Mali mainly, 2012 coup, drugs & more

[davidbfpo]

An intriguing comparison and hat tip to WoTR for the article. Here is one poignant phrase:

Both the United States and France now seem stuck in intractable wars, frustrated by the apparent fruitlessness of their best efforts. The Afghan and Malian governments, moreover, bear a large portion of the responsibility for the wars’ failures.

Link:https://warontherocks.com/2017/12/ma...-a-difference/

[davidbfpo]

An overview article on the various international, regional and local forces deployed in the region, the Sahel, but Mali features strongly so added here.

I had missed this:

Separately, Germany is shortly to open a military base in Niger to support MINUSMA, while Italy has announced it will sent 470 troops to the country to counter people-smuggling and combat extremism.

Link:http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/201...erations-sahel

However the author's credibility is marred by labeling the first photo as French soldiers when they are clearly from Mali.

[davidbfpo]

A brief overview of the key non-state armed actors in the region, which includes non-jihadist groups in alliance sometimes with the Mali government for example; jihadist groups and others.

Nothing is simple:

As well as hardcore jihadism, the ingredients of this region’s conflict dynamics also include long-standing and often violent rivalries, trafficking, and self-defence activities. Jihadist groups such as ISGS include in their ranks numerous members of Niger’s Fulani community, which has long been in conflict with Tuaregs in Mali. “Jihadist violence often intertwines with local intercommunal tensions related to competition over natural resources and trafficking, making it difficult to distinguish the real nature and motives of many incidents,” the ICG report after the October Niger attack.

Link:http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/201...i-Niger-threat