"Three things emerge from the haze. First, fierce fighting in the North and the East, with French forces in the lead, will open up a whole new set of dangers. With Islamist forces on the attack, foreign intervention was necessary, and many Malians at home and abroad welcomed it enthusiastically. Still, this remains a dangerous moment all around.
"Second, while the latest crisis might not break the political deadlock in Bamako, it has already changed the dynamic. And third, despite the sorry state of mediation efforts to date - both within West Africa and beyond - savvy diplomacy is needed now more than ever." - Gregory Mann, commenting on January 14 on the situation in Mali.
In his article, included in the issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin along with an update from the UNHCR on the situation of Malian refugees and internally displaced persons, Mann argues that the intervention was necessary (given the collapse of the Mlian army and the consequences of failure to intervene) but that it also offers no solution to the crisis, which requires both political reorganization in Bamako and more effective international diplomacy.
Observers may agree or disagree on the wisdom of the latest intervention, whether in its present phase or as it evolves with greater involvement of African forces from ECOWAS. But no one is predicting an easy road ahead or a quick end to the crisis.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Mali, including in 2012, see http://www.africafocus.org/country/mali.php
For a recent article with additional background on previous U.S. counter-productive support for Mali's military, see "French Strikes in Mali Supplant Caution of U.S.", New York Times, Jan. 14, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com / direct URL - http://tinyurl.com/boxv8va
For an article with background on the U.S. role past and present, see "U.S. Prepares Support for French Military Intervention in Mali" IPS, January 15, 2012 http://allafrica.com/stories/201301150071.html
For a pair of articles from last fall, by Gregory Mann and Simon Allison, respectively supporting and opposing military intervention, appearing in African Arguments and in the Guardian, now moot but with much useful background, see http://tinyurl.com/cofaqvv and http://tinyurl.com/clh4bnt
Also in the Guardian, January 15, 2013: "Mali's crisis caused by development failures, not military aid" by Heather Hurlburt http://tinyurl.com/a4d2vqt - argues that whatever the failures of U.S. military aid, the basic problem was neglecting more fundamental issues of development.
For an informed overview of the situation in neighboring Mauritania and the likelihood of its being more involved in the conflict in Mali, see "A Mauritania Outlook," in The Moor Next Door blog. http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com / direct URL http://tinyurl.com/d2jfaz6 - Editor's Note
France in Mali: the End of the Fairytale
January 14, 2013 by Gregory Mann
Africa is a Country
http://africasacountry.com / direct URL - http://tinyurl.com/agnjrf5
Whew, Mali. French air raids against Islamist positions in Mali began Thursday night, and the dust hasn't settled yet. The news is changing fast, but, three things emerge from the haze. First, fierce fighting in the North and the East, with French forces in the lead, will open up a whole new set of dangers.
With Islamist forces on the attack, foreign intervention was necessary, and many Malians at home and abroad welcomed it enthusiastically. Still, this remains a dangerous moment all around. Second, while the latest crisis might not break the political deadlock in Bamako, it has already changed the dynamic. And third, despite the sorry state of mediation efforts to date - both within West Africa and beyond - savvy diplomacy is needed now more than ever.
First, the fighting. The French have come in hard and fast, with fighter jets flying sorties from southern France over Algerian airspace, helicopters coming in from bases in Burkina Faso, and special forces and Legionnaires from Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, Burkina, and France. There are indeed French boots on the ground, fighting alongside what remains of the Malian army and troops from neighboring countries.
So far it is the air assault that has garnered headlines, chasing the allied Islamist fighters from the positions they had taken last week, as well as from most of their Sahelian strongholds (as I write, no reports of fighting in or around Timbuktu). Konna, Douentza, Gao, Léré, Kidal ...: ça chauffe [it's heating up].
Three things on that.
