Thus MNLA rebels took control of Northern Areas of Mali and declared it a free country called “Azawad.” (in April 2012)
• However, this Azawad country has not been recognized by UN or any powerful country (US/China etc.)

Mali Crisis: President overthrown, March 2012

So far you know that

• Tuareg people = unhappy.
• Some of them served in Libyan army but came back home after death of Gaddafi. (+brought heavy weapons.)
• These rebels fought against Mali army and threw them out of Northern Mali.
• So, now Mali army= unhappy.
• Army blamed President Toure for this fiasco.
• Why? Because USA was giving truckload of ca$h to President of Mali to fight off the Islamist terror groups.
• But this President was just using that money for his personal “aiyyaashi” (=buying sports cars, Rolex watches, diamond studded i-phone1,2,3,4,5, consuming desi liquor and… you get the picture.)
• That’s why Mali army did not have good weapons, tanks, gadgets to fight with the rebels..
• One army officer named Captain Sanogo gathered the soldiers and staged a coup against this President and threw him out. (Although later this Captain handed over power to next President Traoré.)
• So right now Mali army is divided into factions – one of them supports the old ousted President Toure and wants to bring him back in power.

Entry of French Troops: Jan 2013

• While all this mess was going on, the extremists groups from Northern Mali, started capturing the areas in Central Mali region. (such as Timbuktu)
• New President panicked and called up French President:

Although some experts believe France is playing “big brother” only to get its hands on Gold and Oil reserves of Mali. (similar to USA in Iraq)

Back to Northern Mali

• You know that MNLA= Tuareg rebels who previously served in Gadhafi’s army. They had returned back to Northern Mali.
• But their influence in Northern Mali started declining after they ran out of money (spent in fighting against Mali Army, paying salary to mercenaries and for running propaganda.)
• Hence, many of MNLA fighters left the gang and joined other Islamist groups. (like Ansar Dine, AQIM etc)
• Why? Because the Islamists are far richer, earning truckload of cash by kidnapping Westerners for ransom and trafficking cocaine, marijuana and cigarettes.
• So right now, AQIM (Islamist group) has control of Northern Areas, while MNLA’s grip has declined.
• Given this changed power equation, now the MNLA says, “We support the French intervention, all we want is autonomy- we don’t want a separate nation for Tuareg people. We are “secular”, we are not associated with AQIM or other hardcore Islamist groups.”

What is AQIM?

• Al-Qaida in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM)
• something like a franchise of Al-Qaida + variety of hardcore groups operating in this region.
• It offers a typical mix of jihadist activity + criminality (drugs, weapons trades, kidnapping, ransom etc.)

Implications of Mali Crisis?

#1: Afghanistan of Africa

• If Bamako (Official capital of Mali) falls in the hands of Rebels then it would be like a repeat of the Taliban’s rise in Afghanistan in 1996= If the extremists take the capital, it’s game over.
• The whole region will become safe-haven for terrorists, drug traffickers, hostage takers (like recall Kandahar episode).
• This will further destabilize neighboring countries of Niger and Mauritania.
• Therefore, international community must prevent Mali from turning into “the Afghanistan of Africa”.

#2: Iran wants to play big brother

• Iran holds the chair of NAM (Non-Aligned movement).
• Iran has offered to play role of negotiator between the Mali Government vs Rebel crisis.
• Iran wants to use this opportunity to “expose” double standards of USA on Syria vs. Mali and to increase influence in this region and generate good will (by showing that it doesn’t support extremist element.).
• Iran’s official statement regarding Mali crisis “We are against extremism. But we are also against the (western) interference in the domestic affairs of countries and military intervention.”

#3: African Union (AU)

• African union= Secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• In late January 2013, African Union held a summit to get a solution for Mali crisis.
• French wants AU to quickly deploy soldiers. but so far only about 1,000 troops have arrived, and only few of them have taken up front line positions, where actual fighting is going on (between Rebels and French).
• Chad has promised to send 2,000 soldiers and Burundi has confirmed its readiness to join without giving exact number of soldiers.
• So this Mali crisis will be an acid test of African Union’s ability to tackle regional crisis.

#4: USA

• U.S. says, “If African Union (AU) sends forces in Mali, we’ll support them with logistics. But we cannot fully engage in Mali until a new government is elected and the political crisis is solved.”
• Experts believe President Obama wants to spend his second (and last) term fixing the “domestic issues” (economic crisis) so Democratic party can win next Presidential election.
• Therefore, he is not much interested in pursuing aggressive foreign policy agenda anymore. Besides America has already burned enough cash on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Algeria Hostage Crisis

• In early January, 2013, France sent its troops to Mali.
• Just a few days after that, some Gunmen with al-Qaeda links attacked a gas plant in Algeria.
• They took the workers as hostages (including foreign nationals.)

Climax of Algerian Hostage Crisis

• The stand off between terrorists and Algerian forces continued for 4 days.
• Algerian Government did not allow foreign special forces (US/UK) to enter or help in this hostage crisis.
• Finally Algerian Government’s decided to attack those terrorists instead of continuing negotiation with them.
• This led to death of 29 militants and 38 civilians, including six British nationals. (=bad publicity and international criticism.)
• Later, Algerian Government gave statement, “Sorry we made some mistakes in handling this hostage crisis. But when facing terrorists, it’s not just words that solve the problem. Action has to be taken! By the way, we’ve found some evidences that Canadian nationals were involved in this act of terrorism.”

Mock Questions

Q1 Correct Statement

1. Mauritania is a landlocked country
2. Mali shares borders Libya and Morocco.
3. Strait of Gibraltar separates Italy and Morocco.

1. Only 1 and 2
2. Only 2 and 3
3. Only 1 and 3
4. None

Q2. Incorrect Match

Q3. Incorrect Match

Interview

1. Has Algeria done the right thing by not negotiating with the terrorists? If you’re the PM of India and such crisis hostage-happens, what will you do?
2. Has France done the right thing by sending its troops in Mali?