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Strategic Studies Institute

and

U.S. Army War College Press

WHAT IS NEXT FOR MALI?

THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT

AND CHALLENGES TO STABILITY

Dona J. Stewart

November 2013

The views expressed in this report are those of the author and 

do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the 

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I would like to thank Dr. Andrew Terrill, Dr. J. Paul de B.

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Captain Caleb Slayton, Director of the African Command Theater 

Course at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, Hurlburt 

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vii

FOREWORD

In January 2013, France launched military operations 

in northern Mali. Backed by United Nations Security 

Council Resolution 2085 (December 2012) that authorized the deployment of an African-led International 

Support Mission in Mali, Operation SERVAL sought 

to wrest control of northern Mali from al-Qaeda in the 

Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and affiliated groups. The reestablishment of security in the country’s north was a 

necessary prerequisite for addressing other factors in 

Mali’s complex crisis, namely the coup that overthrew 

the civilian government and the long-running Tuareg 

nationalist movement. 

Dr. Dona J. Stewart’s monograph explores the underlying root causes of the complex crisis in Mali that created 

a safe haven for militants and criminals in the country’s 

remote and impoverished northern region. A series of 

Tuareg rebellions, the latest fueled by the so-called Arab 

spring and the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, combined with increasing AQIM activity, severely strained 

the central government’s ability to maintain security. 

AQIM quickly capitalized on the security vacuum created by the March 2012 military coup. Today, a significant level of physical security has been reestablished in 

the north and a new president has been elected; but Mali 

must overcome significant challenges in order to achieve 

long-term stability. Dr. Stewart argues that long-term 

stability in Mali must address the economic and political 

disparities that undermine effective national integration.

 

 

 DOUGLAS C. LOVELACE, JR.

 Director

 Strategic Studies Institute and

 U.S. Army War College Press

ix

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DONA J. STEWART is an External Research Associate 

of the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) and a Professor 

of Homeland Security at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She also 

holds an adjunct position at the Near East South Asia 

Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense 

University in Washington, DC. Dr. Stewart contributes extensively to initiatives focused on professional 

military education. She previously held the position 

of Resident Senior Fellow at the Joint Special Operations University. From 1997 to 2009, Dr. Stewart was 

on the faculty of Georgia State University, her final 

position was Professor of Geosciences and Director 

of the Middle East Institute. Dr. Stewart is a former 

Fulbright Scholar to Jordan. Dr. Stewart’s publishing 

explores facets of the relationship between human 

security and conflict. Much of her publishing focuses 

on the Middle East and North Africa and the role of 

socio-economic, political and cultural factors in instability and conflict. She is the author of The Middle 

East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives (Routledge, 2012, 2nd Ed.) and Good Neighbourly 

Relations: Jordan, Israel and the 1994-2004 Peace Process

(I. B. Tauris, 2012, Rev. Ed.). Her most recent article 

includes “The Sinai Bedouin: Political and Economic 

Discontent Turns Increasingly Violent,” Middle East 

Policy Council. Dr. Stewart holds a B.A. in international relations from New College of Florida, an 

M.A. in political science, a certificate in African studies, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University 

of Florida.

xi

SUMMARY

In March 2012, the government of Mali, one of the 

most touted symbols of Africa’s democratic potential 

fell in a military-executed coup. At the same time, a 

4-decade-old rebellion among Tuaregs seeking autonomy or independence reached new heights, fueled by 

weapons from Muammar Gadaffi’s fallen government 

and perhaps the belief that the Arab Spring could extend to northern Mali. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb 

(AQIM) and their allies were quick to capitalize on the 

increasing chaos in a territory characterized by lack of 

government control and poverty and seized the major 

cities in the north. The imposition of a severe form of 

Islamic law and a growing food crisis sent the population fleeing south across Mali’s international borders. The French-led military intervention, Operation 

SERVAL, ousted the militants from the main cities in 

the north, but did not address the crisis’ underlying 

issues including the grievances that feed the Tuareg 

nationalist movement, the establishment of a civilianled government in Mali, and the near- and long-term 

threats to food security. The eruption of this crisis also 

demands a critical look at the Sahel’s regional security 

framework, and the U.S. role in it. 

In Part I, Background to the Crisis, the author explores the deeper background to the crisis and sets 

it within Mali’s historical and geographical context. 

Though it was a major world power in the Middle 

Ages the former Malian Empire had long lost its economic strength by the time the European countries 

colonized Africa. To control their territory, the French 

used military means to try to bring the pastoralists in 

the Sahel, such as the Tuareg, under control. Independent since 1960, Mali struggled to develop political 
institutions and achieve economic growth. After years 

of dictatorial rule, Mali transitioned to democracy 

in 1992. Despite considerable economic aid from the 

United States, it remained one of the poorest countries 

in the region. Indeed, the neighborhood, the Sahel 

zone that runs east to west through the continent, is a 

zone of poor, ungoverned spaces, sometimes referred 

to as the “arc of instability.”

In Part II: The Crisis Unfolds, the author examines 

the recent events that created the volatile conditions 

leading to the crisis. The Tuareg nationalist movement 

has existed for over 40 years; there have been at least 

four periods of rebellion, and military force has been 

the primary response from the central government. 

Gadaffi had long been a supporter of the Tuareg, employing them in trusted positions within his military. 

The fall of his regime sent many Tuaregs home, laden 

with heavy weaponry, escalating the rebellion to new 

heights. Due to a steady expansion into the Sahel zone 

over the last decade, AQIM was well poised to capitalize on the anarchy and seize the north’s major cities. 

The fall of Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal to AQIM illustrates the need for a critical examination of the U.S.-

led regional security framework, which is the focus 

of Part III: The Regional Security Framework in the 

Sahel. Numerous factors hindered the effectiveness of 

this framework, including the newness of the military 

partnerships with regional governments, their differing strategic level interests, and the wide range of capabilities among their armed forces. Building partner 

counterterrorism capability to meet the transnational 

al-Qaeda threat was the primary focus of the security 

framework through programs such as the Pan Sahel 

Initiative (PSI) and the Trans Sahel Counter Terrorism 

Partnership (TSCTP). However, it was ill-prepared 

xii
xiii

for a complex crisis that included a largely secular 

nationalist rebellion, the overthrow of a civilian government by U.S.-trained soldiers, and a large-scale 

humanitarian crisis. 

Long-term stability in northern Mali will require 

a more multidimensional approach that considers 

threats beyond those posed by Islamist militants such 

as AQIM. Physical security, secured through military and law enforcement efforts, is a prerequisite for 

the development of institutions of good governance. 

Without such institutions, physical security is fleeting, 

requiring constant intervention when a crisis erupts.

1

WHAT IS NEXT FOR MALI?

THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT

AND CHALLENGES TO STABILITY

The United States strongly condemns the violence initiated by elements of the armed forces of Mali. We call 

for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule in 

Mali, including full civilian authority over the armed 

forces and respect for the country’s democratic institutions and traditions. . . .

 The White House

 March 20121

What have you got to say my friends

About this painful time we are living through?

Lyrics from the song, 

Imidiwan Ma Tennam, 

by the Tuareg-Berber band, 

Tinariwen, 20112

INTRODUCTION

At first glance, the descent of Mali into chaos appears swift and sudden. Mali had often been described 

as a model of democracy and stability on the continent. 

Long recognized for its cultural richness embodied in 

ancient cities such as Timbuktu, Mali is also a close 

ally of the United States and an important participant 

in Global War on Terror3

 (GWOT) efforts to counter 

terrorism and improve security in the Sahel region. In 

February 2012, Mali hosted the Atlas Accord, an annual joint U.S.-Mali military exercise that focused on 

improved air drop capabilities to effectively deliver 

military resupply materials and humanitarian aid.4

Just a few weeks later, on March 22, members of 

the Malian military, led by a U.S.-trained soldier, Cap-
2

tain Amadou Sanogo, overthrew Mali’s democratically-led civilian government. At the time, northern Mali 

was already deeply embroiled in a long-running conflict between the Tuareg ethnic minority and the government. Indeed, frustration at the lack of sufficient 

central government support in the military campaign 

against the Tuareg rebels was a major justification cited by the coup leaders for their actions. The coup and 

the ongoing Tuareg rebellion created a severe security 

vacuum in Mali’s northern provinces. Al-Qaeda in the 

Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which had been expanding 

its reach in the Sahel over the last decade, was quick to 

capitalize on the void and occupied the north’s major 

cities. Waves of refugees fled; those who stayed faced 

life under harsh interpretations of sharia, or Islamic 

law, imposed by AQIM and allied groups such as 

Ansar Dine.