The intervention was necessary. The drama of the Islamist offensive should not be underestimated -a successful assault on Sevaré would have meant the loss of the only airstrip in Mali capable of handling heavy cargo planes, apart from that in Bamako. The fall of Sevaré would in turn have made any future military operation a nightmare for West African or other friendly forces, and it would have chased tens of thousands of civilians from their homes. These would only have been the most immediate effects.
After Sevaré, nothing would have stopped an Islamist advance on Segu and Bamako, although it is unclear to me that the Islamists would have any strategic interest in investing Mali's sprawling and densely populated capital. Still, many Bamakois feared an attack, and had one occurred the human costs would have been astronomical. Malians remember well that only a few months ago, insurgent forces ejected the army from northern Mali as if they were throwing a drunk from a bar. Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal fell in a weekend. The army collapsed, and it has only been weakened by internal fighting since. Any other story is a fairytale.
The enemy is formidable. French officials expressed some surprise at the level of sophistication of the Islamist forces - well-armed, well-trained and experienced. In an early wave of the French intervention, one helicopter took heavy fire from small arms, and a pilot was killed; another French soldier remains missing. Malian casualties were heavy, and likely remain under-reported.
Sources from Mopti refer to dozens of deaths among the Malian ranks, and there will be other casualties to come. In short, last week's Islamist offensive put paid to the argument that the Malian army itself was capable of defending the country from further attack and of liberating the territory over which it had lost control.
This is not a neo-colonial offensive. The argument that it is might be comfortable and familiar, but it is bogus and ill-informed. France intervened following a direct request for help from Mali's interim President, Dioncounda Traore. Most Malians celebrated the arrival of French troops, as Bruce Whitehouse (http://bridgesfrombamako.com/) and Fabien Offner (https://twitter.com/fabienoff) have demonstrated. Every Malian I've talked to agrees with that sentiment.
The high stakes and the strength of the enemy help to explain why the French intervention was so popular in a country that is proud of its independence and why the French tricolor is being waved in Bamako. That would have been unimaginable even 6 months ago - and probably even last week. More important than how quickly it went up will be how quickly it comes down; this popularity could be ephemeral. One tweeter figures French President François Hollande is more popular than Barack Obama right now. I'd wait for Hollande's face to go up on a few barbershops before making that call, but the comparison gives a sense of the relief many felt when French forces came to the rescue of the Malian army.
Not everyone is in favor of the intervention. Let's count some of the more vocal opponents - Oumar Mariko, Mali's perpetual gadfly; French ex-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who argues that it would be better to wait for the lions to lie down with the lambs; Paris-based Camerounian novelist Calixthe Beyala, plagiarist who argues that those Malians who would prefer not to live under a crude faux-Islamic vigilantism suffer from a plantation mentality; and some truly reprehensible protesters at the French embassy in London, who refuse to believe that most Malians are Muslims and don't need religious instruction from Salafists. It's hard to imagine a leakier ship of fools.
Second, fighting in the north has already changed the political dynamics on the ground in Bamako. The pro-junta movement MP-22 and Mariko, one of its most prominent leaders, opposed the French intervention just as they've violently opposed the possibility of ECOWAS help (this is the same crowd that nearly lynched the interim president last spring).
Their position not only contrasts sharply with public sentiment, it also puts the movement at odds with Mali's largest political coalition of the moment, the FDR, which had joined MP-22 in calling for a national conference in the days before the Islamist offensive. Since then the FDR has declared that now is not the time. What to make of this? First, as for MP-22, the dogs bark, but the caravan passes. Second and more importantly, although the question of the national conference might be bracketed for the moment, it will come back soon.
Three important changes have already occurred in Bamako:
First - and strikingly - even Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led the coup in March and who still holds a great deal of political power, has welcomed the arrival of French troops. This is important: he had been forced to abandon the argument that his troops could go it alone.
His fierce opposition to the idea that ECOWAS troops - still less French ones - would come to Mali's aid had been only gradually been whittled down over the last several months, but it withered completely in the face of the recent Islamist offensive. Now, he has had to reverse course. When he made a lightning trip to Mopti-Sevarà over the weekend, it was hard to avoid the impression that he was struggling to remain relevant to both Kati (the garrison) and Kuluba (the presidential palace).
