The African response to the Mali crisis is an acknowledgement that 'African solutions to African problems' is not always applicable and that some crises are truly global and need international support.
This is clearly the case in northern Mali where, since last April, Islamist fighters have dug in and carved out a separate jihadist state. An unexpected coup d'etat in March 2012 resulted in political chaos allowing time for armed radical groups in northern Mali to consolidate their position.
These groups have been bolstered with arms and supporters from NATO's 2011 Libya intervention. Radical groups formerly suppressed by Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, intermingled with his defeated supporters with destabilizing consequences for the whole region.
Today's offensive by Islamist fighters in Mali was not entirely unexpected. The regional body, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has no capacity to conduct warfare in terrain like that of northern Mali, despite last year's UN Security Council-backed plan to deploy 3,000 troops later this year.
ECOWAS had hoped that it could maintain dialogue and seek accommodation with a number of the Islamist groups in the north and only planned for military action following training of the Malian army and scheduled elections. Meanwhile, and not surprisingly, some of the armed groups in northern Mali decided their own timetable and launched an offensive to capture more territory.
Last year there were many months of drift in getting an African plan to respond to the Mali crisis. This was understandable given how unexpected the events in Mali were and how ill-equipped Africa's Peace and Security Architecture is to respond to an internationalized threat of this type.
There is an opportunity here for the African Union (AU) to rebuild its relationships with North African states (soured by Libya's civil war in 2011) and with key international partners such as France, the EU, NATO and others. Unlike on Libya in 2011, the AU has supported international action on Mali.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the new South African AU chairperson, questioned whether the UN itself is adequately equipped to deal with the complexities of the conflict in Mali and the Sahel. However, she and other African leaders have accepted the urgency of an effective military response to the crisis.
A solution to the crisis will need to be multi-tiered. Mali needs a credible elected government following last years' coup, and control over the north must be restored through international intervention.
The immediate need is for united African backing for French-led efforts to create an effective military buffer and stop Islamist fighters' attempts to move south. If the French-led operation is to stand any chance of long-term success, then neighbouring Algeria's active support for military action is essential.
ECOWAS needs to start deploying its forces, and the EU mission of 250 military trainers to aid Mali's military needs to be authorized urgently. Moreover, ECOWAS will have to provide peace support operations in an effort to build confidence for many years to come.
The Malian military is singularly ill-equipped to respond to the well-armed and motivated jihadist threat from northern Mali. The African timetable for military action in autumn 2013 retains validity. France is considering embarking on a full offensive and complete military action before the rains (due in six weeks). But this would be unwise and could backfire as Bamako is currently not able to re-establish credible government and security in the north, even with French military backing.
That France stayed out of the recent crisis in the Central African Republic and let the AU, the Economic Community of Central African States and South Africa, respond to the country's rebel uprising shows wise burden-sharing and risk appraisal. The Central African Republic crisis is at core a domestic crisis: Mali's crisis poses an existential threat to both Africa and the West.
Alex Vines is Research Director, Area Studies and International Law; and Head, Africa Programme of Chatham House.
