Mali mainly, 2012 coup, drugs & more

**davidbfpo** · 09-24-2012

The West African state of Mali has agreed to host a regional military deployment aimed at dislodging radical Islamists in control in the north....Mali was initially opposed but has now agreed to host the 3,000-strong force in the capital, Bamako. After intense regional diplomatic efforts, the authorities have given the green light for a logistical base on the outskirts of the city

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19699590

Slowly moving along, UNSC approval needed and then someone with deep pockets.

**davidbfpo** · 09-25-2012

We know that international politics and countering insurgency / terrorism can make for unlikely allies and situations - so with that caveat aside:

The Islamist ‘terrorist’ groups that have taken over control of northern Mali are not only the creations of Algeria’s secret police, the Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS), but they are being supplied, supported and orchestrated by the DRS.

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/jeremy-...-northern-mali

To be frank the byzantine intrigues involved make me sceptical, but we do know that the Algerian insurgency was "dirty", so this reference may support the argument:

.. John Schindler on July 10 (2012). In an article in The National Interest entitled ‘The Ugly truth about Algeria’, Schindler, a former high-ranking US intelligence officer and long-standing member of the US National Security Council (NSC) and currently Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College, ‘blew the whistle’ on Algeria when he described how:

“the GIA (Armed Islamic Group) [of the 1990s] was the creation of the DRS; using proven Soviet methods of penetration and provocation, the agency assembled it to discredit the extremists. Much of GIA’s leadership consisted of DRS agents, who drove the group into the dead end of mass murder, a ruthless tactic that thoroughly discredited GIA Islamists among nearly all Algerians. Most of its major operations were the handiwork of the DRS, including the 1995 wave of bombings in France. Some of the most notorious massacres of civilians were perpetrated by military special units masquerading as mujahidin, or by GIA squads under DRS control.”

Sending Algerian SF into mali to protect AQIM is too hard to accept.

**davidbfpo** · 09-25-2012

The contrary viewpoint, from a more well-known analyst, George Joffe and he notes:

What does this then mean for Algeria’s project of indirect control of its southern borders and the Sahelian regions abutting them? It seems clear that, if Algeria’s DRS had been exploiting its infiltration of the country’s extremist groups as a means of achieving such control and minimal cost, its project has failed.

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/george-...chaos-in-sahel

**ganulv** · 09-25-2012

Originally Posted by davidbfpo

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19699590

Slowly moving along, UNSC approval needed and then someone with deep pockets.

Passed along that link to my friend who is currently in Burkina Faso and she replied back a couple of hours or so ago that she had seen “loads of paratroopers today falling out of the sky with various AU-flag colored parachutes.” Not sure if she was in Ouaga or Bobo at the time. Or whether she was still on the Valium/cortisone drip.

**davidbfpo** · 09-26-2012

Originally Posted by ganulv

Passed along that link to my friend who is currently in Burkina Faso and she replied back a couple of hours or so ago that she had seen “loads of paratroopers today falling out of the sky with various AU-flag colored parachutes.” Not sure if she was in Ouaga or Bobo at the time. Or whether she was still on the Valium/cortisone drip.

I have not heard of an African parachute operation ever, partly as the African nations have so few suitable transport aircraft. Note I exclude South Africa and Arab nations, which in the past have had a capability. Let alone a drop with AU-flag colored parachutes!

**ganulv** · 09-26-2012

Originally Posted by davidbfpo

I have not heard of an African parachute operation ever, partly as the African nations have so few suitable transport aircraft. Note I exclude South Africa and Arab nations, which in the past have had a capability. Let alone a drop with AU-flag colored parachutes!

I saw a couple of guys being dropped over the base across the road where I was staying in Bobo in the summer of 2010. Given the size of the Burkinabé army—c. 6,000—their capability is certainly limited. Maybe a multi-national unit is being formed specifically for MICEMA? The jump Abbie spotted might also have been part of a training. [LINK]

**tequila** · 09-26-2012

China offers support to Mali military in fight against Islamists

China offered to support Mali’s military in its fight against Islamist rebels who have seized northern parts of the country, said Guo Xueli, charge d’affaires at the Chinese Embassy.

“China firmly supports the position of Mali,” Guo said in an interview on state television yesterday in the capital, Bamako. “We are going to bring our assistance to the extent possible, specifically in the military where we already have a very old cooperation.”

Mali’s government has been battling Islamist rebels in the north of the country since they took control of the area from separatist ethnic Touareg fighters in May. The rebels took advantage of a political crisis in the south triggered by the ouster of President Amadou Toure in a March 22 coup.

A decided lack of specifics, but interesting nonetheless. One wonders what is so valuable in Mali to trigger said assistance?

**ganulv** · 10-23-2012

The former missionary to the French and governor to the Massachusettians made mention of the situation in Mali during last night’s presidential debate (good thing he made it early or I would have missed it as the proceedings eventually put me to sleep).

From the BBC News:

Two weeks ago, the UN Security Council gave the regional bloc Ecowas 45 days to draw up a plan with the details of its offer to send 3,000 troops to the vast desert region.

Having gotten an aerial view of northern Mali I am indeed curious as to what those 3,000 troops are going to be doing. Securing urban areas and select villages while drones and units which do not officially exist do nightwork?