Topic: Mali - the new Afghanistan?

[KiNki]

No they don't. You are just flat out lying here or you havent even read the verses.

One says that you can't force anyone to enter Islam.
The other is talking about fighting the enemy on the battlefield after a ceasefire treaty has expired and if they accept Islam or surrender, to give them shelter so they may hear the world of God.
The third one deals with fighting those non muslims who refuse to pay the jizya tax when living in a Islamic state.

Only one is dealing with coercision into religion.

Ffs like. There are lots of verses regarding what to do with non believers and coercion.  I picked three.  One says you cant, one says you can, smile when you kill, the other says you can.  Clearly no contradiction in message whatsoever.  Obviously the top brass of afghasistan were ignorant and "liars" who hadnt read these same passages and were befuddled by which was the right message to pass into law and onto the masses.

Now how about answering the questions corkboy and i've put to you instead of fudging it with denials accusations of misunderstandings. 

[LFC when it suits]

And what about simply approving of them, rather than actually doing them? I'm interested to see how many millions of your fellow Muslims you are going to brand as ignorant.

Ignorance of our religion is widespread int eh Muslim world today. Thats just the relaity.

Also, you never answered this for me.

Ignorance isn't confined to Muslims, surely, and yet suicide bombing seems to be a largely Muslim thing. The IRA wanted revenge and were pretty ignorant too but they never blew themselves up.

Suicide attacks weren't even pioneered by muslims and have only recently surfaced amongst muslim in the last 30 years. However, in recent years, muslims have been led to beleive (due to their own ignorance) that these suicide attacks lead to martyrdom. However, Islam is clear that sucide is forbidden.

What does this mean, "And do not kill yourselves"?

Ffs like. There are lots of verses regarding what to do with non believers and coercion.  I picked three.  One says you cant, one says you can, smile when you kill, the other says you can.  Clearly no contradiction in message whatsoever.  Obviously the top brass of afghasistan were ignorant and "liars" who hadnt read these same passages and were befuddled by which was the right message to pass into law and onto the masses.

Now how about answering the questions corkboy and i've put to you instead of fudging it with denials accusations of misunderstandings. 

And you continue to lie. From the three verses you picked, only one is dealing with coerscion into religion. The other two are not. There are no questions to answer becuae you haven't provided any real evidence for your claims of a contradiction.

[Corkboy]

I found an interesting piece on Palestinian suicide bombing that doesn't mention religion once...


Why We Have Become Suicide Bombers

- Understanding Palestinian Terror

By Dr. Eyad Sarraj

A few weeks ago I said that the struggle of Palestinians today is how not to become a bomb and that the amazing thing is not the occurrence of the suicide bombing, rather the rarity of them.

The BBC interviewer appeared to understand. I was shocked because it is our understanding that the world out there will never understand. And who on earth in their right mind would understand terror and the killing of innocent people? Why do Palestinians kill themselves and Israelis in such an horrific way at the bus stop or in a crowded market? Do you really care to know? Well, let me try and explain.

I believe it is an act of absolute despair and a very serious stage of the seemingly perpetual conflict. Since the uprooting of the Palestinians in 1948 triggered by Irgun Jewish terror under the leadership of Yitzak Shamir and Menachem Begin, we have tried everything. We have tried Nasser and Arab Nationalism, only to be invaded in 1956 in our second homes in the refugee camps. It was only because of the Russian threat to bomb London and Paris, and the resolve of American president Eisenhower that ended the Israeli occupation.

We have tried the United Nations and its Security Council, which by the way have made excellent resolutions on our behalf. For example Resolution 194 calling on Israel to allow us to return to our homeland, but to no avail. So we kept wandering around, between airports and refugee camps, waiting for a hero or an earthquake. All we wanted was to go home. But our story was getting worse and we grew bitter as we heard that a Jew from Poland would be declared a citizen of our country - a country now called Israel. We were told that officially we were stateless with undefined nationality. So we went to universities. We believed then that Jews were so clever because they were educated. We were told that Jews controlled the world with their education. They are doctors, lawyers and scientists, never beggars or boxers. In twenty years many of us became university graduates and we were in every university. We had some pride. Some of our educated people formed the resistance movement. They believed that the Arab countries would never fight Israel, and that we had to force them to fight. Fatah with Yasser Arafat was born. They forced the Arabs to fight by inviting Israel to attack Egypt in 1967. In the course of six days the Arabs were defeated again but worse. This time we lost Gaza and the West Bank, Egypt lost Sinai, and Syria lost the Golan. In a sudden stroke our fate was sealed and we had to live under Israeli military occupation for thirty years. Do you know what does it mean to live under Israeli military occupation? Do you really care to know? Let me tell you a few things.