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LET US BE WIZE , FIRST THING TO REMEMBER THAT WE HAVE A CRISIS BECAUSE THE SAME ACTIONS TAKEN BY THESE SAME PEOPLE LAST YEAR WITH THE SAME ARGUMENT!!>>>> THE THREAT OF WORLD SECURITY!!! HOW MUNDANE HOW ?HOW DESPERATE ? LIBYA WAS A PLACE OF HIGH GROWTH HIGH INCOME PERSONAL HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL BENIFITS STRONGEST AMONGST EVERY SINGLE AFRICAN STATE ON THIS GLORIOUS CONTINENT! THESE ARE FACTS NOT WISHFULL THINKING OR THEORIES AND HYPER THEORIES NOR IS IT A FUTURE DIAGNOSIS OF PROBABILITIES!!!! HARD CORE FACTS!! YET AFRICANS IN VERY MINOR NUMBERS OUT OF A CONTINENT OF ONE BILLION AND MORE ELECTED TO SUPPORT THE DESTRUCTION OF TEH ONLY INDEPENDENT NATION ON THE CONTINENT!!! ANOTHER FACT!!!WHERE WE ARE GOING TODAY IS THE DIRECTION OF THE COW ; YOU STICK A RING IN HIS NOSE TAKE IT OUT TO GRAZE AND YOU CAN BE S ASSURED THAT HE WILL BE THERE WHEN YOU RETURN LATER THAT EVENING TO LOCK HIM IN THE PEN"".... THIS WHAT AFRICANS ARE LOOKING LIKE MORE AND MORE!!. TEARS ARE FILLING MY EYES AS I HEAR HOW THE MOST BRUTAL THE MOST CORRUPT OF ALL NATIONS ON THIS PLANET THE MOST EVIL, THE ONLY NATION TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO OBLITERARTE OVER 100,000 PEOPLE IN ONE GO, THESE OF WHOM WERE THE TORTURERES OF MANY YOUR ANCESTORS!!, THE LEADER OF THE PACT OF ALL AFRICAS ENSLAVERS (NATO), THE USAIS NOW THE NEW NEO COLONIALIST ON THE CONTINENT!!!!!... WHERE IS THE AFRICAN RVEOLUTIONARIES WHERE IS THE HEART OF THE AFRICAN WHERE IS HIS BELLY??????? HAS AFRICA BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN C CORRUPT BUNCH OF LITTLE MEN WHO KNOWS NOT THEIR PLACE IN HISTORY???? HAS THIS JESUS THE MAN GOD INTERFERED WITH YOUR INTELLIGENCI???? HAS YOUR MINMDS BECOME SO ABOSRBED WITH WESTERN CORUPTION THAT YOU KNOW NOW WHAT YOU HAVE???? LET ME EXPLAIN SOEMTHING TO YOU BECAUSE FO BRAINWASHING YOU HAVE BEEN FED LIES UTTER NONSENSE BELIEVING THAT YOU ARE POOR PEOPLE WITH THE NEED FOR HAND OUTS THAT YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE ENOUGH TO MEET TODAYS CHALLENGES THAT ONLY WHITE MEN CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO BE WARRIRORS AGAIN????? THESE ARE LIES DESIGNED TO KEEP YOU WEAK TO KEEP YOU UNDER THE SPELL OF THESE TERRORIST WHOSE ONLY WISH IS TO HAVE YOU SO IDSORIENTED THAT YOU CONCEDE YOUR LANDS FOR BASES SO THEY CAN OCCUPY AND DOMINATE ??? WHERE ARE THE STRONG WARRIORS WHO THEY HAD TO DEFEAT WITH THE GENOCIDE OF ENARLY ALL OF BLACK AFRICA WITH THE MURDER OF OVER 100 MILLION BLACK AFRICANS PASSING THROUGH THE MIDDLE PASSAGE ON THIER WAY TO THE WEST. WHEN WE WENT TOT EH WEST WE DID NOT ACQUISE WE FOUGHT WE FOUGHT BITTERLY AND WITHOUT FEAR!!!!!!! DO NOT BE MISLED BY BOOKS THYE WRITE THIS SI WHY IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE LEARN AND WE BUILD HOUSES OF LEARNINGS PUBL;ISHING INSTITTUTIONS THAT WILL EDUCATE OUR YOURNG CHILDREN TODAY WE NEED TO GET THEM FAR AWAY