Watch as it Develops - The Staged War Against Islamists in Northern Mali

Very interesting development. It's said that he was involved in the latest coup in December.


Outgoing Malian Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra speaks in Bamako. He resigned on December 11, 2012 hours after he was arrested at home by soldiers acting on the orders of former coup leader Amadou Sanogo
[link to www.africareview.com]

Yes - he was in middle of the whole December fiasco big time... And the West had a reason to get rid of Diarra.

The West wanted to intervene after elections restored a democratic government to Mali (to comply w/ US & international laws). Thus, they were delaying intervention until after new elected gov't installed (or that was stated plan at one time). The caretaker appointed gov't was supposed to step down (just like in Libya). Diarra was refusing to accede to US demands. He was planning to run in the elections. After he was roughed up by Sanogo & crew he stepped aside.

African Troop Counts

Abdoulaye Diarra (@Abdou_diarra)
1/12/13, 2:45 PM
Niger: 500 Burkina: 500 Senegal: 500 #Mali: Tous les valides Nigeria: 600 on attend Togo Benin Guinée Ghana #serval...

2,100 soldiers from 4 countries w/ more countries to contribute...


B@boye Touré (@Babtwittter)
1/12/13, 2:42 PM
Selon des habitants, joints samedi les combattants d'Ansar Dine ont commencé depuis hier à se retirer de la ville de Léré #Mali

Ansar Dine is leaving Lere.

Same shit different country. So we fighting our dear friend and ally Qatar here? Do we know another country that might be supporting the islamists there?



Niger says sending 500 soldiers to Mali operation
Read more: [link to www.dailystar.com.lb]

France raises terror levels due to Mali

[link to www.haaretz.com]

Ansar Dine is supported but KSA... Ag Ghaly was known as a hard-drinking womanizer until he was assigned to the Malian embassy in Riyadh. He found God, and went on the found Ansar Dine, in Saudi Arabia.

France raises terror threat after driving back Mali rebels [link to www.haaretz.com]

France 24 story on civilians evacuating Sevare -

[link to translate.google.com]

More than 100 people including rebels and government soldiers were killed in Mali during French air strikes and fighting over the strategic town of Konna, Malian military sources and witnesses said on Saturday
[link to news.apsou.gr]

Mali: according to Human Rights Watch, ten civilians including three children died in the fighting in Konna - Children drowned trying to cross the Niger River to get away from hostilities.

[link to translate.google.com]

Confirmed on BBC

The UK has agreed to help transport foreign troops and equipment to Mali amid French efforts to contain rebels.

In recent days France has attacked militants in Mali to support the Malian government, and has attempted to rescue a French hostage in Somalia.

Downing Street stressed no UK troops would be deployed in a combat role.

The move was agreed in a phone call between Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande, Downing Street said.

[link to www.bbc.co.uk]

Local TV Appearance - Sanogo is still in Bamako

France played "a key role" alongside `the Malian army, allowing him to return to a town Islamists and stop their plans to move from northern Mali, said Saturday the Captain Amadou Sanogo, leader of the coup of March 2012 and to a committee military official.

"We are delighted to have the` `French assistance with us this day, that `ad also well played a role, a role, a role capital in air support "for the operations of the army in Mali has said on public television Mali ORTM Captain Amadou Sanogo.

"Thanks to all our partners who are our side TODAY" has added the captain Sanogo, who `s said in the past he is against a foreign armed intervention in northern Mali to drive the armed Islamists who control the vast areas since late March and early April, 2012. He believed that the army had Malian means and the will to only regain the occupied areas.

Speaking Saturday during a visit to the wounded admitted to hospitals in Bamako following clashes this week Konna between the army and Malian jihadists who said they wanted to move the North to the South, under the control of government forces.

[link to translate.google.com]

The people of Mali thank France for their intervention

..."The French have really saved us!" says Moussa Toure, after France launched air strikes in support of Malian ground forces that helped reclaim the key central town of Konna from the Islamist groups occupying northern Mali.

"The Islamists would have quickly headed for us if France had not intervened."

The other thirty-somethings sitting with him in the capital's Ntomikorobougou neighbourhood say they share his gratitude.
"I sincerely want to thank France for this welcome initiative," says Alio Daou...

[link to www.google.com]

Video of Captain Sanogo from today- Sanogo was the leader of coup that led to the Islamist takeover of Northern Mali. He is USMC trained and he wore an American flag lapel pin during the coup that overthrew the elected gov't of Mali just weeks before an election. Whether its true or not, many Malians supported the coup because they believed he was the USA's man in Mali.

Is it possible to get a summary on this conflict and its importance in the grand scheme?

France escalates war in Africa: Mirage 2000D bombers hit targets in North Mali.

[link to theaviationist.com]

So this is basically a continuation of the Libyan conflict under a NATO umbrella or is France unilateral in this? What is the purpose? Overthrowing the current regime?