You are given an identity number and a permit to reside. If you leave the country for more that three years in succession, you lose that right to residence.

When you leave the country on a trip, you are given a laissez passez, a travelling document, valid for one year and it tells you in its recording of your particulars that you are of undefined nationality.

Israeli occupation means that you are called twice a year by the intelligence for routine interrogation and persuasion to work as an informer on your brothers and sisters. No one is spared. If you are to be a member of a political organisation you will be sentenced for ten years. For a military action you will be sentenced to life.

To survive under the Israeli occupation you are given the chance to work in the jobs that Israelis do not like, sweeping the streets, building houses, collecting fruit or harvesting. You will have to leave your home in the refugee camp in Gaza at 3 am, go through the road blocks and check posts, spend your day under the sun and surveillance returning home in the evening to collapse in bed for a few hours before the following day.

We simply became the slaves of our enemy. We are building their homes on our villages, and we clean their streets. Do you know what does it do to you when you have to be the slave of your enemy in order to survive. No you will never know how painful it is unless your country is occupied by another force. Only then will you learn how to watch in silence pretending not to see the torture of your friends and the humiliation of your father.

Do you know what it means for a child to see his father spat at and beaten before his eyes by an Israeli soldier? Nobody knows what happened to our children. We don't know ourselves except we observe that they lose respect for their fathers. So they, our children, the children of the stone as they became known, tried the Intifada - the Uprising. Seven long years our children were throwing stones and being killed daily. Nearly all our young men were arrested, the majority were tortured. All had to confess. The result was every one suspected that all people were spies. So, we were exhausted, tormented and brutalised. What else could we do to return to our home? We had almost forgotten that and all what we wanted was to be left alone.

What else could we try? Oh yes, peace. When the news came that Arafat had signed a peace treaty in Washington we were jubilant. At last we thought we were to get rid of that miserable life of military occupation, at last. So we had hope.

We could not believe our eyes when there were no more curfews and we could actually spend our evening on the beach or wander in streets which were now ours after eight o'clock at night. We were ecstatic. We even had elections and we had a parliament, so we were told.

Then came Binyamin Netanyahu.

He refused to meet Arafat and was clearly forced to shake hands in obvious disgust. He refused to free our prisoners, to have a safe passage for us to move between the West Bank and Gaza. He even surrounded our towns and villages with his tanks and arrested our policemen. Then he went after our holy places and opened a tunnel under our holiest Mosque. Tens of our children and also Israeli soldiers were killed because of that tunnel, but he went on insulting us and driving out our sanity.

Arafat called for patience and we were patient, then Netanyahu started to build settlements in Jerusalem and drive the remaining Palestinians out. Settlers in Hebron spat on our Prophet  and called him a pig. All in the name of peace we were humiliated, even arrested and tortured by Palestinian forces to protect the peace. Our Authority was turning against us to please Netanyahu. Our officials were driving in big cars and building big villas. They have VIP cards and cross the check posts like human beings while we are left to rot.

I've told you a few things. Now do you understand why we have turned into suicide killers?

Dr. Eyad Sarraj is a Palestinian Psychiatrist, Commissioner of Citizens Rights, and an Awardee of Physicians for Human Rights. He was detained three times by Arafat's forces during 1996.

source

[KiNki]

...

The 3/4 verses were selected by the ulema of afghanistan.  Is that a lie too?

[LFC when it suits]

The 3/4 verses were selected by the ulema of afghanistan.  Is that a lie too?

They were selected by the "ulema of Afghanistan" for what? As a contradiction? As evidence for suicide bombing? For what?

[KiNki]

I found an interesting piece on Palestinian suicide bombing that doesn't mention religion once...

Interesting but you're not allowed to use the internet. Thats the rules of engagement.

[KiNki]

They were selected by the "ulema of Afghanistan" to extract which ruling?

ahh the answer a question with a question.  naskh, Koran 2:106. so are they liars or what?

Are all the clerics/leaders/teachers/preachers/brotherhood liars as opposed to the literalists who've had fatwas put on the head too?

[The Gulleysucker]

.....have only recently surfaced amongst muslim in the last 30 years.