With Mali’s democratically elected government 

overthrown, French troops, under the auspices of a 

United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR), 

initiated combat operations against Islamist militants 

in the country’s remote northern region in January 2013.5

 In less than a month, Operation SERVAL 

forced AQIM and allied groups out of the region’s cities, clearing the way for an African-led International 

Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) organized by the 

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the potential return of democratic rule to the 

country as a whole. 

Though events in Mali have moved quickly over 

the last year, and indeed continue to do so, the underlying causes of the current crisis are long-standing. 

The dissatisfaction of the Tuaregs, the legacies of colonial rule, and geographic realities are by no means 

new developments. However, more recent events 
3

have served to catalyze simmering issues into active 

conflict. The political and security instability created 

by the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 

Libya and the coup d’etat that ousted Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré, for example, emboldened an array of actors, including Tuareg rebels with 

nationalist causes, criminals, and various groups of 

Islamic militants. 

The interrelated security challenges Mali faces today are complex, summed up by David Lewis as “a 

toxic cocktail of rebels, weapons, refugees, drought, 

smugglers, and violent Islamic militants.”6

 While the 

transnational threat posed by AQIM and affiliated 

groups is of deepest concern to the United States and 

its European allies, violent extremism is only one of a 

number of issues destabilizing Mali’s security. Given 

the interconnected nature of these challenges, policies 

and security frameworks that follow the French intervention must take a broad and comprehensive approach to security and stability in Mali that goes well 

beyond the provision of physical security. 

Legal restrictions prevented the United States from 

providing direct military aid to Mali after March 2012 

because that government seized power in a coup.7 The 

United States provided intelligence and air logistical 

support to the French military operation. Three KC135 tankers were used to refuel French jet fighters 

and bombers, and the United States provided airlift 

to transport a French mechanized infantry to Mali.8 It 

seems likely the U.S. role in Mali, and in the region 

overall, will increase. In January 2013, the United 

States signed a status of forces agreement with neighboring Niger, a move that could pave the way for a 

possible U.S. drone base. Niger is also the focus for the 

development of an intelligence hub by both the United 
4

States and the French.9 The restoration of democratic 

rule, through elections scheduled for July 2013, will 

also enable the United States to resume its foreign aid 

programs for Mali, some of which were suspended 

after the March 2012 coup.10

With AQIM now rooted out of Mali’s northern cities, the current dual challenge for the United States, 

France, and the broader international community is to 

craft a policy that will bring long-term stability to a 

key ally in the fight against violent Islamic extremism 

in the Sahel and, at the same time, rebuild a regional 

security framework. While restoring physical security 

is obviously central to this framework, the underlying 

complex and overlapping socio-economic and political issues that impact security must also be addressed. 

This monograph attempts to contribute to the current discussions on the future U.S. policy for Mali by 

exploring the deeper background to the crisis. Such 

issues include the long-running grievances of the Tuareg minority, the challenges of uneven development, 

regional instability wrought by the Arab Spring, and a 

worsening humanitarian crisis. This monograph will 

also examine the weaknesses of the regional security 

framework in place prior to the March 2012 coup and 

the challenges a new regional security framework 

will need to overcome to bring effective, long-term 

security to this crucial region. 

Why Mali Matters.

Mali is remote and distant from much of the globe. 

It is one of the poorest countries in the world. And yet, 

the situation in Mali and the future of the country will 

have significant impact at the national, regional, and 

international levels. 
5

Geography is the key to much of Mali’s importance. Nestled deep in the interior of West Africa, Mali 

encompasses over 478,841 square miles (1,240,192 

square kilometers [km]),11 a large territory approximately the size of France or twice the size of Texas 

in the United States. With only 15.84 million people,12

Mali is sparsely populated. The north is either desert 

or semi-arid, and over 90 percent of the population is 

heavily concentrated in the country’s less arid southern half. The capital, Bamako, located on the Niger 

River, boasts over 1.6 million people and is one of the 

fastest growing cities in Africa.13 In the north, though 

cities such as Gao and Timbuktu loom large in ancient 

history, they are a fraction of the size of Bamako and 

host few economic opportunities.

Source: World Factbook, Washington, DC: Central Intelligence 

Agency, August 13, 2013.

Map 1. Mali.
6

Mali is landlocked and shares long and often permeable borders with seven other states: Algeria (1,376-

km, 855 miles), Niger (821-km, 510 miles), Burkina 

Faso (1,000-km, 621 miles), Côte d’Ivoire (532-km, 330 

miles), Guinea (858-km, 533 miles), Senegal (419-km, 

260 miles) and Mauritania (2,237-km, 1390 miles).14

These borders are difficult to control, facilitating untracked movement across the Sahel, the semi-arid zone 

between the Sahara Desert and the more arable lands 

in the south. The Sahel zone (also known as the transSahel) is vast, approximately 1,000-km (621 miles) 

wide, and stretches across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. This transition zone is 

not true desert as areas of sparse seasonal vegetation, 

clay plains, and water holes can be found throughout the Sahel. Historically, pastoralists, such as the 

Tuareg ethnic group, migrated seasonally throughout this zone, maintaining a livelihood from camels, 

cattle, sheep, and goats, a practice long predating the 

creation of the current state boundaries.15 In the era 

before long distance sea navigation, the trans-Saharan 

trade routes connected Africa to the Mediterranean 

zone and further on to Europe. Though foreboding 

and arduous, the Sahara has never been impassable, 

for thousands of years people, ideas, and goods have 

flowed across its sands. 

Today, this vast, undergoverned space within the 

region has become a safe haven for Islamic militants, 

primarily AQIM and affiliated groups, as well as 

smugglers of weapons and drugs. The states in this 

region lack the resources, both financial and institutional capacity, to effectively meet the challenges of 

organized militancy and criminality. In many countries, this ungoverned space is in the hinterlands, 

physically and psychologically distant from the na-
7

tional capital. The capital cities of Nouakchott, located 

on the Atlantic Ocean, and Algiers and Tripoli on the 

Mediterranean Sea, are many hundreds of miles away 

from vast desert interiors of Mauritania, Algeria, and 

Libya, complicating efforts to exert effective control. 

Many of the countries in the region also face significant domestic political issues, and counterterrorism 

efforts must compete with other priorities, a fact that 

has complicated efforts to develop an effective regional security framework. 

The potential for unrest in Mali to spread beyond 

its borders to vulnerable neighbors has raised international concern. In September 2012, António Guterres, 

the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for 

Refugees and former prime minister of Portugal, 

warned that: 

If unchecked, the Mali crisis threatens to create an arc 

of instability extending west into Mauritania and east 

through Niger, Chad and Sudan to the Horn of Africa 

and the Gulf of Aden, characterized by extended spaces where state authority is weak and pockets of territorial control are exercised by transnational criminals.16

Within the international security community, the 

specter of collaboration among militant groups across 

this undergoverned territory is a growing concern: 

On the African continent, ties between radical groups 

Boko Haram, al Shabaab, al-Qaeda in the Islamic 

Maghreb (AQIM) and its offshoots—the Unity Movement for Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Ansar 

Dine—are becoming stronger; as are ties with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen.17

To use a Cold War analogy, one fear is that the collapse of Mali could unleash a domino effect—destabilizing countries throughout the Sahel for the benefit 
8

of criminals and militant groups, including AQIM. 

The freedom of movement found in an “arc of instability” that runs across the continent from the Atlantic coast of West Africa to the Horn of Africa on the 

Red Sea can be seen as a primary enabler for violent 

extremists in the region. Such freedom of movement 

could facilitate cooperation between groups such as 

AQIM, Ansar Dine, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) in Mali, Boko Haram in 

Nigeria, and al Shabaab in Somalia. The recent discovery of instructions on how to avoid drone strikes 

in a building abandoned by AQIM in Mali, authored 

by Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 

(AQAP), illustrates the types of operational and technical cooperation across the network.18 The document 

contained 22 tips, ranging from low technology approaches—attaching reflective pieces of glass to cars 

or the roofs of buildings—to the more sophisticated 

use of a Russian-made “sky grabber” device to infiltrate the drone’s waves and the frequencies that can 

be purchased for around $2,595.19

Common to the countries through which this arc 

passes are “poverty, underdevelopment, illiteracy, 

mass youth unemployment, misgovernance, authoritarianism, corruption, suppression of women’s rights 

as well as human and civil rights in general.”20 Many 

of these same characteristics could be found in the 

“Arab Spring” countries that experienced a wave of 

revolutions in 2011 suggesting they help create a fertile ground for revolution. While such mass popular 

movements may eventually lead to the development 

of a robust civil society and democratic institutions, 

the political and social disruption also create a window of opportunity for other actors, namely violent 

extremist organizations, to exercise control in the resulting security vacuum.
9

Finally, the humanitarian impact of the Malian 

crisis, addressed later in this monograph, is another 

reason this crisis matters. Described by General Carter 

F. Ham, the former commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) as “patently the most difficult to 

address,”21 the humanitarian condition is one of the 

spectrum of issues that must be addressed following 

the French intervention.