Second, virtually unremarked upon with all eyes in the East, several hundred French soldiers are deployed in Bamako to protect French citizens - of whom there are reportedly some 6,000 in Mali, of whom expatriates are a minority (press: please note).
In the current emergency while the French troops are there ostensibly to protect their citizens and other civilians from terrorist attack, they implicitly secure the civilian government against its own military and against mobs like those ginned up by MP-22 and other radical associations. Meanwhile, soldiers from ECOWAS nations are arriving by the hundreds, although it is not yet clear what role they will play or where they will be stationed.
Third, their presence puts President Traore in a stronger position. In months past, both the junta and the antiglobalization Left have been allergic to the idea of any foreign troops in Bamako itself, and they have used violence and intimidation to secure their argument. Now Traore has proven strong enough both to ask for military aid and to receive it. Neither he nor his new Prime Minister Django Cissoko remains prisoner to the threats of the military or the radical opposition.
Still, especially given all that's happened over the weekend, it is important to recall to that the political situation in Bamako remains unstable. Dioncounda Traore's "interim" presidency is long past its constitutional sell-by date, and the rest of Mali's political class - including its once-young angry Left - have hardly failed to notice that.
Last week, before the offensive, a broad coalition formed to demand a "national consultation" (often bruited, sometimes scheduled, never held), Traore's resignation (to be replaced by whom?), and the launching of a military campaign to retake the north (which, coincidentally, they got, even if it was not the Malian-led initiative they wanted).
On Wednesday demonstrators burned tires, blocked traffic, and shut down two of the three bridges across the Niger. Some men in masks reportedly fired guns in the air and carjacked trucks and 4X4s. In response, Traore closed all schools in Bamako and in the garrison town of Kati. If he was attempting to keep the students from joining the fray, he failed.
In addition to opening Traore up to a certain amount of Twitter ridicule (Twittercule?), Traore's edict brought the students' union out on the streets on Thursday. They broke into high schools, chasing out students who were sitting exams (bad luck: apparently the questions were easy). At the moment, schools are open again, but the President has declared a state of emergency. In short, Bamako remains uneasy, and the "sacred union" of the last few days can only be temporary.
Third, what all this suggests is that the Mali crisis - which long ago became the Sahel crisis - needs diplomatic intervention every bit as urgently as it needed military intervention.
To date, West African meditation efforts have been manipulated by Burkinabe President Blaise Campaorà , whom ECOWAS has dubbed its mediator in the conflict. Few Malians take Campaorà as a legitimate interlocutor, and no one believes that he has the country's interests at heart. After profiting from hostage-taking by negotiating ransoms with AQMI, Campaorà was until recently harboring dozens of MNLA fighters while attempting to manipulate ex-Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra by remote control.
The military threw Diarra out of office in December, and a steady campaign to tarnish his image irreparably has accelerated since then, as he stands accused of diverting funds intended to aid the refugees to finance his political party. As for Campaorà 's guests from the MNLA, it's said that he asked them to leave Burkina after they refused to keep a low profile.
Several dozen have since turned up in Mauritania. In response to the latest round of skirmishing, which compelled the postponement of further negotiations in Ouagadougou, Campaorà 's lead diplomat Djibril Bassolà called on both sides to stop firing and hold their positions, as if this was a legitimate request to make of a national army defending its own territory and civilians, and as if he himself had anything better to offer than the prospect of further degrading the situation.
As for the UN, although after much discussion the Security Council has authorized the use of force by ECOWAS to re-establish Mali's territorial integrity, the organization's Secretary General seems to be running, as ever, on empty. Ban Ki-moon named Romano Prodi his emissary for the Sahelian crisis, leaving some to wonder if he had not got his dossiers shuffled.
