Recent and still unconfirmed reports of the killings of top leaders of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb underscore tangible advances made by French and African forces in rolling back the violent jihadist onslaught that began in Mali over a year ago.
Yet the hardest task lies ahead: setting up a viable political system that all Malians can live with.
From vital partners like the US, which has just deployed drones to neighboring Niger, this task will require not high-tech solutions, but low-tech listening to the Malian people.
U.S. policy to date - particularly a tone-deaf privileging of counter-terrorism over good governance - has arguably done more harm than good in Mali over the last decade.
In the context of the current crisis, we suggest three ways that the US government can help. They require not boots on the ground, but fine-tuned diplomacy.
First, don't rush elections.
The US government, bound by legislation barring aid to any regime that ousted an elected predecessor, has long been pressing for fresh elections, even while half of Mali was under rebel occupation.
Now that the country's northern regions have been wrested - if incompletely - from jihadist control, Mali's interim government has scheduled polls for July.
The country will not be ready, and inhabitants of its vast northern regions will almost certainly be disenfranchised. True, elections must eventually be held, but doing so prematurely will confer an uncertain mandate from a fractured electorate, paper over deep rifts in the Malian state, and pave the way for another crisis.
Any election creates winners and losers. Rapid elections propelled by outside, institutional interests, rather than by Mali's own political actors, are likely to create more problems than they solve. What Malians need now is cooperation, not competition.
Second, insist on national dialogue.
A space must be created in which Malians of all backgrounds can discuss a way forward. Only respected and familiar leaders will be able to negotiate with and work in the interest of disaffected communities throughout the whole country, but such a dialogue must be as inclusive as possible.
The table must truly be round: those who did not take up arms need to have an equal place with those who did.
As well as rebel leaders of various northern factions, peace talks should include civil society leaders from north and south alike. Like it or not, rebel leaders who are not accused of crimes against humanity will have to be included in such negotiations.
By insisting on that point, outside powers can give the government in Bamako the political cover it needs to talk with its opponents who are fellow citizens. Lasting peace in the Sahara depends on addressing their legitimate grievances, particularly those of nomads.
Third, support the government's initiative for truth and reconciliation.
For generations tensions between nomadic Tuareg and other ethnic groups have caused deep wounds that can only be healed through a truth and reconciliation process.
The scope of this process should not be restricted to events in northern Mali, but should encompass misdeeds committed throughout the country, including by the previous government and by the soldiers who overthrew it a year ago.
Culprits left out of this process may be targeted by the International Criminal Court, which is now pursuing its own investigations into crimes committed in the country, but justice and forgiveness cannot be outsourced.
Other things can be. Rebuilding Mali will require more than just the restoration of electoral democracy. As one of the poorest countries in the world, post-conflict Mali will need economic assistance.
Smart investments might include roads and bridges that would better connect the country internally and to its neighbors.
In the North especially, better infrastructure would reduce the cost of living, improve food security, allow the state to deliver services, and enable the region to export its most valuable commodity, livestock. Renewable energy installations would also help Mali to grow on its own.
The first step might be the hardest: to recognize that Mali is Mali, and approach the crisis there on its own terms, especially regarding peace, justice, and governance.
Mali is neither Somalia, nor Afghanistan, nor an "Africanistan." After generations of human investment, notably by Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright fellows, the US government is in a good position to know this.
We hope President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are wise enough not to let analogy do the work of analysis.
We hope too that sending in the drones does not represent another instance of privileging cheap, technically sophisticated, and often violent interventions by remote control over the longer, harder work of listening to and engaging in dialogue.
The problems bedeviling Mali are long-running and multi-faceted. They cannot be droned out of existence. The best way the U.S. government can help Malians realize their aspiration for substantive - not just formal - democracy is to listen carefully, and let them take the lead.
Gregory Mann, historian, Columbia University
Bruce Whitehouse, anthropologist, Lehigh University
Comments Post a comment
Domestic drone usage is ill-conceived, elitist, and end-runs our inherent Constitutional protections.
Here are two (2), very well-produced, videos that anchor my points:
Emmy Award-winning newscaster Shad Olson’s ‘The Great Drone Debate’, featuring US Senator John Thune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssoOASanKao
Here’s a mind-blowing, well-done animated short that really captures our collective angst that if the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then domestic drones are a superhighway to an Orwellian panoptic gulag.
http://vimeo.com/59689349
For national security purposes, Americans are already subject to warrantless wiretaps of calls and emails, the warrantless GPS “tagging” of their vehicles, the domestic use of Predators or other spy-in-the-sky drones, and the Department of Homeland Security’s monitoring of all our behavior through “data fusion centers.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/
America’s promise has always been the power of the many to rule, instead of the one. Ungoverned drone usage, particularly domestically, gives power to the one.
