French Involvement in Mali

After Mali's independence from France in 1960, the French have been back in Mali conducting military operations (BBC).  Mali had been a democratic country since 1992 until last year when conflict in the North caused a loss in confidence of the government by the military.  In the beginning of 2012 there was an inconclusive military coup and president Toure was removed from office before the military took control of the government (BBC).   The military coup hands control of the country over to a civilian interim government led by President Dioncounda Traore (BBC).  In early 2013 President Traore asked for French intervention in the North because of the threat from Islamist rebels in the North (BBC).  The French have been conducting military operations there since January and they have finally gotten their first aid convoy into the north this month (Associated Press).  The French have successfully liberated Timbuktu from the Islamist rebels, and continue to conduct air strikes on Islamist forces in the North (Associated Press).  

This picture shows the main concentrations of French airstrikes against Islamist rebels in the northern part of Mali.

The Fight for Northern Mali

            Until the March 2012 coup d’état, Mali was considered to be a model for democracy.  Low ranking military officials who were elemental within the coup believed that the government in place was not taking proper and strict enough action against the Islamist and Taureg rebel groups (Nossiter, 2012).  These rebel groups became much stronger and more resilient, taking advantage of the unstable nature Mali had spiraled into after the 2012 military coup and took over the northern part of Mali (The New York Times, 2013). This northern area became a training ground for Islamist terrorists and extremists.  Included within this governmental disregard for sanctioning rebel groups, military leaders were unhappy with the lack of funds and training that the military troops were receiving.  The lack of training and equipment was causing the military to be unable to protect Mali and rid the country of the Islamist and Taureg rebels.  With the Malian government being overthrown, there has been an interim president in place but the focal power is still derived from the military. There are now negotiations put in place to reinstate a presidential leader through free and fair election on the 7^th of July 2013 (BBC News, 2013).