PART I - MALI: BACKGROUND TO A CRISIS

Mali: Ancient Grandeur, Modern Challenges.

A detailed exploration of Mali’s history is well 

beyond the scope of this monograph, however, some 

aspects of Mali’s historical development, as well as 

Mali’s place in history provide essential context for 

understanding the dynamics that have led to the current crisis. Mali became an independent country only 

in 1960, its modern state identity is recent and often 

contested, with internal divisions and conditions that 

make it vulnerable to nonstate actors such as AQIM.

The origins of the modern state of Mali can be 

traced to the Malian Empire which existed from 1230 

to 1600 CE. The Malian Empire began as a tribal confederation of the Mandika people united under Sunidiata Keita (c. 1217-55), who ruled under the name Mari 

Djata.22 The empire consolidated and grew under his 

25-year reign. The empire controlled a vast territory in 

West Africa that stretched to the Atlantic Ocean, a far 

larger area than that of the modern state.

Most of what the West knows of ancient Mali comes 

from the writings of Muslim scholars such as the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta (1304-68). Ibn Battuta left 

Sijilmasa, Morocco, on the northern edge of the Sahara 
10

and travelled south by caravan, stopping at oases and 

salt mines along the way. After 2 months, the caravan 

reached the southern junction of the trans-Saharan 

trade route, Oualata.23 Ibn Battuta continued his journey on to Timbuktu, at the time a small provincial 

town; from there he went by canoe to Gao, an important center of trade.24 Ibn Battuta’s journey reflects the 

significance Mali had in the Islamic world at the time. 

His contemporary, the sociologist and historian Ibn 

Khaldun (1332-1406), recorded the royal genealogy of 

the Malian Empire, and captured some of the empire’s 

oral history and traditions. Oral history was the norm 

by which events were embedded into the collective 

memory of the community.25 Throughout West Africa, 

this oral history was preserved and passed down by 

griots (or jeli), a tradition that continues today. These 

oral historians held a prominent position in society, 

sometimes serving as advisors to the emperor.26

Gold was the main source of the empire’s wealth, 

indeed it was gold and control over the trans-Saharan 

trade, that gave the Malian Empire its global significance. Gao and Timbuktu, on the edge of the Sahara, 

were vibrant trading centers and an economic crossroads into the desert and on to the Levant and Europe. 

Gold travelled north, salt travelled south. The empire 

enjoyed great periods of prosperity, especially under 

the famed ruler Mansa Musa.27 Though the founder 

of the Malian Empire, Sundiata Keita (d. 1255) was 

not Muslim, the Mali Empire contained a diverse mix 

of ethnic groups and religions. The later adoption of 

Islam by Mali’s rulers facilitated the spread of Islam 

into West Africa during the medieval period. A devout Muslim, Mansa Musa undertook the pilgrimage 

to Mecca in 1324, and historical accounts speak of a 

grand and lavish procession. He was accompanied 
11

by approximately 60,000 men. At that time, the Malian Empire controlled half of the world’s supply of 

gold and salt. Eighty camels transported hundreds of 

pounds of gold dust, while 12,000 slaves each carried 

4-pound bars of gold.28 Musa spent so much gold in 

the bazaars of Cairo that gold prices were depressed 

and inflation rampant for a decade thereafter. The 

extravagance of this journey caught the attention of 

Western scholars and mapmakers, and knowledge of 

Timbuktu and Mali spread.

During the 15th century, Timbuktu grew into a 

center of Islamic scholarship and learning, in addition to trade. Mosques, libraries, and Koranic schools 

(madrasas) were constructed. By the 16th century, the 

city’s population had grown to 100,000. The global 

cultural significance of Timbuktu’s buildings, and the 

role of the city as a spiritual and intellectual center 

for the spread of Islam in Africa, was recognized in 

1998 as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations 

Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization 

(UNESCO). The site includes three earthen-brick 

mosques: Djingareyber, Sankore, and Sidi Yahia. Dating to the 13th century, they are considered exceptional examples of a building technique found typically in 

arid environments.29 Sixteen mausoleums are also included on the list. Indeed, Timbuktu is also known as 

“the city of 333 saints,” a reference to the many mausoleums of Sufi preachers and scholars constructed in 

the city over the centuries.30

Imperial Mali’s leaders promoted Timbuktu’s 

scholarly and intellectual development. Leo Africanus 

(1494-1554), the Moorish diplomat and historian, described the city in his geographical history of Africa: 
12

There are in Timbuktu numerous judges, teachers and 

priests, all properly appointed by the king. He greatly 

honors learning. Many hand-written books imported 

from Barbary [North Africa] are also sold. There is 

more profit made from this commerce than from all 

other merchandise.31

So strong was the demand for learning that a distinct trans-Saharan book trade developed during the 

12th and 13th centuries. Two types of books dominated the trade: (1) illuminated copies of the Koran, rich 

with calligraphy, and (2) less expensive, more functional copies of instructional and reference works.32

The many mosques and schools in Timbuktu drove 

up demand for these texts. The University of Sankore 

(Masjid Sankore) alone contained 180 madrasas and 

25,000 students. 

Libraries, madrasas, scholars, and even families 

amassed collections of manuscripts. Before Islamic militants seized the city in 2012, Timbuktu was 

thought to contain as many as 300,000 antique manuscripts. Many of them were housed at the modern 

Ahmad Babu Institute, where they were restored 

and preserved; still others lay in private hands. The 

collection was priceless, containing manuscripts in 

Arabic as well as a few in African languages, “such 

as Songhai, Tamashek, and Bambara. There was even 

one in Hebrew. They covered a diverse range of topics including astronomy, poetry, music, medicine, and 

women’s rights. The oldest dated from 1204.”33

Timbuktu’s cultural patrimony, its shared history 

of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious past, has come 

under severe attack, especially from the Tuareg Islamist militant group Ansar Dine. Ansar Dine began 

destroying the shrines in July 2012, taking pickaxes 

to them. Ansar Dine considers the Sufi shrines to be 
13

idolatrous and vowed to destroy all of them.34 The 

Sidi Yahia mosque was also damaged. As they fled 

the city in January 2013, militant Islamists set fire to 

the Ahmad Babu Institute, and internationally funded 

library that restored, repaired, and stored irreplaceable manuscripts.35 However, the loss is not nearly as 

great as first feared; quiet acts of resistance by Timbuktu’s residents, who have long-cherished these 

manuscripts, saved many.

An imam (mosque leader) transferred 8,000 manuscripts to a secret location, many manuscripts are in 

the hands of private families—one hid their 3,000 item 

collection in another undisclosed location. At the Ahmad Babu Institute, nearly the entire collection was 

surreptitiously removed in small batches and sent to 

Bamako. Fleeing militants were able to find less than 5 

percent of the collection.36

This is not the first time citizens of Timbuktu have 

hid their prized manuscripts from invaders, during 

the French colonial period, they hid them in wooden 

trunks, buried them in the sand, and secreted them in 

caves to keep them out of Europe’s museums or private collections.37 But in February 2013, it was French 

President François Hollande, alongside the Director 

General of UNESCO, who pledged to reconstruct and 

safeguard Timbuktu’s cultural heritage.38

European Control of Africa.