Prodi, a former Prime Minister of Italy, knows nothing of the Sahel and speaks none of its languages, only stumbling along in French. He is scarcely qualified for the job: in 2008, he led a UN-African Union panel on peacekeeping. More to the point, perhaps, he once helped to negotiate for the release of hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Yet the narrow lens of the hostage conundrum is precisely the wrong way to examine the Sahelian crisis (see: Nicolas Sarkozy), and this is not a peacekeeping scenario.
At an event in Paris back in June, Manthia Diawara made the very good point that if Mali's friends and neighbors take the country's crisis seriously, they ought to be delegating some serious mediators to it. Campaoré and Bassolé, on behalf of ECOWAS, and Prodi, on the part of the UN, don't make the grade. Could Presidents Yaya Boni of Benin or Macky Sall of Senegal, for instance, step in where Campaoré has failed? Africa is not short on diplomats, elders, and people of experience. President Traore - and Secretary-General Moon -should be writing to them as well.
Disclaimers
The situation is changing very quickly, and much of what is written here may soon be outdated.
For lack of a better term, I use "Islamist" to refer to the alliance of AQMI, Ansar Dine, MUJAO, and other foreign movements. Other terms are inadequate ("terrorist") or inaccurate. I reserve the terms rebels or insurgents for the host of anti-government forces, which includes the MNLA, a movement now at odds with its former allies Ansar Dine.
Mali: UNHCR Says Stepped Up Fighting in Mali Triggers Fresh Displacement
by Helene Caux, 15 January 2013
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201301150971.html
Press Release
Dakar - The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday that clashes over the weekend between the French-backed Malian army and Al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups in northern and central Mali have resulted in new population displacement - both within Mali and into neighbouring countries.
In Niger, UNHCR teams are reporting that 450 refugees arrived on Friday and Saturday in the west of the country at Mangaize camp (north of Ouallam), Banibangou and Tillabery towns as well as in the Tillia area. "Refugees are telling us they fled the ongoing military intervention, the absence of subsistence opportunities and basic services, and the imposition of Sharia law," spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
In Burkina Faso, 309 people have arrived in camps in the north and north-east, including in Damba and Mentao camps, as well as in Bobo Dioulasso.
In Mauritania, 471 Malian refugees have reportedly arrived at the Fassala reception centre near the Malian border. They will be transported further away from the border to the Mbera camp, which is already hosting some 54,000 Malian refugees who were displaced in 2012.
Ninety per cent of the new arrivals are women and children from the Lere area in Mali. "UNHCR has updated its contingency planning in case of new major potential influxes to neighbouring countries and new displacements in Mali, and we are ready to respond with assistance as needed," Edwards said.
He added that details on the displacement situation inside Mali were less clear. "According to our partner, the Commission on Populations Movements in Mali - and based on mixed reliability information sources - 648 people arrived in [the capital] Bamako from the north between January 10 and 13, [some] 360 arrived in Segou and 226 arrived in Mopti from the Timbuktu region."
He added that to the north of Mopti, at Konna, around 5,000 people (or half the Konna population) are reported to have fled the town across the River Niger, and are staying among the local community.
In Mopti itself, the situation is said to have calmed. Currently, access to new areas of displacement in the north remains impossible because of the security situation. A number of residents of Mopti and the nearby town of Sevare fled last week to Bamako via Segou, which has been hosting some 30,000 internally displaced people.
In Bamako, which is host to some 52,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), many IDPs are struggling to make ends meet. UNHCR staff recently spoke to displaced families who are struggling to pay their monthly rent.
Many families live in small dilapidated rooms with no electricity or direct access to water. They generally lack enough space to accommodate all family members. The needs for money, food and shelter are huge and UNHCR is working with partners on income-generation activities to help ease the situation.
"Meanwhile, we are continuing to assist those refugees who are in camps in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania by providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene structures, health care and education," spokesman Edwards said.