Not quite. The Moro Rebellion is a lot older.
Further details inside here.

[KiNki]

They were selected by the "ulema of Afghanistan" for what? As a contradiction? As evidence for suicide bombing? For what?

i've already explained once, possibly twice, but in your rush to accuse me of lying, you ignore the fact it was them not i, who were confused by the contradictory messages, which you deny exist.  I dont think i could be any more clear.

[LFC when it suits]

i've already explained once, possibly twice, but in your rush to accuse me of lying, you ignore the fact it was them not i, who were confused by the contradictory messages, which you deny exist.  I dont think i could be any more clear.

"i said there were contradictions.  Its a point you've denied repeatedly.  i'd given you numerous examples now, text, verse, historical to the ulema asking for clarification when contradiction arises and still you deny or are in a state of perpetual denial.

The ulema were told 'whenever there's contradiction' refer to the more violent offensive anecodotes."

This is what you said. So the ulema were confused and they asked for clarification. Who did they ask for clarification from?

Can I please have the names of the ulema your are referring to and who they consutled please and a reference to the ruling that was given to them.

Thanks

Not quite. The Moro Rebellion is a lot older.
Further details inside here.

As it is a huge document, could you please give me a reference as to where i can find it in that document please.

Thanks

[KiNki]

i do thanks. 

I cite raymond ibrahim.  But what does he know. Google is your friend, not mine.

[LFC when it suits]

i do thanks. 

I cite raymond ibrahim.  But what does he know. Google is your friend, not mine.

Where did Raymond Ibrahim say this? You have made a claim. It is only fair you produce a reference for where I can find your claim. Who are these "Afghani ulema" and who did they consult?

[KiNki]

Here's an interesting article on suicide bombings brought to you by the redcross. 

http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc-869_munir.pdf  no conflict of reasoning in it among islam at all.

[Corkboy]

So in the absence of any help from LFC 4 life, I did a little light reading. As far as I can make out, the majority of Islamic scholars on the interweb do indeed believe that suicide bombing is a big no no. This makes the levels of support for the practice in Muslim countries even more baffling. The difficulty, of course, with Islam is the lack of a centralised authority. In Catholicism, for example, the Pope issues bulls or decrees which all Catholics must then follow. Islam is a much more disjointed organisation.

The only conclusion I can draw is that there must a pretty serious disconnect between what Islamic scholars say and what Muslims actually do.

[KiNki]

Where did Raymond Ibrahim say this? You have made a claim. It is only fair you produce a reference for where I can find your claim. Who are these "Afghani ulema" and who did they consult?

Its on a blog docs talk, its got lots of interesting articles on there, by lots of interesting people, all of them quite highly educated on the matter. 

[The Gulleysucker]

As it is a huge document, could you please give me a reference as to where i can find it in that document please.

Thanks

It is a long dry read detailing mans inhumanity to fellow man and women written from the victors perspective.

Here's a shorter read and to save you some time, here's an extract..

Juramentados were perhaps even deadlier, since they were religiously motivated, swore a formal oath before the proper Muslim authority to attack anybody considered to be a foe of Islam, and always struck when and where least expected. Although certain of their own extinction, those fanatics were secure in their belief that they would be whisked to the Muslim paradise for their valorous self-sacrifice, where, among other glories, they would be serviced by 16 virgins. Both amoks and juramentados attacked with the Malay kris, a wavy-edged sword, in length halfway between a long dagger and a saber and easily disguised under their clothes. In addition, they were deadly with a blowgun and poison darts, and were quite good with their muzzleloading rifles. Thus the Americans never knew when or where—from a jungle ambush, a quiet street, in a marketplace—those zealots would strike. When they did, however, such were their frenzied charges that they usually scored devastatingly, since nearly all of them found at least one target on their way to glorious death. A juramentado at Zamboango, though hit in seven different places by revolver shots, nevertheless reached an American officer and sliced off one of his legs.

It's the origin of the phrase "To run amok".

I'm pretty sure that the Janissaries too were often employed in suicide tactics by Suleiman The Magnificent and others in even earlier times.

[LFC when it suits]

Here's an interesting article on suicide bombings brought to you by the redcross. 

http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc-869_munir.pdf  no conflict of reasoning in it among islam at all.

Read pages 8-12 on this report.

Its on a blog docs talk, its got lots of interesting articles on there, by lots of interesting people, all of them quite highly educated on the matter. 