The arrival of French forces into northern Mali in 

2013 was, of course, a return to a country that France 

once controlled as part of a colonial empire, and that 

France continues to influence. Following centuries 

where Europe had relatively little contact with the 

continent, the 18th century saw a renewed interest, 
14

and a rediscovery of Africa on the part of Europe. With 

the invention of new navigational technology, such as 

the dry mariner’s compass and marine astrolabe, European explorers no longer hugged the African coastline, but ventured out across the oceans, launching the 

“Age of Exploration.”39 Europe had turned toward the 

New World and its riches. The global economic world 

system was dramatically altered, land routes that 

controlled trade for centuries were surpassed by sea 

routes, and major trade cities such as Cairo went into 

decline, while other cities captured the new global 

trade driven by Europe.40

Exploration of the continent and its interior in the 

18th century and competition between rival European 

imperial powers drove European interest in Africa. In 

1798, Napoleon Bonaparte launched a military campaign in Syria and Egypt. While the stated goal was to 

protect French trade interests, the French intent was 

to limit Britain’s access to the “jewel” of its overseas 

empire, India. The Napoleonic campaign was no ordinary military engagement. Nearly 200 scientists 

participated in a scientific expedition; its goal was to 

catalog the artifacts of ancient and modern Egypt as 

well as its natural history. The result was published 

in a series of large volumes, entitled the Description de 

l’Égypte, which helped feed a growing European appetite for the “orient.”41

The exploits of explorers such as Sir Richard Burton further fueled interest. Often sponsored by the 

British Royal Geographic Society, Burton carried out 

a series of daring explorations in the mid-century. 

He became well known after making the Islamic pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, and then turned to exploration of Africa’s interior, in search of the origin of the 

Nile River. Burton was a very prolific writer, writing 
15

hundreds of books and articles on his various adventures.42 At the same time, David Livingstone explored 

south and central Africa and named the renowned 

waterfall “Victoria Falls” in honor of the Queen of 

England. All European contact with Livingstone was 

lost for 6 years and his death was rumored, a tale that 

gripped the public. This fascination with Africa, and 

geopolitical rivalry, was not limited to Europe. In 1869 

the anti-British editor of the New York Herald ordered 

his journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, to find and rescue the lost explorer. His successful search led to the—

possibly apocryphal—account of their meeting: “Dr. 

Livingstone, I presume?”43

Europe was now convinced of Africa’s strategic 

importance, a result of both location and the numerous 

accounts of the continent’s vast untapped resources. 

For Europe’s voracious imperial appetite, Africa was 

the last frontier that could be exploited. In 1884-85, 

a conference was held in Berlin, Germany, to set the 

ground rules among the European powers for colonization and trade activities. In reality, the “Congo 

Conference” formalized the rules for the rapid expansion of European interests in Africa, also known as 

the “Scramble for Africa.” The conference participants 

accepted the concept of “effective occupation” in determining which country could claim a geographical 

area. Means of establishing effective occupation included entering into treaties with local, indigenous 

leaders, establishing an administrative presence and 

maintaining order with a police force.44 As soon as 

the ground rules were laid down, European countries raced against each other to claim a territory as 

their own.
16

Mali Under French Control. 

The area that encompasses Mali today was originally part of a French colonial territory known as the 

French Sudan formed in 1890.45 Though there were 

rumors of the region’s great wealth, no doubt a legacy 

of the medieval accounts, France’s primary interest in 

the area was to link their holdings in Senegal and Algeria and provide access to the Congo and its riches 

through Lake Chad. France had seized Algeria against 

great opposition in 1830. Algeria was a central component of France’s overseas empire; it was integrated 

into metropolitan France as a department in 1848 and 

became part of French political life. France’s economic 

ties with Algeria were deep, and tens of thousands of 

Europeans settled there. 

European states, especially France, Netherlands, 

and Portugal, had long competed for trade along the 

Senegalese coastline. In 1444, Portugal established a 

major center for slave trading on the Island of Goreé; 

Britain seized control of it as a result of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and abolished slavery. France’s 

involvement in West Africa began in 1637, when they 

built a fort at the mouth of the Senegal River and began to explore the interior. By the 1850s, France was 

working to establish control further inland in order to 

consolidate its colonial empire.46

The French Sudan was part of a set of colonies that 

made up the Federation of West Africa (existed from 

1865 to 1960), which included Senegal, French Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Niger, 

Mauritania, and Dahomey (Benin today). French West 

Africa encompassed an area of approximately 1.8 million square miles (4,689,000 square kilometers [km]) 

and a diverse population composed of a great many 
17

ethnic groups who spoke many languages. Within the 

federation, French was the common language. France 

also established a common currency, the French West 

African Franc.47 Each colony of French West Africa 

was administered by a Lieutenant Governor, responsible to the Governor General in Dakar, Senegal. Only 

the Governor General received orders from Paris. 

France also held colonies in adjacent North Africa, as 

well as a few in equatorial Africa and East Africa, and 

numerous island possessions. 

The Pacification of the Sahel.

French penetration and control of the interior of 

the French Sudan was met with significant resistance. 

There was little French presence in the interior prior 

to the 1850s. French explorer René Callié was the first 

European to visit Timbuktu (1827) and return alive; a 

British officer, Major Gordon Laign, had preceded his 

arrival in the city but was killed shortly after he departed. Callié published his account of his journey in 

Journal d’un voyage à Temboctou et à Jenné dans l’Afrique 

Centrale.

48

Callié was eager to reach Timbuktu, which he described as “an object of curiosity and research to the 

civilised nations of Europe.” What he found, however, 

was a disappointment:

I looked around and found that the sight before me, 

did not answer my expectations. I had formed a totally 

different idea of the grandeur and wealth of Timbuctoo. The city presented, at first view, nothing but a 

mass of ill-looking houses, built of earth.49

Indeed, in the centuries since historians had recorded accounts of the Mali Empire at its height, much had 
18

changed. By the mid-1600s, the empire had broken up 

into three parts, following a succession dispute. This 

left the empire vulnerable to attack by others, namely 

the Bamana people of nearby Djenne. The Timbuktu 

Callié found was greatly diminished from that described during the reign of strong emperors such as 

Mansa Musa. The social and political fragmentation 

that characterized the 19th century western Sahel 

both aided and hindered French expansion. While the 

French did not have to overcome a strong and wellorganized empire, the fragmentation meant dealing 

with a great many, often competing, ethnic groups 

and even kinship groups in an effort to establish control. Local inhabitants offered much resistance; there 

was no real effective French control until 1899. 

European colonialism was based on the desire to 

bring “Christianity, civilization, and commerce” to 

Africa. Callié’s account of the death of Major Laing 

reinforced the justification for European colonialism. 

According to Callié’s published account, Major Laing 

was killed after refusing to convert to Islam:

When the major had once been discovered to be a 

Christian and a European, death was a thousand times 

preferable to even a temporary change of religion, 

since he must have renounced all hope of again visiting Europe.50

Callié described many of the ethnic groups he encountered during his journey such as the Moors and 

Fulani. The Tuaregs (Tooariks), who he calls “mauraders” and “savages” receive the most negative description. Remarking on their control of the desert, he notes 

that “The trade of Timbuctoo is considerably cramped 

by the Tooariks, a warlike nation who render the inhabitants of the town their tributaries.”51 This nega-
19

tive image of the Tuareg was further reinforced in 

later encounters with the French military as they tried 

to “pacify” the Sahel and improve the value of their 

colonies through construction of roads and railroads. 

In 1880-81, an expedition led by French Colonel 

Paul Flatters set out to survey a route for a railroad 

that would cross the Sahara. Composed of 300 camels, 10 French soldiers, and 78 “native” guides and 

porters, the expedition sought to cross the territory 

controlled by one of the tribes that made up the confederation of Tuaregs in the Sahel. The leader of the 

Tuaregs denied them permission to cross his territory; likely realizing construction of a railroad would 

mean an end to his economic livelihood, the caravan 

trade. Colonel Flatters continued into the territory and 

found himself drawn into an ambush. Lack of food 

and water led to further casualties. None of the French 

survived, causing a furor in France with demands that 

the Tuaregs be punished. However, it would be another 17 years before the French attempted to establish 

control again.52

In 1899, France launched three military missions 

from Senegal, Algeria, and the Congo to consolidate 

their holdings and to bring them under French control. The Voulet-Chanoine Mission, which set out 

from Dakar, Senegal, ended in scandal following the 

death of the commanding officers at the hands of their 

own soldiers. 

Captain Paul Voulet and Adjutant Lieutenant Julien Chanoine led the mission; the other Europeans 

included nine officers, a doctor, and three noncommissioned officers. The mission was accompanied by 

approximately 100 guides and interpreters, as well as 

over 1,000 porters and others that were conscripted to 

support the heavily armed mission. Their goal was to 
20

move through the French Sudan, the interior still had 

not submitted to French rule, and reach Lake Chad. 