In Burkina Faso, UNHCR has relocated close to 5,000 Malian refugees from Ferrerio and Gandafabou sites, close to the Mali border, to a safer camp at Goudebou, which is located further inland near the city of Dori. An additional 13,500 refugees should be relocated in the coming weeks from the border area to safer camps. In Niger, UNHCR staff continue to register individual refugees to improve reliability of data and information on needs.
On the funding front, UNHCR has only received 63 per cent (US$77.4 million) of the US$123 million the agency is seeking for its operations to help Malian refugees and IDPs.
The total number of Malian refugees in the region is 144,500, with some 54,100 in Mauritania, 50,000 in Niger, 38,800 in Burkina Faso and 1,500 in Algeria. Small groups are also in Guinea and Togo. The internally displaced population inside Mali (including people displaced last year, and those newly displaced in the past week) was estimated by Mali's Commission on Population Movements at 228,918 - principally in Bamako, Segou, Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso and Mopti as of Monday.
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Born and grew up in West Africa and very proud to live and study in the region till in the late 80s when the war began in Liberia. The West African coast is green and has verse potentials. These landlocked West Africa nations must be thouroughly reexamine as they also gave passage to Chalse Tailor and Foday Sankoh to come and distabilise our region and tamper with our prides and dignities as human beings. I can remeber lot of Bokinabes were involved in the fighting in both Liberia and Sierra Leone and their sponsors are already known by West Africans. For France or whosoever to succeed in our region they have to empower our regional security forces and help to build a system that can serve as ingredients to peace and stability. This is not only good for the region but for the world at large.
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
" THIS ARTICLE WANTS TO SOUND LIKE IT MAKES SENSE BUT IT STILL LACKS??? THE ARGUMENT THAT THIS PRESIDENT WHO WE KNOW TO BE OVER HIS LEGAL TENNANCY AS PRESIDENT??? ' SO CONVENIENTLY CALLED FOR BIG IMPERIALIST FRANCE 'WHO HAS BEEN BEGGING FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION FRROM DAY ONE!!!!!!! ! " SO WITH THE AUTHORS CLEAR PATH WE SEE THAT THIS WAS AMATCH MADE FOR TWO' ONE WANTS TO STAY AS PUPPET LEADER; AS HIS FREIND IN IVORY COAST WHO IS ALSO A FRENCH PUPPET ..THIS MALIAN WAS PREPAREED TO SELL OUT THE PEOPLE SO THE FRENCH CAN MAINATIN THIER FOOTHOLD ON THE RSOUOURCES IN WEST AFRICA!!!." THIS IS NO CONSCIOUS MIND RENDERING LOVE OF HUMANITY IN THISDECISION BY FRANCE"!!!!!. THEY HAVE TROOPS IN IVORY