PART ONE -

Mali is artificial country (like all of post-colonial Africa). Tauregs and Arabs live in North (the Sahel); Black people (vast majority of population) live in the South.

The Tauregs have been staging periodic uprisings for the last 50 years. The Tauregs are a nomadic Amazigh (Berber) people who live in the Sahara desert in an area that extends through Libya, Algeria, Niger, Mali, & Burkina Faso. Colonel Gaddafi was their patron. Tauregs served in his Arab Legion and fought & died for him in Chad & Lebanon. Whenever there was an uprising in Mali, Gaddafi helped with the settlement & the disgruntled parties usually ended up in Libya. BTW - he was also major benefactor of "black" Mali.

During the Libyan uprising, Gaddafi made a deal with the Taureg (especially Taureg immigrants from Niger & Mali). He said, support me & I will help you get an independent Azawad (Taureg homeland). In March 2011, the leader of last Taureg uprising in Mali, Ag Bahanga, left Libya & began laying groundwork for new uprising.

After Gaddafi died, the Army of Southern Libya basically fled the country in two large convoys. One went to Niger. A second larger convoy made the two-day trek through the Algerian desert into Mali. There are YouTube videos of the convoy - it looks like an old Soviet May Day Parade. Whether this was part of deal w/ G or their own exit strategy who knows - but key G officials got out of Libya through the convoys.

In August 2011, the clear leader of the upcoming uprising, Ibrahim Ag Bahanga was killed under mysterious circumstances... It didn't stop the uprising. In November, 2011 the Tauregs met and formed the MNLA - a secular movement dedicated to an independent Azawad. They picked a new generation for leadership positions, snubbing a Taureg leader named Ag Ghaly.

Armed with Gaddafi's weapons, the MNLA launched their uprising in January, 2012. Ag Ghaly, who supposedly found God while working in the Malian embassy in Saudi Arabia, founded his own group - Ansar Dine.

The Tauregs (MNLA & Ansar Dine) were joined by 2 other Islamist groups - AQIM & MUJWA. AQIM are Algerian Islamists who run smuggling and kidnapping operations throughout Sahara. MUJWA are Arab cocaine smugglers from the Northern Malian city of GAO. (Side issue - Mali is major smuggling route in International cocaine & heroin trade There are several articles about relationship between cocaine money & rise of Islamists in Northern Mali).

The Uprising was chugging along - capturing some northern military installations when in March, 2012, Captain Sanogo led a coup that toppled the elected government of Mali. This was weeks before an election in which the incumbent President ATT was NOT running. Captain Sanogo is US-trained and he wore a US Flag lapel pin during coup. As a result of the coup, all of Northern Mali fell to the MNLA and their Islamist allies.

Then, three US Special Forces soldiers died in a mysterious car accident in Bamako and the Qatari Red Crescent showed up with loads of money. According the the Algerians, Qatar began funding & supplying the Islamists for a hostile takeover of the Taureg uprising.

In June & July 2012 the MNLA and the Islamist groups parted ways. The Islamists groups then took over going "black hawk down" and dragging the bodies of MNLA members through the streets of Timbuktu & GAO. The MNLA went into hiding in the desert and took up positions in cities near the border with Niger (Menaka) & Mauritania (Lere)

PART TWO -

Since the July, 2012 Islamist takeover, there has been international pressure, particularly from France, to do something about Northern Mali. The preferred intervention method was supposedly composed of the Malian armed forces assisted by an African force led by ECOWAS (a regional economic group) supported by France with American logistical support. Meanwhile, there have been reports of Islamists from throughout Africa coming to Mali to fight.

I think that someone made the call that it would take too long for the ECOWAS plan to work. International law dictated that the US could not provide military assistance until there was a democratic gov't in Mali. Neighboring countries, especially Algeria & Mauritania, refused to participate in military action and opposed European or US involvement in the conflict. Meanwhile, members of the caretaker gov't, which was installed after the coup leaders stepped aside, were causing problems. The acting PM was threatening to run for elected office; something he had promised not to do. So, in December 2012, Captain Sanogo reappeared. His men beat up the recalcitrant PM, forcing him to flee to France.

While all this was happening Ansar Dine & MNLA were taking part in peace talks in Burkina Faso. In December, MNLA forces fought MUJWA in Menaka. They were massacred and pushed out of the city. The MNLA's spokesman claimed that they were induced to go on the offensive by the French and promised that they would have support from Ansar Dine - support that never materialized. Then, the MNLA was pushed out of Lere. Both Menaka & Lere are in Northern Mali, although they had remained under MNLA control. Last week, Ansar Dine withdrew from peace talks. There were reports that the Islamists were digging in near strategic locations in the North. Finally, this week, it appeared that the Islamists might move south of the de facto border between Mali & Northern Mali when they took Konna, a strategic town near the city of Mopti & a military base in Sevare.