WELL SAID SIR!!!! WHAT WE ARE NOW SEEING IN AFRICA CERTAIN COUNTRIES ARE BEING INFLUINCED BY THE WEST TO BE DOMINATED BY THEIR STEALTH TECHNOLOGY. WHAT THESE LEADERS ARE DOING IS INSTEAD OF INSUREING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS WHERE DIVERSITY IS ACCEPTED .WHERE THE DECENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL CREATED WHICH IS HUMANITY UNITED UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF A FREE SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT AFRICA!!!!. WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS ACCPETING SRVITUDFE THROUGH ORWELLIAN MEANS. WITH THESE SPY DRONES THIS WILL LEAD TO DIVISONS SEPERATIST INSTABILITYPARTIALITYAND STEALTH TYRANNY!!!!!!!. THE ONLY ONE THAT SHOULD EB A BLE TO WATCH OVER HUMANITY IS IF WE ARE BELIEVERS "THE ALLMIGHTY GOD"... LET US BE CLEAR THE AMERICANS HAVE NOT SHOWN THIER GIFT FOR NUTRALITY IMPARTIALITYOR THE DEMOCRATIC OBSERVATION OF SOVEREIGNTY"!!!!!... THESE DRONES ARE VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS' THEY ARE SPY PLANES THAT ARE USED TO MURDER AND UNDERMINE THE NATURAL PROGRESSION OF REVOLUTIONS AND THE NATURAL EVOLUTION OF THE PLANET"..THIS MISUSE OF ETCHNOLOGY SHOULD BE BARRED FROM AFRICA??? SHOUDL AFRICA WANT TO BUILD AND UNITE AFRICA UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THE "AFRICAN UNION" WHILE WILLING TO OBSEWRVE THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ONENES OF TH AFRICAN UNION: THEN THEY SHOUDL BE WI;LLING TO INVEST IN THIER POPULATION EDUCATION VOCATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL WELL BEING!!!!!!!!!!.. AFRICANS ARE CAPABLE OF DEVELOPING STRONG TECHNOLOGIES FOR CLEAN ENERGY , AGRICULTURE ARCHITECTURE AND MUCH MORE... WHAT THE WEST IS DOING IS USING THESE ETCHNOLOGIES TO CONFUSE AND MISLEAD AFRICANS FROM DOING WHT THE TREU PATH DESIGNATED FOR THEM TO USE WHICH IS UNITY EDUCATION STRONG UNDIVIDED WILLING COMPATRIOTS TEACHING EDUCATION EACH OTHER FOR A MORE DIVERSE ECONOMY WHER THEY ARE THE MASTERS OF THIER DESTINIES ???????? INSTEAD YHY ARTE BECOMMING FOLLOWERS WHO LIKE THE SHEEP ARE BEING LED TO THE SLAUGHTER!!!.. THEY DO NOT REALISE THAT THE ONLY THING BEING OFFERED TO THEM IS WAR DEATH DESTRUCTION WEAPONS MORE WARS CONFLICTS AND THE NON PROGRESSIVEIMPARTIALITY THAT ISA NEEDED TO BUILD STRONG INSTITUTIONS THAT CAN NOT BE DESTROYED!!!!!.. WHAT IS BUILT BY THE TRUE ONENESS OF HUMANITY THAT IS UNDIVIDED THAT THERE OBJECTIONS ARE THE LOVE OF THE "ALLMIGHTY GOD" WALKING THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUSS DISOWNING EVIL TYRANNY SIN DICTATORSHIPS ALLOWING THE MAJOURITY OF THE PEOPLE TO BE THE DIRECTORS OF THIER DESTINIES. WHEN THERE IS PARTIALITY DIVISIONS SPERATISISMS THERE WILL BE NO PROGRESS THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A WILLINGNESS FOR MANY TO SEEL WAR CONFLICT.. AS THESE HISTORIANS HAVE RIGHTLY POINTED OUT SHOULD WE NTO SIT DOWN WITH ORU OPPONEENTS THEN THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE.. THE WEST AMEICA INJ PARTICULAR CREATES ENEMIES SO THEY CAN JUSTIFTY THIER EMMENSE BUDGEST THAT THEY GET FROM CONGRESS... THEY MAKE WARS THEY BUILD ITEMS OF DESTRUCTION ALL IN THE NAME OF MONEY AND POWER!!!!!... AS WE WATCH AMERICA DESCEND INTO STEALTH FACISISM AND NAZI DICTATORSHIP THEY HAVE COPIED THE GSTAPO POLICE TACTICS USING GOERINGS WELL HEELED PROPOGANDA MEDIA MACHINES TO POWER COVER THEIR AGGRESSIONS; THEY ARE TRYING TO EMULATE HITLERS DESIRE FOR WORLD DOMINATION. WHAT I HAVE OBSERVED FROM THE US