Drugs, crime and fragile states: a British view
A UK FCO paper 'Traffickers and Terrorists: drugs and violent jihad in Mali and the wider Sahel', which is short and interesting:https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...Terrorists.pdf
It ends with:
Quote:
Winning the war against both trafficking and
terrorism will mean building and maintaining the legitimacy of the state in the region.
Nothing like setting an impossible task! Why not persuading the locals the opposition are bad for them? Too much wine, bye.:)
Dutch to plug hole in desert
From FP Blog:
Quote:
he Dutch military is planning to deploy a team of dozens of military intelligence operatives in Mali in the coming weeks, part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission ....The Dutch contribution ... include a team of special-forces troops and four Apache attack helicopters -- marks a rare return by a European power to a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Africa
More details behind a FP pay-wall alas.
A curious deployment, especially of the Apaches; the Dutch join the French and Ukraine as the only European nations with military contingents with the UN in Africa, I exclude observers and non-UN training teams. A statement based on the IISS Military Balance 2013.
Not winning "hearts & minds"
An AP report on the murder of Tuareg's who remained in the towns re-captured and handed over to the Malian military:http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268778/con...tguid=csYdabdI
Incidentally I noted with amazement that the Malian military, in the two film clips, relied upon mobile-phones for comms.
Air Force's Forgotten Mission to Mali
Air Force's Forgotten Mission to Mali
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Is AQ’s regional affiliate in West Africa dead, at least for now?
A short NYT article, which appears to be based on unofficial statements from French & US officials and not that we have not heard this language before:
Quote:
So the group that
terrorized half a country, northern Mali, in the heart of West Africa for much of 2012, taking over its major towns, and threatening other nations in the region, has been reduced to a pale remnant of its former self. It is no longer the pre-eminent threat to the fragile states in West Africa’s Sahel region — the band of desert and semi-desert running just below the Sahara.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/wo...=tw-share&_r=1
The Tuareg "have not gone away"
Via NYT:
Quote:
Separatist Tuareg rebels launched an assault on the city of Kidal in northern Mali over the weekend, killing eight soldiers, storming government buildings and taking 30 hostages in a “declaration of war” on the government, officials said Sunday.The attack was apparently prompted by a visit to Kidal on Saturday by the newly appointed prime minister, Moussa Mara, highlighting regional hostility toward the central government in Bamako and casting further doubt on the viability of reconciliation efforts in the wake of the turmoil experienced by the country since 2012.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/wo...hostages.html?
Noteworthy as IMHO the seperatist Tuareg have been quiet since the French-supported intervention. Almost a return to "normal" in Mali.
Traffic control in The Sahel
An odd headline IMHO:
Quote:
France ends Mali offensive, redeploys troops to restive Sahel
Followed within by (slightly edited):
Quote:
The new "counter-terrorism" operation, codenamed Barkhan, will kick off in the coming days and is being implemented in partnership with five countries -- Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad -- Le Drian said.
He added that some 3,000 French soldiers would be part of the operation, 1,000 of whom would stay in northern Mali and the rest would be deployed in the other countries....which will have its headquarters in the Chadian capital N'Djamena
Link:http://news.yahoo.com/france-ends-ma...83027863.html?
Northern Mali Conflict 2012
Northern Mali Conflict 2012
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