The taking of Konna arguably set the stage for an Islamist takeover of the country. There were reports that the Malian army was collapsing, and that they might abandon Sevare and it's strategic bases en masse. The caretaker President of Mali asked for assistance and France intervened.

That's where we are...

IMPORTANCE IN GRAND SCHEME -

Mali is important stop in re-colonization of Africa. You have Mali you are literally in the middle of West Africa.

It has oil, uranium & gold deposits (most of which have not been exploited). It also has fertile land in the South.

It was key transit point in international drug trade.

Timbuktu could be a southern Capitol of a restored Caliphate. It was also a center of moderate & Sufi Islam.

If the West have both Libya & Mali - they have effectively surrounded Algeria - the former French colony w/ Socialist military leadership.

You are also inducing Islamists from throughout Africa to come to the relatively open ground of the Sahara - a good place to gather the baddies for a culling...

So, Mali is important.

You also have the fact that the conflict in Mali is essentially a race war - Southern Blacks vs. Northern Browns. That has implications for all of the African countries that straddle the race line (the Sahel countries).

Thanks Darby, I agree I can't believe this isn't getting more attention ill have much more research to do using your synopsis as a guide. I'll admit I've been ignorant of this but it could wind up being a massive situation. By the way nice rack. KIDDING. Thank again for taking the time to put this together.

Who is fighting the Islamists?

Caretaker gov't of Mali (which still control south - where most Malians live)
France
ECOWAS (other African countries in region including Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc (see above posts))
US & UK providing logistical support
Germany will provide clean-up - retraining Malian army & humanitarian aid

I've been following it, because Mali has always had a beautiful culture full of music and dancing, inspite of the extreme poverty. I've always loved Salif Keita, one of their most well known musicians. Just sick about what's happened to their country.

The Islamists in the North have been targeting women especially.

The number of forced marriages in the north is also increasing. "The price to buy a wife is less than $1,000," he said, "and it's often misused." Once forced to marry, women are quite often married to other men by their so-called husbands after a very short time, Simonovic said, "which is a smoke screen for enforced prostitutions and rapes that are taking place."

Islamists have imposed an extremist form of Islamic law known as Shariah in northern Mali with drastic punishments including the stoning death of a couple accused of adultery, eight amputations, three public executions and a number of floggings.

While the Islamists have banned everyone from smoking and listening to music, he said they have particularly targeted women.

[link to news.yahoo.com]


Salif . . .

11 Malian Army Dead - 60 injured

The Malian army has recorded 11 deaths in its ranks, sixty wounded, and a French officer was killed during fighting against Islamist Konna (center), according to a statement Dioncounda Malian President Traoré played Saturday at the public television....

No assessment is communicated to the Islamist camp. Earlier Saturday, the Malian army had spoken a hundred Islamists killed, witnesses told the AFP dozens of bodies seen Konna.

[link to translate.google.com]

Thank you very much for the post.

One of the early posts in the thread is a tribute to Ag Bahanga with music by Tiniariwen. I think'its important to remember that the people of Mali are the victims here... They are known for their music, their culture, their tolerance, and yes, their poverty.

IMO Forces far bigger than the Malian people are at work here - and they are suffering greatly because of it.

French troops from Ivory Coast & Chad have arrived in Mali.

These men belong to the arms task force (CATF), including elements of the French forces prepositioned in Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire and Chad, he said, refusing to comment on the staff arrived or expected total their missions and where they will be deployed.

[link to translate.google.com]

Are we all that blind? From Egypt to Syria are all in Arabian Spring-Winter now and most of the countries to the soauth are almost all infiltrated by Al Qaida.
Something large is going on!

France risks prolonged campaign in chaotic Mali: experts

France’s vow to battle Islamist militants in Mali “as long as necessary” risks plunging the former colonial power into a prolonged campaign, according to diplomats and experts.

“It is getting nasty and there will be a chaotic few weeks ahead,” said a senior UN Security Council envoy after Paris officially informed the 15-member body of its decision to act in the African nation....

France’s former conservative prime minister Dominique de Villepin predicted problems ahead.

“We will be fighting alone because there is no solid Malian partner,” he wrote in a commentary published Sunday that also questioned the offensive’s motive.

“The collapse of a divided Malian army, the general breakdown of the state: who will we rely on?” Villepin wrote in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

[link to www.theglobeandmail.com]

France tightens security after Mali offensive

A meeting is due take place on Sunday at Élysée Palace, the seat of the presidency, to discuss the latest developments in Mali...

Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's defence minister, said a French helicopter was downed on Friday and that the pilot died of his wounds while he was being evacuated to safety...

"The threat is a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe," said Le Drian...

[link to www.aljazeera.com]