Any chance of a direct link to your claim with the names of the "Afghani ulema" and who they consulted and the ruling. As you made the claim, it's only fair you provide a source.

It is a long dry read detailing mans inhumanity to fellow man and women written from the victors perspective.

Here's a shorter read and to save you some time, here's an extract..

Juramentados were perhaps even deadlier, since they were religiously motivated, swore a formal oath before the proper Muslim authority to attack anybody considered to be a foe of Islam, and always struck when and where least expected. Although certain of their own extinction, those fanatics were secure in their belief that they would be whisked to the Muslim paradise for their valorous self-sacrifice, where, among other glories, they would be serviced by 16 virgins. Both amoks and juramentados attacked with the Malay kris, a wavy-edged sword, in length halfway between a long dagger and a saber and easily disguised under their clothes. In addition, they were deadly with a blowgun and poison darts, and were quite good with their muzzleloading rifles. Thus the Americans never knew when or where—from a jungle ambush, a quiet street, in a marketplace—those zealots would strike. When they did, however, such were their frenzied charges that they usually scored devastatingly, since nearly all of them found at least one target on their way to glorious death. A juramentado at Zamboango, though hit in seven different places by revolver shots, nevertheless reached an American officer and sliced off one of his legs.

It's the origin of the phrase "To run amok".

I'm pretty sure that the Janissaries too were often employed in suicide tactics by Suleiman The Magnificent and others in even earlier times.

Thanks. Just having a quick look, it appears that some of the people who carried out these Juramentado attacks didn't always die but ,most did. I am little confused as to how they carried out a suicide attack with a sword though. Any idea who they actually performed these attacks?

[Yorkykopite]

This is precisely why I never argue the religion when it comes to these matters, instead I prefer the social context as a means of explanation.

That's probably wise, for the simple reason that holy texts always seem to be ambiguous. It's what their clerics make of them that ultimately counts. Throughout history the more fire-eating ones have never been short of finding some line or two - in the Bible or the Koran - to justify the mass murder of innocent people (whether accompanied by suicide or not). Right now, it isn't really the Christian fire-eaters who are cajoling and provisioning, and giving moral and material support, to terrorists. It's the Muslim fire-eaters. That's been obvious for 30 years or so - ever since Hezbollah laid down their first massive bombs in Lebanon.

So, to the "social context" - of which fire-eating clerics, mullahs, or whatever you wish to call them, are very much a part. It would be hard to imagine Islamist terrorists (including suicide terrorists) doing what they do without the comfort and aid of religious teachers. This is true of the September 11th bombers, the 7/7 bombers, the Bali bombers and the Madrid bombers. It's also true of those fanatics who murder their co-religionists (as well as Christians, Jews and atheists) in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Israel, Egypt...and now Mali. Often in these discussions we tend to forget that most of the victims of suicide terrorism are Muslims. Some people in the west 'forget' that because they like to think of the terrorists as somehow 'anti-imperialistic' or 'anti-American' or 'anti-Israeli'. Their little suicide belts become the 'poor man's gunship helicopter' or whatever, and a little sheen of heroism thereby clings to them.

Crap of course.

Crap because they are crusaders and ideologues rather than anti-imperialists. They believe their book is the best book in the world and they want all the others to be eliminated. Their creed is fundamentally one of intolerance. We can see this in Mali now. 

Poverty hasn't driven these people to terrorism. Ideas have. If poverty were a cause then there'd be an epidemic of terrorism and suicide bombing in sub-Saharan Africa (and let's remember that in Mali  the current terrorists are reasonably well-funded and well-resourced outsiders from many Arab nations who have turned most of their terror on poorer black folk). If poverty was a driver, it might also be expected that the history of poor people's revolts against class or colonial domination would be marked by intensive campaigns of terrorism. But history shows that this didn't happen. Starving early nineteenth-century Durham coalminers, for example, didn't put explosives under the owner of the mine, or even inside the mine itself. They didn't, characteristically, kill his family or willy-nilly shoot any capitalist or landowner. They organised a union and campaigned for the vote. They made the moral case for a greater share of the pie and developed institutions to give them political strength. Throughout history people living in abject poverty have usually turned to measures like this rather than terror.