The mission carried few supplies; they were expected 

to live off the land:

To get the porters and food they needed, Voulet and 

Chanoine burned villages, enslaved populations and 

massacred those they did not need. By the time they 

were stopped by another French column, their ranks 

had swollen to about 3,000, mostly slave women. Historians have often treated Voulet and Chanoine as 

men who went mad in the tropical sun, but Fuglestad 

argues that the atrocities were simply an extravagant 

version of what the French military did elsewhere.53

When French authorities learned of the atrocities 

being committed, they sent a column of troops led 

by Lieutenant Colonel Jean-François Klobb to relieve 

Voulet of his command. Voulet killed Klobb, further 

heightening the scandal. The Voulet-Chanoine affair, 

the high cost of maintaining the military presence in 

the French Sudan, and internal French political turmoil, including the Dreyfus Affair, all led to a reassessment of the military-led pacification strategy for 

the Sudan. Control over the Sudan was shifted to the 

civilian colonial government, and military operations were restricted.54 Resistance to French control 

in the Sahara continued well into the 1930s, when 

airplanes allowed greater ability to track the Sahel’s 

population.55

Even outside the areas that faced military pacification, colonial policies affected the indigenous African 

population. To improve the colony, Africans were 

forced to work without pay on public works such as 

road building. They could be imprisoned without trial 

and could not engage in political activity. They were 
21

subject to military draft.56 Indeed, thousands of African soldiers fought and died in World Wars I and II, 

where they played a pivotal role in the liberation of 

France from Nazi Germany: 

On Aug. 15, 1944, two months after the Allied landings in Normandy, a French force of 200,000, with an 

estimated 65 percent of them from former colonies, 

landed in Provence with the U.S. Seventh Army. They 

fought through the suburbs of Toulon and Marseille, 

moving on to help repel the Germans from the eastern Vosges Mountains and Alsace before crossing the 

Rhine. Historians estimate that about 40,000 troops of 

African origin died liberating the country.57

When French troops entered in Mali’s northern cities in 2013, some Malians held signs recalling the role 

of Mali in liberating France. 

Malian Independence.

The movement toward decolonization in Africa 

grew very quickly after World War II. Many African 

countries experienced a growing wave of nationalism and a desire for independence. For the European 

imperial states, their economies shattered by war, far 

flung overseas colonies were expensive to keep. Intensifying violent nationalist movements among the colonial subjects made the price even steeper. In Kenya, 

for example, the Mau Mau Rebellion against British 

control broke out in 1952. Shortly thereafter, France 

found themselves engaged in an increasingly bloody 

guerrilla war in Algeria.58

The Algerian War for Independence (or Algerian 

Revolution) lasted from 1954 to 1962. It was extremely 

costly, both financially and in loss of life. The war was 

characterized by the use of insurgent tactics in an urban 
22

environment, famously depicted in the film, The Battle 

of Algiers. By 1956, over 400,000 French troops were 

committed to Algeria.59 Backlash over the handling of 

the Algerian war led to fall of the French Fourth Republic and the return of General Charles de Gaulle to 

power. In 1959, he declared that “self-determination” 

would be the preferred solution to the Algerian conflict.60 Following referendums in France and Algeria 

as well as long negotiations, Algerian independence 

was granted on July 3, 1962. Death tolls for the conflict 

range from 400,000 to 1.5 million.61

The French Sudan received independence from 

France in 1960, in the midst of the crisis over Algeria. 

In the post-World War II period, relations between 

France and its territories in West Africa were marked 

by debate over the nature of the relationship between 

France and the colonies. Among the African elite, who 

had assimilated much of French culture and on whom 

the French depended to administer the colonies, slogans such as “federalism” and “independence” took 

center stage. At the same time, the French authorities 

began to allow indigenous political activity and the 

formation of political parties. Britain’s announcement 

that the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) would become independent in 1957 further drove the movement toward independence in French Sudan. French 

control over West Africa was dealt a steep blow in 1958 

when Guinea voted “no” on a referendum to continue 

an association with France, and relations between the 

two countries were cut. Shortly thereafter, the Sudanese Republic (Mali) and Senegal joined a federation, 

while other colonies sought independent statehood. 

Together, they achieved independence in 1960 as the 

Mali Federation.62 Their union did not last, and, after 

a few months, Senegal withdrew, and the Sudanese 

Republic was renamed Mali.63
23

PART II: THE CRISIS UNFOLDS

Mali: The Challenges of Development.

Like other newly independent countries in Africa, 

Mali faced enormous political, geographic, and economic challenges at independence, and many of these 

persist into the present, contributing to the underlying 

causes of the current crisis. Unsurprisingly, state level 

institutions for governance and politics were underdeveloped or absent in the newly independent state. 

According to William Foltz, specific issues Mali faced 

included: 

Separation of the political process and governmental 

activity from the lives of most people . . . Existence of 

a small, relatively homogeneous political elite, lack of 

stable internal political process permitting a peaceful 

and democratic replacement of elites and offering the 

possibility of a return to political office once a person 

has lost a political contest.64

Mali’s first president, the nationalist leader Modibo Keita, was elected to the presidency of the Mali 

Federation in 1960; when the federation dissolved, 

he became president of Mali, a position he held until 

1968. In 1968, General Moussa Traoré overthrew Keita 

in a coup d’état. Under Traoré’s 2 decades of rule, 

Mali was a virtual police state in which political activity was not tolerated. The repressive climate eventually brought an end to Traoré’s 23-year regime. Robert 

Pringle, who served as U.S. ambassador to Mali between 1987 and 1990 observed:
24

In March 1991, Mali’s military dictator made the fatal 

mistake of ordering his troops to fire on students protesting in the capital, and several hundred were killed. 

In the wave of shocked public reaction that followed, 

a key military commander, Colonel Amadou Toumani 

Touré, joined the pro-democracy forces, and the dictatorship collapsed. Touré, better known as “ATT,” 

promised to hand over power to an elected government. Like Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer who took 

up arms and then returned to his fields, Touré kept his 

word, surprising many of his fellow Malians.65

Touré’s decision to relinquish power to the civilian 

government launched a new political era in Mali, 

characterized by democratic processes rather than 

violent overthrow: 

Until the 1992 presidential election Malians had never 

experienced a change of government by means other 

than a coup d’état. A decade later the 2002 election of 

ATT to the presidency marked the first time in Mali’s 

history that power would be passed from one democratically elected president to another.66

This success made Mali a symbol of Africa’s democratic potential. After the 1992 elections, Mali held 

successful, multiparty presidential elections again in 

1997, reelecting President Alpha Oumar Konaré to a 

second 5-year term.67 In 2002, a field of 24 candidates 

vied for the presidency. After two rounds of voting, 

Touré returned to power, transformed from a military 

to a civilian leader. He was elected to a second term in 

2007. Mali was seen not only as an “African” success 

story for democracy but also offered proof that Islam 

and democracy were compatible.
25

While radical Islam has inhibited the creation of democratic institutions in other parts of the Muslim world, 

Malians do not widely perceive such radicalism as a 

threat to their democracy. Indeed, radical Islam seems 

to be growing slowly—if at all—in Mali. Further, Malians see the long-standing problem of unrest and near 

anarchy in the desert north not as a democratization 

problem but rather as a security problem—that is, as a 

threat to national unity.68

Eventually, this conflict in the north, fueled in part 

by radical Islamists, felled Malian democracy when 

Touré’s civilian government was overthrown in a 

coup led by Captain Amadou Sanago in March 2012. 

President Touré went into hiding after the coup, but 

in April he resigned as part of a deal negotiated with 

the coup leaders by the ECOWAS. Under the deal, 

parliamentary leader Dioncounda Traoré, was sworn 

in as interim president at the head of a transitional 

administration pending new presidential elections set 

for July 2013.69 Touré is now in exile in Senegal. 

Mali, like many young states in Africa, has a weak 

sense of national unity and national identity. Geography poses significant challenge’s to Mali’s economic 

and political development and undermines national 

unity. Mali has no outlet to the sea, but West Africa’s 

largest river, the Niger, which originates in the highland of Guinea, flows through it. The river passes 

through many of the country’s important cities, such 

as Bamako, Timbuktu, and Gao, before entering the 

ocean along the coast of Niger. Mali is composed of 

three distinct regions, delineated primarily by the 

amount of rainfall, which ranges from 0 millimeters 

(mm) of annual precipitation in the north to 1,550-

mm in the extreme south. The Sudanese climate of the 

south allows considerable agricultural production, 
26

while grasslands are common in the semi-arid Sahel 

zone. In the north, the Saharan Desert dominates the 

countryside.70 Economic opportunities, lifestyle, and 

population characteristics differ dramatically across 

these zones. Political and economic power is strongly 

centered on the urban elites in south of the country. 

