Making Sense of Mali

Making Sense of Mali

Susanna Wing Recent reports have oversimplified the conflict in Mali, hinting that the country hosts a coherent Tuareg separatist bloc and a popular radical Islamist movement. In fact, mainstream Malians love neither. Most of them just want a return to democracy with broader participation and more freedoms -- the precise opposite of what they fear the separatists and Islamists would bring. As long as French assistance helps hold those groups off, it will be welcome. Readhttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138767/susanna-wing/making-sense-of-mali?cid=nlc-this_week_on_foreignaffairs_co-012413-making_sense_of_mali_4-012413