These options - and others like them - are of no interest to the Islamist terrorists. They haven't been tried and discarded. They have simply never been tried. In Pakistan the terrorists want to destroy representative government. It's why they targeted - and murdered - Benazir Bhutto. Ditto in Iraq as it emerged from its terrible war.  The terrorists went for trade-union leaders and pro-democracy activists when they weren't simply setting off their bombs in mosques and bazaars to create as much chaos and fear as possible as to make the place ungovernable.

The real heroes in all this of course are the Arab and Muslim leaders (and followers) who put their own bodies on the line and continue to fight for democratic institutions in their countries.

Oh, and in the case of Mali, the French. Well done Frere Jacques. 



 

[Yorkykopite]

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/C-Notes/February-2013/Malian-Musician-Vieux-Farka-Toureon-His-Country-and-His-Music/

What are your thoughts about the Islamists’ invasion of northern Mali and France’s efforts to drive them out of the country?
My thoughts are the same as everyone in Mali. The invasion of the Islamists was hell on earth. It was a nightmare unlike anything we have ever experienced. We are very grateful to President Hollande and the French for their intervention. For the moment at least they have saved our country.

How have these disruptions affected you personally?
I am safe and my family is safe. But there is great uncertainty in Mali today. Nobody knows what we can expect in the next years, months or even days. So it is very bad for the spirit to be living in this kind of situation.

What’s your reaction to the Islamist invaders banning music in the areas they controlled?
I was furious. It broke my heart like it did for everyone else. It was as though life itself was taken from us.

You were part of an all-star group of Malian musicians who recently recorded the song “Mali-ko” in response to the conflict. Please talk about the project and why you participated in it.
Musicians in Mali play a very important role in society. We are like journalists, telling people what is happening. We are also responsible for speaking out when there are problems, and we are responsible for lifting the spirit of the nation. So that is why we made “Mali-ko.” Fatoumata [Diawara] organized everyone and we all spent some time hanging out in the studio and doing our little parts. It was a very nice project. I'm happy with the result and I'm happy that it got a lot of attention in the United States and in Europe.

[CornerFlag]

My friend's doing volunteer work in Burkina Faso (in the "Yeah, you don't want to go there" part as non-recommended by the Foreign Office) due to the French intervention in Mali... should I be worried for her or is it overcaution regarding that map?  She's going in the 'red bit'.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/content/en/travel-advice/sub-sahara-africa/burkina/burkina-map-24-02-11

[JohnnoWhite]

I think in the current climate, anyone who has little experience of Africa and its volatility needs to think hard and long before putting their life on the line. Call it selfish or whatever, but in that particular area of the continent I believe it is very unpredictably dangerous to gamble with the only life she's going to get.

[LFCDad]

I think in the current climate, anyone who has little experience of Africa and its volatility needs to think hard and long before putting their life on the line. Call it selfish or whatever, but in that particular area of the continent I believe it is very unpredictably dangerous to gamble with the only life she's going to get.

sub saharan africa just is not safe and it's not islamists you need to worry about in some parts.

[RojoLeón]

sub saharan africa just is not safe and it's not islamists you need to worry about in some parts.

Do you just mean the areas surrounding the Sahara, or do you actually mean Sub-Saharan Africa? It is two thirds of an enormous continent - maybe an eighth of the world's land surface, is contained there.

Mali is Sub-Saharan Africa, but so is Madagascar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Saharan_Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. Politically, it consists of all African countries that are fully or partially located south of the Sahara (excluding Sudan).

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

There has been a coup in Mali. Soldiers have taken President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse from Bamako to a military base in the town of Kati that they seized earlier in the day.

Mutineering troops arrest Mali's president and prime minister

[Jiminy Cricket]

There has been a coup in Mali. Soldiers have taken President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse from Bamako to a military base in the town of Kati that they seized earlier in the day.

Mutineering troops arrest Mali's president and prime minister

[redacted]

My virus scanner threw a wobbly over that website.

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

My virus scanner threw a wobbly over that website.

My apologies! The Tanzanian media was the first I saw bring this to attention. President Keita has now resigned and dissolved their parliament. All borders are now closed with a curfew being enforced.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mali-coup-president-ibrahim-boubacar-keita-resigns-armed-mutiny-a9677271.html

[Jiminy Cricket]

My apologies! The Tanzanian media was the first I saw bring this to attention. President Keita has now resigned and dissolved their parliament. All borders are now closed with a curfew being enforced.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mali-coup-president-ibrahim-boubacar-keita-resigns-armed-mutiny-a9677271.html

Might be an idea to edit-out the link in your original post!?

