This dates backs to precolonial times when it was part of the Malian, Ghanaian  and Songhai empires of West Africa,

Historically, the landlocked, kidney-shaped country that shades South Africa to form the continent’s eighth largest was a key trading post connecting West Africa with the Maghreb.  Its central city of Timbuktu is still celebrated as  an islamic cultural outpost on the fringe of the Muslim world.

In 1892 it became French Sudan in the scramble for Africa and briefly federated with Senegal before independence in 1960. 

First president Modibo Keita turned his back on France and declared Mali a one-party state. Its political space remained closed after a 1968 military coup and did not open until another military coup led to multi-party elections in 1992 that brought Alpha Oumar Konarè to the helm.

It will be fascinating to see what members of the United Nations Security Council make of the latest development in Bamako when they meet today.

Was yesterday’s arrest and detention of President Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse a military coup or were soldiers merely hoping to bring peace by responding to mounting civilian calls for Keita’s departure?

This will become apparent if and when the soldiers make good their undertaking to hand power to a transitional authority leading to fresh elections.

Ironically, his would entail the former French Sudan following the pattern of the latter-day Sudan after last year’s  military-led ousting of Omar Al Bashir.

The questions persist. Will yesterday’s putsch follow the 1992 military coup in boosting democracy inMali?

Or will it be a replay of the 2012 coup by Tuareg separatists in Northern Mali that led to the Islamist insurgency-still tearing at the country’s entrails?

French help was summoned then to assist and the 2013 operation Serval took three months clear out the insurgents.

France increased its military presence in Mali with Operation Barkhane – named for a desert dune blown into a crescent shape – countering Islamist terror in the Sahel.

The 4500 tricolor troops are backed by 13 300 blue-helmeted members of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali known by its French acronym MINUSMA.

There are also 620 troops of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) and a smaller presence of the European Union Capacity Building mission (EUCB).

Mali’s Sahel neighbors Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mauritania – comprising the so-called G5 – have deployed abut 4000 troops, still shy of the envisaged 5000 pairs of West African boots on the ground.

An unfortunate appellation has been detached to this billion dollar enterprise . It has become known as the deadliest peacekeeping operation on the planet.

This explains the frustration of Malians at their president’s inability to contain the insurgency.

The death toll of well-armed and equipped peacekeepers in Mali is easily eclipsed by the number of civilian victims of the terrorists 

If not restored to power President Keita will have at least have two memorable truisms

The first is:“What choice to I have?” when menaced by soldiers in his resignation broadcast yesterday.

The second is: “Mali is like a dam. If it is broken then Europe and the rest of Africa will be inundated”.

Clearly the EU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) fully appreciate this.

The post Which historical model will the Mali coup follow? appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Delegates are urged by UN chief Antonio Guterres to be constructive.

As the new UN special envoy on Western Sahara, former German President Horst Koehler’s hoping to revive talks between the Saharawi representatives and their Moroccan occupiers that broke down six years ago.

Morocco, which invaded the former Spanish colony in 1975,  has reneged on its promise to hold a  self-determination referendum in Western Sahara.

The United Nations has had a mission MINURSO in the territory since 1991 preparing for that referendum.

Last year the kingdom joined the African Union which calls Western Sahara the continent’s last colonial dispute.

Neighbours Algeria and Mauritania are attending the Geneva  talks as observers.

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The exiled president says the alternative could be a return to the armed struggle that ended 11 years after Morocco’s occupation of his nation.

ends intro

Last month, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon incensed Morocco by describing its annexation of Western Sahara 40 years ago as an occupation.

Rabat responded by  expelling dozens of U.N. staff working for the peacekeeping mission there known as MINURSO

Western Sahara President Mohamed Abdelaziz says meddling with the peacekeeping force is a green light to military aggression by Morocco against the Sahrawi people

Unless MINURSO is able to operate unhindered the Sahrawi people be obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle.

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