In his 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt
Romney warned that Mali was to be the next Afghanistan. Since fighting broke
out in 2012, the United States has been reluctant in getting heavily involved
in the Mali conflict fearing of making the same mistakes of the past.
However, on Friday, President Obama announced that a 100 American troops
have been sent to a drone base located in Niger. The unarmed drones will be
sent out to surveillance the area of Islamic militant groups to assist the
French involvement in Mali. The French and African troops have had relative
success in retaking a number of Mali cities since their involvement in January
of this year. Despite these successful efforts, a number violent attacks and
suicide bombers still have recently occurred since Friday.
French troops claim they are in their final
stages of their military operations. The major question is whether or not Mali
will be able to successfully reestablish its democratic government and
restructure it in a way that will include the demands of the Tuareg people.
Although prior to the coup d’etat, Mali was a democratic government, it still
discriminated again the Taureg people and excluded them from political power.
After gaining its independence from France in the 1960’s most leaders have been
chosen from the Southern ethnic groups. The government was and has been neither
sympathetic nor accommodating of the Taureg traditional lifestyle. According
to Cederman, Wimmer, and Min, a reason why ethnic groups rebel is if they are
excluded from central power. In the case of Mali, the discrimination and
exclusion have led to the Taureg people struggling for independence from the
Malian government and is the base cause of the current Malian conflict. The
Taureg dominated group, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA)
have realigned with the Mali government to fight the Islamic militants on the
basis that North Mali will receive autonomy once the Islamic insurgents are
pushed out of the area.
Assistant secretary for the State of
Africa, Johnnie Carson says that the success of Mali depends on the return of
democracy. In my opinion, it depends on not only the return of democracy, but
transforming the democratic system that satisfies the needs of the Taureg
ethnic group to avoid future problems to make a stronger Mali. Only then can we
assure that the future of Mali will not be reliant of foreign aid and thus not
become another Afghanistan.
America’s intervened in Afghanistan and
Iraq without sufficient evidence. The United States became too involved under
false pretenses, which resulted in a quagmire. With North Africa being the new
Middle East, the United States, so far, has shown that they have somewhat learned
from their mistakes. President Obama has specifically said that he will replace
troops with other tactics, such as the use of drones. However, even though the
United States shows to remain relatively uninvolved, the French seem to be
following the immediate post 9/11 United States. The French president says that
they will stay in Mali as long as necessary to expel the Islamic militants. The
similarities are prevalent that do make us question if Mali will still be yet
another Western world quagmire.
Hammrick, Denise. “Frances’ Military Operation in
Mali in ‘Final Phase’”. BBC News. 24
Feb 2013. Web. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21563077
Schmitt, Erick. “New Drone Base in Niger Builds
U.S. Presence in Africa. New York Times. 24
Feb 2013. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/world/africa/in-niger-us-troops-set-up-
drone-base.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
“Heavy Casualties in Northern Mali Fighting”. Al Jazeera. Web. 24 Feb 2013. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/12/201212781
053296234.html
“Iraq to Mali: The Changing Calculus of War”. Al Jazeera. Web. 25 Feb 2013. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/empire/2013/02/2013222191052356555.html.
DB Devon. “The Crisis in Mali A Historical
Perspective on the Tuareg People. Global
Research. Web. 24 Feb 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-crisis-in-mali-a-historical-perspective-on-the-tuareg-people/5321407
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Andreas Wimmer, and Brian Min. “Why Do
Ethnic Groups Rebel?: New Data and Analysis”. World Politics. 62:1.
January 2010. Pages 87-119.
This entry makes several important points on the Malian conflict. What struck my attention was the connection made between American troops in Afghanistan and the French troops occupation in Mali. Although it is important for Mali to give more representation to the Tuareg, it also seems vital that these Islamist rebel groups are dissipated. Whether or not the Tuareg begin to get representation, it seems that the violence will persist until the Islamist extremist groups either take over southern Mali or until these groups are captured and controlled. With this said, there may be more international military involvement within Mali for months to come. Too many countries are at risk if these extremist rebel groups succeed in taking over Mali. Depending on how successful the French troops are at bringing stability, it seems that America is going to increase the country's involvement in the coming months.
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