FROM THE RUBBNISH THAT IS EBING SLD TO THEM BY THE WEST!!!!. WHY IS AFRICA LEASING BASES TO THE USA WE ARE LEASING LANDS THAT ARE PRISTINE AND OUT VERY FAR IN RURAL ARAES THATARE RICH WITH RESOURCES YOU ARE DEPOPULATING THESE AREAS SO THAT THESE LIARS ENSLAVERS CAN POLLUTE CORRUPT WHAT WE NEED TO KEEP SACRED TO AFRICA. AFRICANS NEED TO LEARN L;OVE OF SEWLF LOVE OF HOME!!!! THE IDEA THAT YOU ARE SOMEHOW NOT INTEL;LIGENT ENOUGH IS THE SAME TALE THEY HAVE BEEN SPINNING OFR DECADES THEY USED THESE L;INES ON THE HTIRD GENERATION OF SLAVES WHO AFTER NEASRLY 350 YERAS THEY WERE ABLE TO HAVE SOME CONVINCED.. MY BROTHERS IT IS NECESARRY THAT WE ASK THIS HEGEMONIST TO LEAVE AFRICA SO THAT WE CAN DO THINGS THE AFRICAN WAY!!!. AFRICA AND AFRICANS ARE NTO A THREAT TO THE WORLD NOR TO AFRICA!!!! WEHAVE HAD A WORST SCOURGE FO IMPERIALISM THAT TOK US TO MUCH HIGHER HEIGHTS THAN WHAT THEY ARE SPEAKING OF. FIRST AND FOREMOST WE ARE NOT ALIEN TO ISLKAM AS WE RE THE FOUNDING FATHERS CONTRARY TO WHITE OPINIONS AND CONTEMPRARY HISTORY. WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BELIEVE MONOTHEISM IS NOT ALIEN TO AFRICA AND IS PRACTICED BY POSSIBLY 90% OF THE OVER ONE BILLION PEOPLE THAT RESIDE ON THE CONTINENT. SO WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IS THAT THE JIGADIST COMPOSE A VERY TINY MINORITY THAT THOUGH THEY MIGHT LOOK STRONG THE REASON FOR THAT IS THE STRENGTHENING BY YOU THE WEST AND YOUR ILL ADVUISED WARS THAT SEEMS TO FLOURISH IN YOUR BRAIN. THE IDEA THAT YOU CAN JU,P SART WHAT WAS ALREADY AGREED UPON BY THE UN IS NO GIFT Y TO YOUR ARROGANT INSENSITIVITIES TO HUMNAITY AND THE TRETAIES AND AGREEMENST THAT YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE APROBLEM OBSERVING""!!!!! .. IT IS PROVEN THROUGH OUT HISTORY THAT WHITES EUROPEANS THIER DESECNDANTS FROM WHATEVER CONTINENT HAS ALWAYS FOUND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE UP TO TREATIES LEGAL ARTICLES THAT UPHOLDS ANY FORM OF DEDCORUM. THIS HAS BEEN A PROBELM WIH THEIR FORE ANCESTORS IN AFRICA'; WHOM WE HAD TO BANNISH TO EUROPE FOR THESE VERY LACK OF DICIPLINE; UPHOLDING WHAT WAS RIGHETOUSS NOBLE DIGNIFIED HUMANE THESE THINGS THEY WERE NEVER ABLE TO ABIDE BY!!!! THESE FACTS MUST BE KNOWN BEFORE YOU DESCEND INTO TOTAL SLAVERY ONCE AGAIN HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE SO NAIVE TO THINK THAT YOU CAN ALLOW FOR ANY DEPLOYMENST OF MILITry bases by these agressors???? these guys are whom has left thier footprint in Libya Iraq Syria Afghanistan Yemen Palestine; WHY WOULD INTELLIGENT WELL EDUCATED VISIONARY LEADERS TODAY, SELL AFRICA OUT TO THE WORLDS HEGEMONIST???? HAS AFRICANS BCOME AFRAID??? AFRAID OF WHOM AND WHAT???? " I SHOULD HOPE THAT YOU KNOW WHEN YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN "THE ONE SUPREIROR ALL MIGHTYU GOD"THAT THERE IS NO ONE TO FEAR THAT AFRICA IS WELL PROTECTED THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY TRY AND DO THEY WOULD NEVER EVER BEABLE TO