COAST, IT WAS HANDY THEY ARE THERE ,AS THE SOLE IVORIAN ARMY!! SO IT WAS NOT HARD FOR THEM TO BE TRANSFERED TO MALI"." AFRICA NEEDS TO ALLOW FRANCE TO LIVE OUT ITS DREAM;' I WOULD ASK THE REST OF THE FRANCOFONE NATIONS TO ASK FOR TECHNOLOGY AND MILLIONS OF FRANCS FROM THE MONIES YOU HAVE BEEN GIVING TO FARNCE FOR NOTHING. "I WOULD SUGGEST THAT AFRICA (AU)ALLOWS THIS ONE TO PLAY OUT IN FARNCES DESIRE FOR WAR!!!.FRANCE HAS STARTLED THE EARTH WITH THIS SUDDEN MOVE TO GO AGAINST THE IDEA THAT WE MUST NOT USE WAR IN EVERY SCENARIO POSSIBLE AS A WAY OF PREVENTION OR INTERVENTION'.. THIS DECISION BY FRANCE MUST BE A TOTTAL FRENCH AND MALIAN OPERATION". THERE IS NO NEED FOR NIGERIA OR ANY OTHER SOLDIER TO DIE FOR FRENCH INETEREST???? NO NEED AT ALL! THIS IS CLEARLY ABOUT RESOURCE IF FARNCE WAS NOT SO OBVIOUS; THE PROBLEM IS GETTING CLOSE TO FARNCE AS MALI IS VERY CLOSE TO FARNCE IN PROXIMITY""... THESE WORDS ARE FROM HOLLANDE, WHO WAS HE SPEAKING TO FIRST GRADERS CHILDREN THAT NEVER STUDIED A MAP OR KNOWS GEOGRAPHY??? THIS STATEMENT WAS AN INSULT TO PEOPLE WITH ALITTLE BIT OF BRAINS!!!!!!. AS AFRICANS ESPECIALLY WEST AFRICANS I KNOW THAT WE HAVE AQ VERY ILLFATED HISTORY WITH EUROPE BUT WE MUST START TO TRULLY LOOK INTO ORU SOULS AND SEE IF IT IS TRUE THAT WE SHOULD GIVE OUR HEARTS MINDS SOULS TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING THAT WALKED BREATHED CRIED ATE FOOOD SO WE PRESUME THAT HE WENT TO THE TOILET!!!! DO YOU IMAGINE THAT HE WHO CREATED US IS AS FRAIL AS THOSE WHOM HE CREATED ??? DO YOU IMAGINE YOUR LORD TO BE ONE THAT SITS ON THE TOILET? OR OEN THAT PARTAKES IN DRINKING SOME OF THE WORLDS MOST POTENT WINE??? DRINKING ALV COHOL AS WAS WRITTEN BY A COMMENTER!!!. WHY IS IT THAT WE SEEM TO THINK THAT BECAUSE WHUITE MEN WHO DO NOT HAVE YOUR BEST INETERST AT HEART THEY WERE THE RULERS OF MALI FOR CENTURIES AND ALL THEY DID WAS STEAL EXPLOIT PLUNDER POILLAGE TORTURE KIDNAP ENSLAVE CHILD MOLEST RAPE MURDER AND THEY STILL EXTTORT THIER FORMER COLONIES???? HOW OR WHEN DID THEY BECOME SO ATTACHED TO YOU THAT THEY ENVER WHILE THEY RULED MADE SURE THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO LOOK AFTER YOUR RESOURCES THAT THERE WOULD BE A FIRM INTERNAL INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WOULD HAVE EMULATED THE GREAT FRENCH EMPIRE??? WHY HAVE THEY CONTINUED TO EXPLOIT EXTORT MALAINMS WHY AHVE THEY REFUSED TO EVEN ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO ENSLAVE THE AFRICAN. THERE IS NO BOOK ON THE PLANET THAT IS OF THE "MOST HIGH GOD" OR ANY OF HIS MESSENGERS THAT VAGUELY OR EVEN REMOTELY SUGGEST THAT MAN SHOULD ENSLAVE OR OPPRESS MAN"!!!!!! THERE IS NO SUCH BOOK"!!!! THESE WRITINSG ARE FROM FOOLS LIARS PERVERTERS OF TRUTH; THOSE OF EUROEPANS WHO TOOK THE