It only took the expulsion of French soldiers from Mali for Bamako to re-capture Kidal, a town in the country’s north that had been a no-go zone since 2015. We can therefore safely assume Mali’s military knows a thing or two about fighting terrorism. The key, says General Aliou Boï Diarra, Mail’s Air Force chief of staff, is establishing support from local communities. Speaking at a security conference hosted by Kigali (during a session titled “Insecurity in Africa: roots, implications and the way forward”) he made clear Bamako’s view that radicalised locals are not the country’s real enemy.
Besides poverty, the proliferation of weapons (which flowed out of Libya after NATO’s ouster of Muammer Gaddafi) is one of the leading causes of insecurity in the Sahel. France’s role as a colonial and neocolonial power in keeping the region poor cannot be overstated. Additionally, terrorist recruiters prey on pastoralist communities in the Sahel belt whose livelihoods are being ruined by a climate crisis that’s pushing Saharan wastes south.
General Diarra‘s remarks may explain some of Bamako recent decision-making. It announced the construction of a 200 MW solar plant on 314 hectares of land in the southwest of the country. Mali is also building West Africa’s biggest gold refinery, a move that could consolidate its gold-mining industry, taking away revenue from terrorist groups smuggling tonnes of gold to Dubai.
What do you think of Mali’s attitude?
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