How Mali became a failed state

The Washington Post has a good analysis of Mali's rapid descent into a virtual failed state following a  military coup d'Etat three months ago that overturned 20 years of democracy.

Mali was hardly a paragon prior to the coup that brought to power a junta headed by Capt. Amadou Sanogo to power. The government was increasingly corrupt and ineffectual. The military was poorly armed in the face of a combined insurgency of Tuaregs who wanted a separate state in the north and of Islamists who wanted all of Mali united under a harsh form of Sharia.

However the coup rapidly accelerated, rather than halted, Mali's slide into chaos. The junior officers couldn't decide if they wanted power or not, though they did decide to help themselves to government laptops and other office equipment as part of their looting 'strategy.' The rebel groups took advantage of the indecision to seize most of northern Mali, including the culturally significant city of Timbuktu, where the Islamists have blown up ancient statues and started imposing Taliban-esque punishments.

Meanwhile, the military leaders have certainly gotten comfortable with the lavish perks of power (even as the regional body ECOWAS doesn't recognize the coup) as their country burns. The Post articles concludes: Businessmen are still waiting in front of [Sanogo]'s office to see him, with the customary suitcase of cash, a sign of his enduring influence.

Update: The Post ran another article a few days ago on a mysterious crash in Mali that killed three US Army commandos. The soldiers were engaged in anti-terrorism operations in the Sahara against the Islamists. The crash occurred *after* the US suspended military cooperation with Mali following the coup, 

Mali: a boon to African democracy?

The recent events in Mali, previously one of the most stable, democratic countries on the continent, have been widely described internationally as a blow to African democracy. Over at SEADiaspora blog, Adien Ignoi takes the opposite view. The refusal of the Malian population to accept the junta's legitimacy, essentially forcing it to hand back power to civilians, is, in his view, a good sign.

You want power? You can have it

A follow up on the recent military theft of power in Mali that overthrew the democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT)...

If you'll recall, the coup leaders insisted their action was solely motivated by the desire to stop the insurgency in the north of the country and to preserve Mali's territorial integrity. So what was one of the first acts committed by soldiers following the consolidation of the coup? The looting of the presidential palace.

Not that the country's territorial integrity has fared much better. The army has lost control of several key towns since the coup, most recently Kidal. The major northern town of Gao is also under assault.

The ruling junta calls itself the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy, a beautiful Orwellian name, since it was they who disestablished democracy in the first place.

Even as the French government formally condemned the coup, it was common knowledge that Paris had been considered ATT too lax in fighting against the Islamist insurgency. This has fueled speculation that the French may have had some role in the regime change. While there seems to be little concrete evidence to that effect, the long history of La Françafrique nourishes such suspicions.

Black Looks blog offers a fresh perspective on the events.

Mali coup undermines country's stability, security

It was very disappointing to hear about the military coup in Mali by junior officers, which overthrow the democratically-elected president Amadou Toumani Touré (known popularly as ATT). ATT was set to give up power following elections scheduled for next month.

 Mali had been a more or less stable, reasonably well-run democratic state for 20 years. But in recent months, the north of the country had fallen into the grips of a rebellion by a Tuareg splinter group affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM). Following a 2009 peace agreement, many of these fighters crossed the border into Libya to act as mercenaries for Muammar Gadhaffi. When that regime fell earlier this year, they streamed back into Mali.

I'd become aware of the latest Tuareg rebellion but did not realized it had undermined the state's authority that quickly.

It’s also known that France has believed that the Malian government was too lax in dealing with the rebellion and was concerned about AQIM's increasing influence. France was also annoyed that ATT's government had denied offers of military assistance in combating AQIM, forcing the European country to set up shop in Niger instead.

As a result, there are rumblings that France may have had some role in the coup... a plausible claim given the country's meddlesome history in Africa.

Though, as a BBC analyst pointed out, the coup may not have been well-thought out by thits leaders. The purported rationale was that the government was not sufficiently arming and training the military to deal with the rebellion, but the US and EU countries will now be forced to cut military aid to the country until constitutional order is restored.

This can’t be good

Last week, Tuareg rebels launched an attack on an army camp in northeastern Mali, killing 32.

A several decade long Tuareg insurgency in Mali ended with a peace agreement in the early 1990s but tension appears to have resurfaced.

Reuters noted: The Malian Tuareg rebels and the Tuareg-led rebel Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) in neighbouring Niger have in the past denied any formal alliance. But Malian and Niger security officials believe they sometimes work together.

Militia activity in northern Mali

Foreign diplomats are noting with increasing concern the deteriorating security situation in the north of Mali. The region has seen a spate of attacks by armed militias.

The attacks have been met with indignation in the rest of the country, with citizens wondering why security forces aren't able to get ahold of the situation.

Mali and Niger were rocked by Touareg rebel movements from 1990 until peace deals were signed in 1995. Touareg groups span the border region, which has largely been at peace since the peace agreements until this year when a Touareg-dominated group in northern Niger, the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), began attacking civilians and the army in northern Niger and laid landmines there. The MNJ has reportedly denied it is linked to the militias responsible for the attacks in Mali.

General strike in Mali

Since the introduction of democracy in 1991, Mali has been seen as one of the more stable and free countries of West Africa. But a few troubling developments have hit the headlines recently.

A teacher and a journalist were imprisoned for insulting President Amadou Toumani Touré. Four others were given suspended sentences for the same offense, which is a penal crime in Mali and many other African countries.

High school teacher Bassirou Kassim Minta was given a two-month sentence for giving his students an essay assignment about an imaginary president’s mistress. A journalist from the independent daily Info-Matin, Seydina Oumar Diarra, was sentenced to 13 days’ jail for having reported on the essay assignment.

And earlier this week, Mali's biggest labor union a two-day general strike that, according to reports, was widely followed.

The union wants an increase in civil servants' salaries, as well as reductions in prices for water, fuel, electricity and basic foodstuffs.

Mali holds legislative elections this weekend.