BOOKS THEY FOUND ESCAVATED STOLE REWROTE THEM TO SUIT THIER HEGEMONIST AGENDAS!!!!! IT IS TRULY TIME OFR US TO WAKE UP!!! THERE IS NO BOOK ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT WERE FOUND IN AFRICA THAT DENOTES THAT THE BLACK MAN WAS BORN TO BE ENSLAVED"!!!!!!! THIS IS UTTER FOOLISHNMESS WE ARE EVEN BEL;IEVING THAT WE ARE THE SON THAT NOAH CURSED??? IF THAT WERE THE CASE THE SEMETICS THE HAMITCS AND ALL OTHER SONS FO NOAH WERE AT THAT TIEM ALL BLACK!!! YES MY INTELLECTUAL BROTHERS , SCIENCE HAS PROVEN AND HAS WITHOUT DOUBT PROVEN TO YOU THAT THE ONLY PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET THAT IS ABLE TO PRDUCE ANOTHER HUIAMN BEING COMPLETLY OPPOSST OF HIMSELF IS THE BLACK MAN WHO IS YOU!!!!!!!! ANY CHIDL BORN WITHOUT MELANIN IS BORN WHITE WITH MOOST TIMES BLUE EYES AND BLOND HAIR!!!... THIS WHITE NOSH COULD NTO PRODUCE A SON NO MATTER HOW HARD HE TRIED THAT WAS BLACK TIGHT CURLY WOOLY HAIR AND MOST OF ALL PRODUCE MELANIN IN HIS GENES AND DNA"!!!!. NO WHITE SUPERIOR BEING THAT YOU KNOW CAN DEFEAT THSI ARGUMENT AND REPRODUCE THIS EVENT!!!!!!! IT IS NOT POSSIBLE IN THIS LIFE TIEM OR THE NEXT. WHITES AHVE BEEN TRYING TO DO THSI FOR YEARS AND HAS BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL THIS CODE IN THE DNA IS A HISTORY MARKER;" THIS DELETES ALL THIER ARGUMENTS OF SUPERIRORITY THAT NOAH WAS WHITE JESUS MOSES WHOM WERE ALL OF NUBIAN MAKE UP , THIS PUTS ALL THE BLACK RACE IN IRUSALEM AS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL!!!! ALL THAT OTHER RUBBISH THAT YOU WANT TO RELY ON ESPECIALLY IN NIGERIA IS JUST FOOL GOLD; " ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD" . THE SEMETIC ARGUMENT IS A FOOLS ARGUMEMNT;' WHENEVEVR I HEAR WHITES REALLY BELIEVING ALL THE LIES THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT AS FAR AS EVEN IMPERSONATING OTHERS AND(ZIONIST ISRAEL) "DEPRIVING THE RIGHTEOUSS PEOPLE OF THE EARTH SO MUCH' CAUSING THEM TO LIVE IN POVERTY DEGREDATION' OPPRRESSING THEM IN SO MANY CLEVER WAYS> THIER ARGUMENST MAKE THEM NON AN VOID". THEY ARE LIEARS MALI IS ALSO A MUSLIM COUNTRY BY VIRTUE OF POPULATION IT HURST ME ALSO TO SEE THESE SLAFIST WHO COME INTO AFRICA AND DESTROY AND THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN BLACKS AS THEY TOO ARE FOLLOWERS OF THESE LIES. WE MUST RECOGNISE THAT THESE ARE THE EUROPEANS ALLIES IT SI THESE SAME ONES WHO THEY USED TO LURE US INTO SLAVERY OPENLLY SELLING US INTO SLAVERY IOT WAS THEY WHO CAME TO EUROPE AND COLLAPSED THE REIGN OF THE MOORS. LET US GET THIS THING RIGHT THESE SALAFIST ARE WHOM OVERTHREW GAFDAFFI THEY ARE THE MILIOTIAS THAT ARE IN LIBYA THEY ARE WHOM MAKES LIBYA UNGOVERNABLE THESE ARMS THEY POSSESS WAS GIVEN TO THEM BY FRANCE AND THE USA. THESE ARE THE SAME GUYS WHOM