Mali 1

Hanane Ferdjani,

Correspondent (Africa)

 

BAMAKO – When the cat’s away, the mice will play!  Or so could be peculiarly said about the tensions that have arisen in Mali while its new President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was on the last leg of an international tour, meeting his French counterpart François Hollande in Paris.

Just two weeks after Keita’s ceremony of inauguration, Mali finds itself in turmoil yet again. In the north, the Malian army and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) fought for two consecutive days in Kidal. At the same time in the southern town of Kati, an unhappy segment of the army  sequestrated a Colonel, demanding promotions and a raise in their wages.

Due to this, Keita had to shorten his trip to France. The President announced that he would not condone the army’s behaviour and let his country be ‘put to shame’. The government that was recently formed by him has insisted on its priority — providing national unity and restoring peace across Mali.

The West African country has been battling with a multidimensional crisis for nearly two years. In January 2012, a military coup against the then President Amadou Toumani Touré, gave grounds for ethnic tensions in the north to develop with the MNLA proclaiming the independence of Azawad. A few months after, towns such as Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao had become the siege of Djihadist factions looking to extend their influence in the area. A little after the French military operation ‘Serval’ was commanded in January 2013, the Islamist groups were said to have withdrawn.

But on September 28, a suicide attack took place in Timbuktu. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghred has claimed responsibility for the operation. “This explosion has caused 16 people to die amongst the army and a few wounded,” said a spokesperson for the organisation. On the other hand, Malian authorities have announced that only two civilians were killed.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia.org (Nimissatou)