More links (and audio) on Mali
Some recent articles on Mali and background pieces, as well as a clip from yesterday's World at One on BBC Radio 4, featuring UN Special Envoy to the Sahel Romano Prodi and Sahel specialist Jeremy Keenan.
- Basic Reported Information on French Operations in Mali | Sahel Blog - Alex Thurston's Sahel blog is worth following more generally.
- La guerre du « Sahelistan » aura-t-elle lieu ?, par Philippe Leymarie (Le Monde diplomatique)
- France in Mali: the End of the Fairytale – Africa is a Country - Gregory Maan writes:
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.
- Mali, Afghanistan, les leçons oubliées - Les blogs du Diplo - Alain Gresh sees another Afghanistan, which I think is unfair as the French mission is much more restricted.
- Le Figaro - International : Mali : Fabius remercie l'Algérie de sa collaboration - one of the most interesting aspects of this crisis is that despite official Algerian rejection of Western encroachment in its near-abroad they gave France access to airspace.
- Le Figaro - International : François Hollande va envoyer davantage de soldats au Mali
- Le Figaro - International : Intervention au Mali : la presse algérienne très critique
- Le Figaro - International : Pourquoi la France a passéla vitesse supérieure au Mali
- مصر تبدي قلقها لتدهور الأوضاع في مالي وتنتقد التصعيد العسكري - بوابة الأهرام - Egypt's official position: against military intervention.