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

Why the Mali coup matters to Europe and the world

Mali’s president resigned Tuesday after being held at gunpoint by members of the military, risking further destabilizing the West African country and drawing condemnation from Europe, the U.S. and the African Union.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who has struggled to address concerns about corruption and the deadly violence associated with Islamic extremists and ethnic separatists, has faced protests against his government for months — those who overthrew the president accuse him of stealing a parliamentary election in March by challenging the result and using the ensuing instability to install lawmakers from his own party.

But while the soldiers who ousted the president have promised to hold fresh elections, the coup has left one of the Sahel’s most strategic nations with a leadership void and the prospect that the turmoil could spread way beyond its borders.

“The military coup lays bare the insufficient progress Mali has made on addressing the problems which have underscored decades of instability and blighted so many lives,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “All Malians should work to strengthen the crucial institutions on which stability and progress depend, and put justice for the worsening violence, including by the military, front and center.”

Here's what the situation in Mali means for the country, the continent and Europe.

What does the coup mean for peace and security?
Keïta’s reign — which began after another coup in 2012 — coincided with the establishment of a French peacekeeping mission in Mali. While deeply unpopular at home, Keïta has been a vital partner for Paris in its counter-insurgency efforts in the region, and French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first to condemn the mutiny.

What happens to France’s role now is far from clear.

“Will France find a good partner in a new government? Do they work with a possible military junta? Do they continue with their operation independently of the Malian government?” asked Caleb Weiss, a research analyst at the Long War Journal, a project that analyzes the Global War on Terror.

For the U.S., another central actor in Mali’s counter-insurgency efforts, there are also major doubts about what happens now. By law, the U.S. does not give military aid to governments formed after coups, raising questions about whether the world’s largest economy will stop its aid to Mali, or attempt to bypass its own laws because of security concerns.

Perhaps the greatest question mark for Africa is the impact of the coup on the G5 Sahel Joint Force, an armed counter-insurgency force made up of soldiers from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, which the EU has vowed to support.

The other G5 Sahel members are considering sanctions on Mali and have all closed their borders with the country in response to the coup. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also suspended financial flows between its 15 members and Mali.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson for the African Union, said on Wednesday that he “rejects any attempt at the unconstitutional change of government in Mali” and called on the “mutineers to cease all recourse to violence.”

“I think this is a potentially devastating move for the country that stands to jeopardize its response, as well as the response of its allies, to the insurgency,” said Weiss, underlining the potential for jihadists in the country to use the instability to jeopardize the security of military bases outside the capital Bamako.

Does it dent Africa’s push to solve its own problems?
The coup came as countries in Africa have expressed a growing resolve to manage their own affairs under the slogan “African solutions for African problems.” In February, leaders from the violence-scarred Sahel region agreed to try to boost their own joint counterterrorism capabilities — an initiative that highlights the growing discomfort with the presence of French troops in the region.

But with no leader in Mali, those efforts will surely take a hit. Most analysts believe that the new military-led government, which has called itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), will seek to retain its ties to foreign forces operating in the country. In June, the Katiba Macina, a militant Islamist group that operates in Mali, reportedly attacked an army convoy, killing 24 soldiers in the deadliest attack against Malian forces this year and a sign that Mali needs as much help as it can get.

While France is unlikely to cease its military operations, according to Alexandre Raymakers, senior Africa analyst at the risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, “military cooperation between both parties will likely be curtailed momentarily.”

“The coup will be a major propaganda victory for jihadist groups operating in Mali, vindicating their view that they hold the military momentum over a paralyzed Malian state,” he added, noting that he expects the security situation to deteriorate in the coming weeks.

Could the coup worsen an already dire refugee crisis?
For Europe, stability in Mali is important as it looks to spread its influence in Africa and help countries develop, in part so that the large flow of migrants from certain parts of the continent are curtailed.

Mali is currently home to more than 45,000 refugees and 250,000 internally displaced people. The coup is hardly likely to alleviate that situation.

What happens in the coming weeks will be key if the country is to regain the confidence of its partners in both Africa and abroad. The cleric Mahmoud Dicko, who has openly criticized Keïta’s government, has been at the forefront of the country’s protest movement but has not announced that he will run for president.

A failure to find a strong leader with popular appeal could have devastating consequences not only for stability in the country but for the wider region and Europe’s relationship with a key partner in the Sahel.

https://www.politico.eu/article/mali-coup-explained/