Mali’s population is very diverse, containing many 

ethnic groups. The Manding (Mandé) peoples account 

for half of Mali’s population and include the Bambara 

and Malinka ethnic groups. These two groups, which 

live in southern Mali near the capital of Bamako, are 

the largest and most politically dominant. They tend 

to make up the elite that benefited from French education during the colonial period.

The Peulh (also called Fula or Fulani) account for 

about 11 percent of the population, and they farm or 

herd cattle in the Niger delta. The Seina (also called 

Senoufo), make up 9.6 percent of the population. They 

are primarily farmers, though many have migrated to 

cities for work, and live in south-east Mali. 

The Soninké who live in north-west Mali’s Sahelian zone make up 7 percent of Mali’s population. 

They trace their roots to the Ghana Empire, and trade 

is a very important part of their economic life. The 

Songhai are descendants of the people of the Soghai 

Empire that once existed around Gao. They compose 

7 percent of Mali’s population and engage in subsistence farming in southeastern Mali.

The Tuareg and the Maure (Moor) make up about 

5 percent of the population. Located in northern Mali, 

the Maure are Arab-Berbers that migrate with their 

herds between Mali and Mauritiania. The Tuareg, or 

Kel Tamasheq (Tamasheq-speaking people) as they 

refer to themselves, are nomadic pastoralists, ethnically related to Berbers, who are among the indigenous 
27

inhabitants of the Sahel and Saharan region. Countries with significant Tuareg populations include Niger (1.7 million), Mali (1.4 million), Algeria (825,000), 

Libya (620,000), and Burkina Faso (330,000).71 The 

Tuareg are primarily Muslim, though they practice a 

syncretic form of Islam, which blends many forms of 

pre-Islamic and indigenous practices.72 In Mali, they 

are predominately located in the north of the country, 

including the main population centers of Gao, Kidal, 

and Timbuktu. The Tuaregs are also notable for the 

blue, indigo-dyed “veils” worn by males to protect 

them from the desert sands while riding. Though the 

Tuareg are Muslim, women traditionally do not wear 

the veil. 

Despite the diversity of Malian society, inter-ethnic and inter-religious tolerance has been the norm.73

This is, in part, attributed to the presence of syncretic 

forms of Islam that blend Islam, including Sufi variations, with traditional practices and beliefs. Until the 

involvement of radical Islamist groups in the Tuareg 

rebellion in the north, political and economic marginalization, not religious beliefs and ethnicity, were the 

foci of the conflict. Today, however, there are new ethnic and religious dimensions to the crisis.

Other minority groups include the Dogon (4 percent of population), Bozo (2.8 percent), Diawara (1 

percent), and Xaasongaxango (1 percent). Mali is 

predominantly Muslim (90 percent), with a small 

number of Christians (4 percent) as well as others 

who follow traditional religions. French is the official language, Bambara is widely spoken. Other 

widely-spoken languages include Fulfulde (Peulh), 

Songhai, and Tamasheq, however, a great many other 

languages exist.74
28

Approximately 90 percent of Mali’s 16.3 million 

people live in the south, with the remainder distributed across the country’s sparsely inhabited north, 

which inhibits effective integration of these areas, 

and their peoples, into the state. Most of the state’s 

resources are focused on the south and its population. 

The north, particularly the Kidal administrative region 

inhabited by the Tuaregs, is very poor in comparison 

with the rest of the country, with little local economic 

activity. The region depends highly on foreign aid, 

which is focused on projects such as road building, 

irrigation, health, and education.75

Mali scores very low by most development measures. Ranked 182 out of 187 on the United Nations 

Human Development Index (HDI), Mali is labeled 

a “low human development” country. The HDI is a 

composite measure that compares life expectancy, literacy, education, standards of living, and quality of 

life. Mali’s average life expectancy is 51.9 years, and 

adults attend only 2 years of school on average.76

Economically, under the World Bank classification 

system, Mali is considered a low-income country. The 

gross national income per capita (GNI) in 2011 was 

$610. Poverty levels are high, and 43.6 percent live 

below the national poverty line.77 Mali’s economy is 

highly undiversified, and the country is dealing with 

one of the highest population growth rates in the 

world. In 2011, the population growth rate was 3 percent, driven by a total fertility rate of 6.2 percent.78 Mali 

must also deal with the effects of climate change.79

The northern Sahel zone is particularly hard hit 

by the consequences of climate change. Drought and 

desertification have increased the population’s vulnerability and raised levels of food insecurity. Mali’s 

average annual rainfall has decreased 30 percent since 
29

1998; droughts are longer and more common. Desertification, where land is becoming increasingly arid, is 

also a problem in Mali where the Sahara is moving 

southward at a rate of 48-km, about 30 miles, a year.80

As a result of the Sahara’s southern movement, Mali is 

experiencing “climate zone shift.” This shift will bring 

additional negative consequences to Mali. According to 22 global climate models that forecast to 2030, 

the most negative scenario could mean a decrease 

in rainfall by 10 percent and an increase in average 

temperatures by 1.8 degrees fahrenheit (1.4 degrees 

celsius). This scenario would result in a $300 million 

agricultural loss for Mali. Even under the most optimistic climate models, annuals losses of $120 million 

are forecast.81 This anticipated climate change will put 

even greater strains on the population and society in 

northern Mali, and increase the potential for instability that can be exploited by criminals and militants. 

Early Indicators of a Crisis in Northern Mali.

The building crisis in northern Mali went unnoticed by most people in the West. In hindsight, there 

were numerous, though perhaps unconventional, 

indicators of increasing instability. Essakane, an oasis settlement located 50 miles west of Timbuktu, is 

well-known to world music fans. Long a trading location for the Tuareg, it is home to a deep musical tradition, whose sounds evoke comparison with American 

blues music. 

Since 2001, Essakane had hosted the “Festival au 

Desert,” drawing international stars, such as Robert 

Plant, musicians from throughout Africa, and thousands of Western spectators every year. Just a few 

short years ago, a journalist described this scene:
30

In a normal December, the streets of Timbuktu are 

crawling with Western tourists. They take tours of the 

local libraries full of 12th-century manuscripts, ride 

camels into the desert to spend the night under the 

stars, and in early January, attend the Festival au Desert, a kind of Saharan Woodstock, where Tuareg and 

Malian guitarists trade blues riffs.82

By 2010, in response to the rising number of kidnappings of Westerners in the region by AQIM, the 

Malian authorities moved the festival closer in, to the 

outskirts of Timbuktu. In November 2011, three European tourists were kidnapped and a German tourist 

killed in Timbuktu.83 These attacks, the first in the city 

itself, clearly sought to undermine the tourism industry. The attacks, part of a increasingly bold strategy of 

kidnappings used by AQIM since 2008, brought additional security to the 2012 Festival au Desert. 

In 2013, the organizers announced the festival 

would be moved south to Burkina Faso. Not only had 

the festival site been destroyed, but speaking from 

the city of Gao in August 2012, a spokesman for the 

MUJAO, a splinter group of AQIM, issued a ban on all 

Western music. In their press release, the organizers 

noted, “It is an attack on our collective memory, on 

all that unites the many ethnic groups of Timbuktu.”84

In northern Mali, AQIM applied a classic al-Qaeda strategy to gain control of territory from which 

they could operate. AQIM capitalized on the lack of 

effective Malian central government presence in the 

region, while leveraging the existing conflict between 

the Tuareg and the central government to their benefit. External factors, such as the Arab Spring and fall of 

Gadaffi’s regime, also worked to AQIM’s advantage, 

as it helped drive a new phase of the Tuareg rebellion 

and contributed to the conditions that led to the mili-
31

tary coup. Though the United States and its partners 

had created a regional security framework to meet the 

threat posed by al-Qaeda, this framework was fragile, 

contained many weaknesses, and could not withstand 

the set of events that led to AQIM’s control over the 

country’s north. 

The Tuareg Rebellions. 