MILITARY THIER VAST SECVURITY APARATUS WHICH HAS TENTACLES IN EVERY PART OF THE WORLD... THEY CONTINUE TO MAKE WARS THEY DESTROY COUNTRIES AT WILL; IF AFRICA IS NTO SLEF ASSURED THAT THEY ARE WILLING TO DIE FOE SELF DETERMINATION THEY WILL BE CONSUMED INTO THIS EMPIRE OF GLOBAL HEGEMONY WHERE THEY ARE NO MORE THAN PUPPETS WITH NO FUTURE VASSELS OF THE SUPREME MILITARY SATANIC POWER ON THE PLANET".... AFRICA HAS ONE CHANCE AND ONE CHANCE ONLY THAT IS TO DEVELOP WITH EDUCATION VOCATIONSSKILL SECTORS THAT ARE INGENIUS INDIGENOUS UNITED PROUD STRONG AFRICANS THAT BELIVES THAT THERE IS A SUPREME BEING THE SAME BEING THAT WAS BELIVED TO HAVE CREATED HUMANITY... AFRICA IS THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATIONS THIS WAS WHERE THE HUMAN BEING BEGAN HIS JOURNEY!!!.. SHOUDL AFRICANS FALL PREY TO THE FALSITIES OF HUNTE3R GATHERER TALES THAT BARES NO DIRECT TRUTH TO THE PERFECTION OF THE CREATYION OF THE WIZE BLACK MAN WHO WAS GIVEN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. THSI WAS WHERE THE EARTH HE WAS GIVEN DOMINUON OVER ALL THINGS. THE ORIGINAL BLACK PEOPLE HO BUILD VAST CIVILIZQATIONS THRUOUT THE PLANET FOR MILLIONS OF YAERS HAS BEEN THE SAME AFRICANS WHO WERE SUBJECTED TO SLAVERY INHUMANE SLAVERY THE WORST TYPE OF INJUSTICS OF MAN TO MAN THE PLANET HAS EVER SEEN !!!!! IT IS TIME FOR THESE BLACK PEOPLE TO RECOVER THEIR HISTORY PRIOR TO SLAVERY AND THE SPANISH AND EUROPEAN INQUISTION THE BLACK MAN HAD UNIVERSITIES IN AFRICA WHERE THE KNOWLEDGE WAS SO ENDOWED THAT MILLIONS OF BOOKS WERE SENT TO EUROEP TO DEEVELOP EURTOEPAN CULTURE SCIENCES AND MANY C ARCHTECTURES.... WE CONTIUE TO EHAR RUBBISH FROM WHITES WHOM ARE TODAYS GRAVE ROBERS WHO HAVE DISGUISED IT LIGITMISED IT AND MADE IT A MODICUM OF RESPECTABILITY!!!!. THEY CONITUE TO BE IMMORAL AND SPREWAD THIER FANTASY ATLES WHERE EVER THEY GO!!!! SUDAN WAS WHERE THE GREAT EGYPTIAN STORY BEGAN NOT VISA VERSA!!!!!! THIS SI WHY IF THE BLACK MAN DOES NOT GET HIS SELF TOGETHER THEY WILL BE WIPED OUT OF HISTORY AND CONTIUE TO ASSUME THIER NINFERIOR POSSITION IN WORLD AFFAIRS... WHENEVER THE WEST WANTS TO SPLIT AFRICAN VOTES THEY TELL SOUTH AFRICA AND NIGERIA THEY ARE BEING CONSIDERED FOR A SEAT AT THE WESTERN TABLE OF SECURITY!... THE UNITED NATIONS NEEDS A BIG OVERHAUL ;THERE NEEDS TO BE THE SET AGENDA THAT WAS PROPOSED' HIS MAJESTY HAILE SELASSIE THE , THERE WERE TO BE NO BIGGER NATIONS TO ANY OTHER NATIONS. WE WERE TO SHARE OUR WORLD WIDE EXPERIENCES WIPING OUT POVERTY WARS CONFLICTS DICTATORSHIPS TYRANNY ;HIS MAJESTY 'WAS ABSOLOUTE WAS THE DIRECTION OF THE EARTH"... AFRICA NEEDS TO STEP UP ITS PACE OF SELF DETERMINATION WITH " ONE LOVE' ONE HEART' ONE AIM' ONE DESTINY" SHOULD THEY REFUSE TO ACQUIRE THESE TEMPERMENTS THEY WILL ABSORBED INTO SLAVERY POVERTY AND INJUSTICE!.. STRENGTH POWER EQUALITY DISTRIBUTION OF THE MUCH GOLD PLATINUM DIQAMONDS COPPER NICKEL ALL THE METALS THAT WE POSSESS SHOULD BE REFINED AND GIVEN AS COLLATERAL TO THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA!!!!! THEY SHOUDLD KNOW THAT EVERYTHING ON THE PLANET IS ATTAINABLE FOR THEM THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS OUT THIER REACH. AFRICANS SHOULD BE GIVEN WEALTH AND ABLE TO SPEND IT BGUILD WITH IT AS THEY SEE FIT!!! WHAT WE DO WITH ALL OUR RESOURCES IS TAKE IT AND GIUVE IT AWAY FOR NOTHING IN RETURN. MALI FOR ONE IS RICH WITH GOLD YET THE NATION IS ONE OF THE POOREST ON THE PLANET WHY??????? AFRICA NEEDS SELF SEARCHING AND DIVESTING ITSELF FAR FROMWESTERN IDEOLOGIES!!!!!!!