The salient attribute of the Malian authorities' way of thinking is practicality. Militant Islamists have carved a huge swathe of territory for themselves in the northern half of Mali. They have instituted a reign of terror buttressed by a stern application of Islamic Sharia law — public floggings, amputation of limbs, the stoning of adulterers and beheadings. The Malian authorities are determined to win back the territory. Yet, how is the approach to be turned into practical policy? The United Nations Security Council on 12 October approved a resolution urging a joint African Union military force to speed up preparations for a force of more than 3,000 troops to be deployed in northern Mali. The territory is the size of France and is currently under the control of Ansar Al-Din a militant Islamist organisation closely affiliated with the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The UN move prompted intense efforts by the international community, the United Nations, France and regional bodies to end the seven-month conflict in northern Mali, until recently one of Africa's most dynamic democracies. Algeria, the regional heavyweight, is a keen player in the Sahara and has largely assumed the role previously played by Libya under the slain leader Muammar Gaddafi in policing the Sahara, the world's largest desert. Algeria, Burkina Faso and other countries neighbouring Mali have engaged with Ansar Al-Din (Defenders of the Faith), the most powerful militia in northern Mali, as well as with other militias holding sway over the war-torn region, an arid and sprawling territory roughly the size of France. Ansar Al-Din has not expressed remorse or apologised for the extra-judicial executions it carried out in the past seven months in the areas it controls. There are risks in standing back. Other governments in the region may co-operate less on criminal intelligence in the Sahara. The proliferation of weapons from the stockades of Gaddafi's regime constitutes a perennial threat to peace and political stability in the Sahara. Against this backdrop, for the central authorities in the Malian capital Bamako to concede a further loss of control would invite a backlash. The northern stronghold of Kidal as well as the historic cities of Gao and Timbuktu are under the control of Ansar Al-Din. It was against this unsettling Saharan setting that the people of Mali played out their lives. A bloodcurdling humanitarian catastrophe is in the making. The lives of millions are at stake. The timing is, however, of the essence. During Mali's golden age, the country had reigned supreme as a model to be emulated by the rest of the African continent. The militant Islamists, Ansar Al-Din drew up a set of penal codes based on Islamic Sharia laws. When asked about the harshness of their penal code, they have always proved to be intransigent. Ansar Al-Din leader Iyad Ag Ghaly, however, has softened his position somewhat. Ansar Al-Din appear to be ready to negotiate a way out of the political impasse. They tried to seize power for themselves — temporarily gained, but they know that they are bound to fail to do so on a long-term basis. Yet these are Saharan niggles. Burkina Faso President Blasé Compaore poses as the main mediator in the Malian crisis. “Ansar Al-Din must disengage from terror and organised crime,” warned Compaore this week. On Friday Ansar Al-Din, not to be outdone, dispatched delegations to Algeria and Burkina Faso to diffuse the diplomatic tensions in the Sahara. Ansar Al-Din delegates met with Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole and there is even talk of a meeting with Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Algeria chiefly to iron out differences on how to contain the situation in northern Mali and coordinate with Washington's chief strategic ally in the area, Algeria. Foreign military intervention is a controversial subject in the region. And, Washington would prefer to act in conjunction with regional powers. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional body that includes Mali, is working hard on brokering a peace deal in Mali. The days of a faint-hearted attempt to deal with the continent's crises are over. This was the key issue of discussion between Mubarak and his Malian counterpart. The Malian experience of parliamentary democracy has been impressive. The peaceful handing of power from one leader to another in spite of crippling economic problems and a host of ethnic, regional and religious tensions necessitated wise leadership. First, the academic intellectual former Malian president won the respect of Africa and the world. And, now his successor Amadou Toumani Toure is equally admired for his poise and delicate overtures to win over his squabbling countrymen including the secessionist Tuaregs of northern Mali. ECOMOG, the military wing of ECOWAS, is more likely to be deployed rather than Western troops — French or American. Political opportunism is at play. Yet, the hope that Malians can make the long journey from poverty to prosperity hinges on the success of a peace deal. In the 13th century, the legendary Malian Emperor Mansa Moussa visited Cairo and caused a commotion. He was on his way to the Hijaz for hajj, and his fabulous wealth caused such wonder that inflation in Egypt skyrocketed. This was one of the first recorded incidents of inflation in medieval Egyptian history. Egyptians had no idea that an African potentate can be that wealthy, or that Muslim kingdoms in Africa south of the Sahara that opulent. The present Malian president is not as rich as his ancestor, and is not likely to cause any economic upheaval in the country. However, he is very keen on agricultural development in the continent. This is an issue that needs a certain kind of kid-glove handling. Mali, for instance, has tremendous agricultural potential. The coup ended the 10-year rule of the democratically elected President Amadou Toumani Toure. The alleged immediate reason for the coup was the failure of the Malian government of President Toure to curb the Tuareg rebellion in the northern half of the country. Toure, known as the “Soldier of Democracy”, usurped power by force in a military takeover in 1991. However, he handed power to a civilian administration. And ever since, the yearning to institute democracy has been a potent force among the Malian populace. Mali's first president Modibo Keita was an iconic figure of the anti-colonial liberation struggle. He was an activist in the labour movement in West Africa and proceeded to secure the position of head of the Union of French West African Teachers and was embroiled in “Communist Study Groups” across the region much to the chagrin of the French colonial authorities. Keita was elected mayor of the Malian capital Bamako and in spite of French disinclination became an elected member of the National Assembly of France. The French promptly imprisoned him in Paris. He was assassinated, presumed poisoned in prison, as he died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 61, at the hands of his adversaries, namely the former Malian military strongman General Moussa Traore. Keita who delved into the works of Marx and Lenin to adopt a form of African socialism appropriate to the Malian and West African context, won the Lenin Peace Prize. Traore, who eventually ousted Keita in a bloody coup d'etat in November 1968, was unabashedly pro-West and he capitalised on the socialist ideological orientation of Keita to sully his reputation. The larger point is how best to advance social justice in West African states such as Senegal and interconnect public sector reforms, private business in resource-rich countries like Mali and coordinate political developments. After the break-up of the union between Mali and Senegal, the two countries went their separate ways. And, it is against this historical backdrop that the current Senegalese presidential elections in which the incumbent Wade blundered and his Malian counterpart Toure was forcibly toppled in a coup must be compared and contrasted. Toure was cast into the torturous incarceration in Kidal, where the country's first president was imprisoned, and then in an army barracks in Bamako, the capital — where Keita breathed his last. Well executed, and hampered only by a few niggles, the proposed brokered peace deal is a game that not only achieves it immediate goal — the pacification of northern Mali — but also the containment of the threat of militant Islamist militias in the entire Sahelian and Saharan regions. But once troops are there, they will have to stay for the foreseeable future.