An ethnic minority, geographically remote from 

Mali’s capital, the Tuareg have long felt politically and 

economically marginalized. During both the French 

colonial period and after Malian independence, the 

integration of the highly independent Tuaregs into the 

state has been a much contested issue. The Tuaregs 

have a long history of conflict with the central government. Historically, these conflicts, which tend to center on the administrative region of Kidal, have been 

motivated by politics and economics, not religious 

extremism: 

The most important single element in recent northern unrest has been political disaffection among one 

group of Tuareg inhabiting the region around Kidal, 

northeast of Timbuktu. This disaffection is well documented and has had little to do with religion; rather, it 

has been a classic case of conflict between nomads and 

central authority.85

Tuareg aspirations traditionally focus on independence or autonomy, not the creation of a religious state 

or caliphate. As a result, the Tuareg separatist movement, led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), raises a potential challenge 

to Mali’s territorial integrity and internal stability. 

From the Malian central government perspective, the 

Tuareg actions are a rebellion or insurgency. 
32

The idea of a Tuareg homeland, Azawad, comprised of Tuareg populated areas in northern Mali, 

northern Niger, and southern Algeria came into being 

in the 1950s. In Mali, Azawad would include the provinces of Gao, Kidal, and Timbuktu in the north; constituting about half of Mali’s total territory. The French 

briefly considered the idea of creating an independent 

state for the Tuareg, which met with great resistance 

by Mali and other countries with a Tuareg population. 

Also at that time, the Tuareg’s identity and loyalty 

was primarily focused on their local communities, not 

nationalist aspirations.86 Indeed, even today, it is not 

clear how much of the Tuareg community supports 

an independent state, and political identity remains 

highly localized. 

The current Tuareg rebellion in Mali, which started 

January 17, 2012, is the fourth wave in a long-standing 

series of conflicts between some members of the Tuareg population and the Malian government. The first 

rebellion occurred in 1963, and involved the Kidal 

Tuareg who resented the government’s attempts to 

reduce their autonomy.87 The Tuareg attacked government targets in quick raids. Armed with Soviet 

weaponry, the Malian army conducted a vigorous 

counterinsurgency campaign and easily defeated the 

Tuaregs, who were equipped with camels and outdated small arms. The rebellion was crushed by 1964, and 

the northern Tuareg areas placed under repressive 

military administration. During the conflict, many of 

Mali’s Tuaregs fled into neighboring countries. Lieutenant Colonel Kalifa Keita of the Malian Army noted:
33

While the government had succeeded in ending the rebellion, its coercive measures alienated many Tuaregs 

who had not supported the insurgents. Atrocities and 

human rights abuses on both sides contributed to a 

climate of fear and distrust in the north. And while 

the government subsequently announced a number 

of programs to improve local infrastructure and economic opportunity, it lacked the resources to follow 

through on most of them. As a result, Tuareg grievances remained largely unaddressed, and a seething 

resentment continued in many Tuareg communities 

after 1964. Clearly the problem of instability had been 

deferred, not resolved.88

The tactics used by the Malian military included 

“massacres, poisoning of wells, and destruction of 

flocks,” all actions that violate Muslim principles of 

warfare. Indeed, the governmental response to the 

1963 rebellion still resonates in Tuareg popular culture. In 2012, the Tuareg desert blues band, Tinariwen, 

recorded the song, Soixante-Trois (63): 

‘63 has gone, but will return.

Those days have left their traces.

They murdered the old folk and a child just born.

They swooped down to the pastures and wiped out 

the cattle . . .

‘63 has gone, but will return.89

The Malian counterinsurgency campaign created a long-standing bitterness that would be fueled 

by growing perceptions of economic and political 

marginalization.

Periods of devastating drought in the Sahel between 1968 and 1974 and again from 1980 to 1985 destroyed much of the region’s livestock. Without these 

economic assets, many Tuaregs became refugees in 
34

neighboring countries or were forced to work as day 

laborers in southern Mali to survive. The loss of their 

traditional livelihoods deeply undermined the fabric 

of Tuareg society and added to social instability.90

In the late-1980s, large numbers of Tuaregs who had 

been working in Libya lost their jobs after the collapse 

of world oil prices. Gaddafi had courted the Tuareg, 

using radio broadcasts to urge them to join his military. When Libya’s attempt to militarily annex Chad 

in 1986 failed, many of these Tuaregs, who had served 

as front line troops while Libyans were more protected in the rear, returned to Mali.91 These events, in 

addition to the long-standing and unresolved grievance from the 1963 rebellion, fueled a second rebellion 

in 1990. 

The 1990 rebellion was led by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA: Mouvement 

Populaire de Libération de l’Azawad), formed by Tuareg 

exiles living in Algeria, including Iyad ag Ghali.92 The 

1990 rebellion began with a MPLA attack conducted 

on a police post by a small group of Tuareg soldiers recently returned from Libyan army camps killing 18.93

The Traoré government, under increasing pressure to 

allow more political participation, used the rebellion 

as an excuse to cancel multiparty elections. He fueled 

tensions between the north and south of the country 

by “portraying the Tuareg as ‘white-dominated feudal 

society’ that relied on black slavery to preserve their 

traditional way of life.”94

An Algerian-brokered peace treaty, signed April 

11, 1992, between the Unified Movements and Fronts 

of Azawad and the Malian government (really a transitional government following a military coup that 

ended Moussa Traoré’s 23-year rule in April 1991) 

ended the second rebellion. Known as the Tamanras-
35

set Accord for the city in Algeria where it was signed, 

it contained provisions for a cease-fire, subsequent 

integration of former combatants into special units of 

Malian armed forces, a repatriation program for people displaced by the conflict, and acknowledgement 

of the special status of Northern Mali.95 Northern Mali 

was to have increased autonomy and greater control 

over its own governance.

One of the most significant results of the Tamanrasset Accord was the formation of temporary security forces to garrison the north. These forces contained 

a fixed percentage of Malian Army and rebel combatants. The program was both a confidence building measure, as well as an employment generating 

mechanism directed at unemployed, armed Tuareg 

youths. By early 1998, “some 3000 Tuaregs combatants—probably more than ever were in the field as 

rebels at any one time—have been integrated into the 

various Malian security forces and civil service.”96

However, from the Tuareg perspective, many of the 

main components of the Tamanrasset Accord were 

never honored.97 Also, the decision to sign an agreement with the government of Mali was not unanimous 

within the MPLA, the agreement encouraged splintering within the group. As a result, though the MPLA 

formally disbanded in 1996, other groups, sometimes 

including members from the former MPLA, formed, 

and resentment continued to simmer.

In May 2006, violence again erupted; this so-called 

third rebellion lasted until 2009 and was focused primarily in the Kidal region. The perception of discrimination was again at the core of Tuareg complaints. 

A newly formed group, The May 23 Democratic Alliance for Change (ADC, Alliance Democratique du 23 

mai pour le Changement) was active in this rebellion.98
36

Included in the movement was Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, 

a former MPLA member and former rebel who had 

been integrated into the Malian armed forces under 

the Tamanrasset Accord. The complaints of the soldiers centered on the slow pace of promotion through 

the military ranks and the nature of their assignments. 

As in previous rebellions, attacks focused on government targets, including the military garrisons at 

Kidal and Menaka.99 Algeria again helped to broker 

an agreement between the government of Mali led 

by President Touré and the Tuareg. The Algiers Accords (July 2006) included greater autonomy for the 

Kidal region, economic development measures, and a 

larger role for local Tuareg in security forces. Despite 

the accord, conflict continued as a new faction of the 

ADC emerged led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga. The ADC 

continued attacks, taking 23 Malian soldiers hostage 

in August 2007. These attacks were denounced by 

the former leadership of the ADC, including Iyad Ag 

Ghali who had since run for office and was integrated 

into politics. 

The most recent Tuareg rebellion took place in 

October 2011. As Gaddafi’s regime crumbled, leaders of the various Tuareg factions met and formed the 

MNLA. Its membership drew former soldiers from 

Gaddafi’s army, including its leader, Colonel Ag Mohamed Najem, and deserters from the Malian military.100 The October meeting at a desert oasis was an 

attempt to ward off the splintering that had long undermined the Tuareg armed movements. An MNLA 

statement released at the time declared, “We’ve overcome our differences and will now present common 

political demands which reflect the profound aspirations of our population.” Demands included immediate negotiations with the Malian government.101 The 
37

most recent outbreak of the rebellion in January 2012 

followed failed attempts at dialog between the Malian 

government and the MNLA.102

On January 17, 2012, MNLA forces attacked and 

captured the northern town of Menaka, near the border with Niger. In the weeks that followed, Tuareg 

rebels established control over much of northern Mali, 

including Gao, which contains the largest military 

base in northern Mali and a strategically significant 

military base at Tessalit. Shortly after the March 21 

coup in which members of the Malian military overthrew the government of President Touré, the MNLA 

established control over Timbuktu.103 Outrage by 

some members of the Mali military over the government’s failure to properly equip troops to fight the 

heavily armed Tuareg force was a factor in the coup 

led by Captain Amadou Sanogo.104 The coup members 

accused President Touré of “incompetence in the fight 

against Islamic terror.”105 The coup, and the subsequent collapse of Mali’s military presence in the north, 

benefitted the MNLA and enabled consolidation of 

their gains. However, the secular MNLA eventually 

found itself pushed aside by AQIM and its affiliate, 

Ansar Dine.

