Radical Islamists make push southward
After decades of military rule, Mali held its first democratic elections in 1992. It remained stable politically until March, when a group of soldiers toppled the government, saying it had not provided adequate support for them to fight ethnic Tuareg rebels in the country’s largely desert north.
Tuareg rebels, who’d sought independence for decades, took advantage of the power vacuum and seized swaths of land. A power struggle then erupted in the north between the Tuaregs and local al Qaeda-linked radicals, who themselves wound up in control of a large area as the Tuaregs retreated.
The United Nations says amputations, floggings and public executions â€" like the stoning of a couple in July, who’d reportedly had an affair â€" became common in areas controlled by radical Islamists. They applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law by banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and damaged Timbuktu’s historic tombs and shrines.
Already, the armed groups’ activity â€" along with a pervasive drought â€" has led hundreds of thousands of Malians to be displaced.
And the Islamists’ movement southward has raised concerns among leaders in West Africa and elsewhere, some of them calling for swift and decisive military intervention to aid Mali’s government, based in Bamako.
Kone, the Mali military spokesman, said members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would start sending troops to Bamako on Sunday.
Several hundred French troops have been deployed to Mali, where about 6,000 French citizens live, according to Le Drian.
“Our determination to combat terrorism is total,†the French defense minister said. “France will do all it can to combat the jihadist groups who have launched this offensive in recent days.â€
After decades of military rule, Mali held its first democratic elections in 1992. It remained stable politically until March, when a group of soldiers toppled the government, saying it had not provided adequate support for them to fight ethnic Tuareg rebels in the country’s largely desert north.
Tuareg rebels, who’d sought independence for decades, took advantage of the power vacuum and seized swaths of land. A power struggle then erupted in the north between the Tuaregs and local al Qaeda-linked radicals, who themselves wound up in control of a large area as the Tuaregs retreated.
The United Nations says amputations, floggings and public executions â€" like the stoning of a couple in July, who’d reportedly had an affair â€" became common in areas controlled by radical Islamists. They applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law by banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and damaged Timbuktu’s historic tombs and shrines.
Already, the armed groups’ activity â€" along with a pervasive drought â€" has led hundreds of thousands of Malians to be displaced.
And the Islamists’ movement southward has raised concerns among leaders in West Africa and elsewhere, some of them calling for swift and decisive military intervention to aid Mali’s government, based in Bamako.
Kone, the Mali military spokesman, said members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would start sending troops to Bamako on Sunday.
Several hundred French troops have been deployed to Mali, where about 6,000 French citizens live, according to Le Drian.
“Our determination to combat terrorism is total,†the French defense minister said. “France will do all it can to combat the jihadist groups who have launched this offensive in recent days.â€