THEY HAVE CONTRACTED TO OVERTHROW THE SYRIAN REGIME !!THEY ARE STILL GETTING GUNS AND ARE STILL THIER PARTNERS!!!!???? SO HOW COULD THEY BE YOUR DEFENDERS WHEN THEY ARE HAVING A SQUABLLE WITH THIER ALLY ???? YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!!!!!IF THEY STOPPE DFIGHTING THE SYRAINS AND LEFT TODAY SYRIA WOULD RETURN TO ASSAD AND SHOULD THEY JOIN THEIR BROTHERS IN BLOOD IN MALI THE WEST WOULD HAVE PROBLEMS!!!. MY SUGGESTION TO ALL AFRICA IS TO STAY OUT OF THIS CONVENIENT CONFLICT WHERE TWO FREINDS ARE HAVING IT OUT!!!!!!!. "DO NOT BELIEVE ME LOOK AT THE HISTORY! THESE ARE THEY WHO TURNED OVER GADAFFI MURDER AND ALL"!!!!!! THESE ARE THEY WHO THINK THIER NEW WESTERN BRAND OF ISLAM WITH ALL ITS WESTERN BIBLICAL GLORY AND ALL ITS TALES OF BIRTH FOR WHOM, WHEN,AN WHERE ARE ISLAMIC FACTS!!!... THESE ARE MOSTLY TALL TALES COOBERATED WITH SCHOLLARS IN THE MID AGES WHO REWROTE GENUINE BOOKS ;THE TALMUD JEWISH BIBLE THE QUARAAN THE HOLY BIBLE THESE ARE WORKS OF EUROPEAN SCHOLLARS SUCH AS SHAKESPEARE WHO LEARNED HIS CRAFT FROM READING WRITINGS OF THE MOORS; WHILST IN EUROPE AND THOSE BLACK KNIGHTS THAT CAME TO THE UK EARLY IN THIER HISTORY .. THIS IS NOT A LESSON IN HSITORY THIS IS A LESSON IN OPENING YOUR EYES WIDELY"!!!!!!!!! DO NOT EB APAWN OFR THIS CAUSE YES THESE FOOLS WHO SAY THEY ARE ISLAMIST ARE FOOLS BUT SHOULD WE GUAGE OUR INTELLECT OF THEIR BEHAVIOURS ?? OR SHOULD WE LOOK AT THE COMPONENET OF WHAT IS GOING TO BE A WESTERN OCCUPATION IN WEST AFRICA!!!. THE NIGERIANS CANT SEE THEY ARE ALWAYS GETTING CAUGHT WITH BRIBE MONEY THEY ARE JUST TOO CORRUPT THEY LOSE FOCUS!!!."' ECOWAS IS NOTHING BUT A COMPLETE FAILURE; ". " THE FRENCH AND THE AMEICANS BOUGHT OUT WEST AFRICA UNDER THE FEET OF THE AFRICANSFOR PEANUTS; ALL THOSE WHO DID NOT COMPLY WERE DRIVEN OUT AS WE SAW IN REALITY IN COTE d' IVOIRE"!!!!. IS THERE FACT IN MY STATEMENTS THEN WAKE UP!!!!!!!!! REWSOURCES IS THE PRIME MOTIVATER BY THE W EUROPEANS AS THEY ARE USING THIS TO SIDE STEP THIER OWN POLITICAL FAILURES;;' SOS', NOW THIER ALLIES IS ON THIEIR DOOR STEP CIRCLING THE WAGONS RADY TO POUNCE. WHAT WE ARE SEEING NOW IS THE WEST NATO GEARING UP TO OCCUPy MALI WITH THIS NEW PRESDIENT'; WHO WILL CONTINUE TO SELL OUT THE MALIANS". THE UK GOVERNMENT MEETINGS TODAY WAS REFOCUSED TO PAY ATTENTION TO SUPPPoRT THE FRENCH IN MALI; SO THEY ARE EXPECTED SOON.. THE AMERICANS ARE NEARLY THERE ALREADY, AS MURIATANIA HAS GIVEN THEM BASES TO FLY DRONES ETC . NOW THEY WANT TO USE THE SAHEL AS A KILLING GROUNDFS!!!! AFRICANS ARE SLEEP WALKING BACK INTO SUBMISSION And slavery!!!!!! certainly we must have visioanries in west africa we need to get rid of this old guard who are so brain washed they can only hear dollar signs in thier sleep!!!! born fools!!!!!!!!