Being a former French colony and until recently in an obscure part of West Africa / Sahel Mali has an amazingly low profile. Try the standard newsites like the BBC or the CIA and others for a country profile.

Mali has recently featured in some UK-funded counter-radicalisation work, with a conference for clerics in Bamako; which appeared in The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...l-leaders.html

and within the last few weeks a crashed aircraft loaded with cocaine. AQIM is rumoured to have a presence in the north and linked to kidnapping of foriegners. Just put Mali in Google News and its all there.

There is a specialist website, partly in French IIRC: http://www.thecroissant.com/index.html (behind a paywall alas)

The US Africa Command has had a training mission there and exercises.

Not sure how strong the French connection is now, so have a look for Frech experts?