The French are frequently satirized in the U.S. as being pacifist and compromising, but this is not so. At least they didn't feel the need to get U.N. permission to conduct bombing raids northern Mali over the weekend, reported by CNN and an Associated Press article posted on the NPR web site.
The Obama administration voiced support for the French action but national security spokesman Tommy Vietor sounded a cautious note in a statement to The Hill: "We are monitoring the situation closely. "We have noted that the government of Mali has asked for support, and we share the French goal of denying terrorists a safe haven in the region," Vietor is quoted.
Let's look at some facts regarding this recent eruption of fresh conflict in Africa:
* The Sahara Desert, captured photographically in these images from ezakwantu.com is a prohibitive natural dividing line between the Maghreb, generally referring to the Arab nations of northern Africa, and the nations below the Saharan region.
* Mali's unusual physical boundaries, seen in this infoplease map, means it has lots of border neighbors, some of whom have promised to help Mali defend itself from Islamist invaders: Niger, Benin, Togo, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
* Citizens of Niger, Benin, Togo, Senegal and Burkina Faso speak French and a variety of indigenous African languages; the current complex relationship between France and its former colonies is explained in e-International Relations.
* Foreign policy analyst John Price of the International Policy Digest reports that Al Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM) was involved in the killing of four Americans during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
* Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM in the vernacular, is described in the Council of Foreign Relations as "a Salafi-jihadist militant group and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization operating in North Africa's Sahara and Sahel."
* The "Sahel" is described on yourchildlearns.com as "below the Sahara ? a high plateau of land that is mostly savanna, plains studded with occasional trees" and is an area of operation for AQIM.
* The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the link between AQIM and the al Qaida once headed by the slain Osama bin Laden, and its activities versus the U.S. in Iraq.
* French involvement in Africa stems from the heyday of European colonialism and has evolved from exploitation of resources to providing foreign aid and security assistance.
There is a lack of White House enthusiasm for Mali because the "democratically elected government collapsed in March 2012 after an army-led coup," according to the Wall Street Journal.
* In a news report by Asian News International, President Barack Obama confirmed that the U.S. provided air support for a French commando operation to free a captured French Intelligence agent held in Somalia.
* There are conflicting reports from the French government and from al-Shabab as to whether the failed commando raid in Somalia resulted in the deaths or capture of Denis Allex (a pseudonym) and a French commando, according to an Associated Press account.
* The Islamist militants responded to the weekend's French air strikes with a successful counter-assault and capture of the small town of Diabaly after intense fighting against poorly equipped Mali forces, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Anthony Ventre is a freelance writer and a contributor to Yahoo in news, commentary, and financial writing.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-discovering-mali-hard-way-182200618.html
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