Yes another FP article on intervention in Mali, the authors is:
Gregory Mann is a professor of history at Columbia University, specializing in the history of francophone Africa, and of Mali in particular.
Article:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ctly?page=full

Hard work is required and the final paragraph sums it all up:
So what is to be done? Ultimately, Malians themselves will have to take the lead in resolving a crisis that has endangered their neighbors. Outside actors can only help all sides seek an honorable way to make the Malian north safe again, partly by working to get Bamako to accept the assistance of its neighbors. At the moment, foreign military intervention, whether it comes from ECOWAS or elsewhere, will be viewed as an invasion in both the south and the north. That has to change, which means that politics has to come first. A political solution will be harder to achieve than a military one, but you get what you pay for.