CONQUOR AFRICA AND THE PEOPLE AGAIN!!!!!! WE MSUT FERA WARS TYRNNY DICTATORSHIPS AUTOCRATS WE MUST FEAR THESE THINSG THESE TYPES OF PEOPLE WE MUST REPELL CORRUPTION LIES INIQUITY SODOMY , WITH THE LANDING OF THESE MEN ON YOUR SOIL THESE ARE THE PRACTICES THEY BRING!!!! THEY BRING CHILD PAEDOPHILLIA THEY BRING WHOREING THE LOBE OF HOMOSEXUALITY THIS IS HOW THEY INTEND TO BY PASS THE LAWS OF THE LANDS . THEY KNOW AFRICA IS RESISTANT TO HOMOSEXULITY SO THEY WILL BY PASS THESE L;AWS WITH THIER MILIATRY BASES YOU WILL BECOEM NOTHING MORE THAN SUBOURDINATES TO THESE MILITARY BASES THE LEADERS FO THESE BASES WILL START TO TELL THE GOVERNMENST WJATY TO DO AND THERE WILL BE NO SOVEREIGNTY THEN YOU WILL HAVE REBELLION ON YOUR HANDS IT NEVER FAILS WIHT THESE TROOPS AROUND. HISTORY DOES NOT LIE AND AFRICA HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE WHY TRY TO RELIVE HISTORY?:??????THE FRENCH THE NATO FORCESTHE USA ARE ALL ONE EX ENSLAVER MIL;ITARY COMPLEX HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID!!!!!???????.THESE ARE THEY WHO BELIEVES NOT IN THE LAWS OF MAN' NOR DO THEY BELIVE IN THE LAWS OF "THE ALL MIGHTY GOD". CAN YOU SEE WHAT TRANSPIRED IN M,ALI THE FRENCH HAS BEEN DYING TO GO IN THE AFRICAN ECOWAS MADE A UN RESOLUTION TO GO INTO MALI IN A CERTAIN AMMOUNT OF TIME SHOULD THE ISLAMIST NOT RECONSIDER THE INTEGRITY OF MALI THEN IT WAS OVERSTOOD THAT NOT ONLY WOULD ECOWAS BE INVOLVED BUT ALOT MORE OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT MAKING IY VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY SORT OF TERRORIST TO SURVIVE IN NAY OTHER SYMPATHETIC NATION!!!!!!!!!!!. AGAIN THE WIZE WEST THE SME RTER THAN EVERY BLACK MAN DECIDED THAT THEY WANT TO DO IT THIER WAY SO THEY VIOLATED THE RSP;UTION AT THE UNITED NATIONS WITH THE BACKING FO ALL THEIR ENSLAVER STATES BUDDIES!!!!!! IS AFRICA EVER GOING TO WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGAIN WE SEE NATO STAND UNITED AGAINST AFRICA!!!!! THEY AREB TRYING TO COMPELL AFRICANS TO IT THIER WAY NOT WHAT WE KNOW WOUDL HAVE BIGGER EFFECT BUT THIER INFETSTATION FO THE GERM CELL WIDER WITH MORE INFECTIONS THOSE WHO WERE READY TO COEM OVER ARE NOW ISOLATED BECAUSE THEY THINK THEUY ARE SMARTER AND THEY WANT GLORY THEY WANT WARS; THEY DO NOT WANT AFRICA TO SUCCEED!! ,' OTHER THAN AS A SLAVE AND SERVANT STATE TO THEM. WE HAVE SOEM VERY SELFISH BROTHJERS WHO SEEM T WANT TO DIE FOR THESE NATO STATES LIKE THE NIGERIANS THEY ARE ALWAYS THE FIRST TO AGRRE WITH EVERYTHING EUROPEAN THEY ARE THE FIRST TO SELL OUT THE AFRICAN!!!! THIS IS NOT A GOOD INTENTION THIS SHOWS THIER OVERSEER MENATLITY THEY WILL ENSLAVE AFRICA TO KEEP AFRICA IN THE JAWS OF SATAN AND THIER FLESH EATING BLOOD DRINKING VAMPIRES" NO TO MILITARISATION OF AFRIVA NO TO THIS NEW PLOY BY FRANCE TO DO THINGS CONTARARY TO UN RESOLUTIONS. "WE MUST TEACH THE WEST TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT TO THE RULE FO LAW THIS IS WHY WE NEED "A STRONG AFRICAN UNION"