The Impact of the Libyan Revolution.

Though many of the underlying causes of Mali’s 

complex security challenge have existed for decades, 

the overthrow of Gaddafi’s regime and the return of 

heavily armed Tuareg fighters from Libya upset the 

precarious balance of power in northern Mali.106 The 

wave of change, often referred to as the Arab Spring, 

which swept through North Africa also reenergized 

the Tuareg’s long-standing quest for greater autono-
38

my, or perhaps independence, in a geographic area 

that includes much of northern Mali. 

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had long employed Tuaregs in his military, utilizing them in conflicts both in Libya and Chad, and further afield in 

Afghanistan and Lebanon. In 1980, he declared Libya 

the natural homeland of all Tuaregs and offered them 

Libyan nationality.107 When Gaddafi lost power in October 2011, an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 Malian Tuareg 

fighters returned home.108 These fighters were heavily 

armed; the looting and sale of weapons from the Libyan government’s arsenal created a sudden influx of 

heavy weaponry in the region.109 Of specific concern 

were the 20,000 man operated portable air defense 

systems (MANPAD) the Libyan government had in 

its arsenal prior to the revolution. Of these, 5,000 have 

been secured by a multinational team under implementation of a UN disarmament, demobilization, 

and reintegration program. An unknown number 

are thought to have been destroyed during conflict, 

but fears remain that some of the weapons have been 

transported outside of Libya and may be in the hands 

of armed groups.110 The operational condition of these 

weapons is not known, as weaponry were often poorly maintained by Gaddafi’s forces, but operational 

MANPADs pose a significant threat to aircraft. 

The MLNA claimed to have 1,000 well-armed 

fighters;111 while government forces, prior to the 2012 

coup, were estimated at 7,350.112 The level of military 

experience and weaponry possessed by the current 

rebels may distinguish it from previous, less wellarmed and organized rebellions. The MNLA leaders, 

Ag Mohamed Najem and Bilal Ag Acherif, held the 

rank of colonel in Gaddafi’s army. Also, other members obtained significant military experience in earlier 
39

rebellions and the Libyan civil war.113 Some high ranking officers from the Malian army, such as Lieutenant 

Colonel Ag Mbarek Kay and Colonel Ag Bamoussa, 

also bring significant experience to the group.114 The 

MNLA had assembled an impressive arsenal, accumulated over a number of years of planning and fortified by heavy weaponry brought by fighters returned 

from Libya. They also had experience implementing 

long-range guerrilla tactics over distances of hundreds 

of miles.115

AQIM in North Africa.

There is no doubt that the Tuareg rebellion, coup, 

and the end of Gaddafi’s regime created new opportunities for AQIM to expand its influence in the Sahel and West Africa. AQIM traces its roots to Algeria. Formerly known as the Salafist for Preaching and 

Combat group (GSPC, Salafist pour la Predication et le 

Combat), they are a splinter group from the Armed 

Islamic Group (GIA) that fought a civil war against 

Algeria’s secular government in the late-1990s. They 

aligned themselves with al-Qaeda in the early 2000s, 

and changed their name to AQIM in 2006 after their 

pledge of loyalty was accepted by the al-Qaeda leadership.116 However, the extent that AQIM is controlled 

or influenced by the al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan is not clear.117

Successful Algerian counterterrorism measures 

drove AQIM from Algiers and the surrounding area, 

pushing them deeper into southern Algeria and 

neighboring countries. AQIM’s increasing presence in 

the Sahel is marked by a campaign of kidnappings for 

ransom and attempted kidnappings, focused on both 

tourists as well as UN and U.S. diplomats and aid 
40

workers, the killing of a number of hostages and an 

assassination of a Malian military official.118 Kidnapping for ransom has proven to be very lucrative for 

AQIM; between 2006 and 2011, they are believed to 

have received an estimated $70 million.119 Their overall strategy, according to Modibo Goita, is to create 

sanctuaries in which to operate, as part of the “Afghanization of the entire Sahel region.”120

Common al-Qaeda themes and narratives characterize AQIM’s messaging:

The bulk of AQIM’s messages, the speeches and statements, consist of the broad strands of Salafi-jihadi 

rhetoric, with frequent references to fitna (disorder), 

jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance), fasad (corruption), 

and the importance of fighting for the return of the 

proper way of life. Like other countries al-Qaeda has 

targeted, AQIM argues that the governments of Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia are 

composed of unbelievers and need to be replaced by 

governments that adhere to a strict interpretation of 

Islamic law (Shari’a).121

An additional goal is to rid the region of foreign 

influences, namely the United States and France. In 

mid-2010, following the death of a French hostage and 

AQIM calls for attacks on France, French government 

officials rebutted, saying that they were “at war with 

al-Qaeda.”122

The extent of the relationship and cooperation between AQIM and various factions of Tuareg rebels is 

a matter of debate; it is clear that the security vacuum 

benefited them both. 

However, the MNLA had been very adamant about 

its relationship to AQIM, denying in strong terms 

any possible link to al-Qaeda,123 and claimed it would 
41

stand as a buffer against it.124 Though not ideologically aligned, there are shared interests, and perhaps 

a pragmatic alliance, between AQIM and members 

of the Tuaregs, including tribal ties and smuggling 

of an array of items including cigarettes, migrants, 

and weapons.125 Such illegal activities are even more 

important today in a region that has seen its primary 

form of legitimate economic activity, tourism, disappear amid AQIM violence, raising the prospect that 

people may turn to AQIM, or at least tolerate them, 

for economic reasons. “Misery has made the Sahel’s 

thousands of unemployed an easy target for recruiters 

from extremist groups.”126

AQIM has pursued an integration strategy in Mali; 

marriage with locals has proven effective in developing strong local ties. For example, Mokthar Belmokhtar, an Algerian AQIM leader, married a Tuareg 

woman, the daughter of one of the chiefs of the Arab 

Barabicha tribe in northern Mali.127 AQIM has cast itself as an ally and protector of the local community. 

Regardless, the marriage of convenience or “joint offensive” that existed between AQIM and the MNLA 

in late 2011 and early 2012 seems to have soured in the 

aftermath of the coup. Each group had a starkly different—and incompatible—vision for northern Mali. 

Salafi Islam was imposed by force, through AQIM 

and its allies, Ansar Dine and MUJAO, during the 

campaign for control over the northern cities. By June 

2012, Islamist forces had seized control of the region’s 

three major cities: Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu. In Gao, 

for example, Ansar Dine imposed dress regulations 

on women, including female doctors in the hospital, part of their enforcement of a strict version of Islamic law.128 There appeared to be very close ties between Ansar Dine and AQIM, the AQIM presence in 
42

areas controlled by Ansar Dine been described as an 

everyday reality, and senior AQIM leaders including Belmokhtar, Abou Zeid, and Nabil Abu Alqama 

were seen in Timbuktu shortly after the city fell to 

Ansar Dine.129

Ansar Dine, also known as “Defenders of the 

Faith,” rose out of a splintering inside the Tuareg 

nationalist movement. The group was founded in 

November 2011 and led by the influential Tuareg nationalist leader, Iyad ag Ghali. Ag Ghali had become 

a follower of the fundamentalist Islamist group, Tabligh I Jumaat, and was subsequently sidelined by the 

broader nationalist movement.130 Ag Ghali rejected the 

MNLA goal of independence, instead stating that the 

imposition of sharia, rather than independence should 

be the primary goal.131

Though Ansar Dine is estimated to have only 300 

followers, its influence on life in areas under its control was great, with reports of: 

ordering women to wear veils and respect Islamic 

law. They have been going to hairdressers and ripping down photos of unveiled women, shutting down 

brothels and prohibiting the sale of alcoholic drinks.132

Despite their differences, Ansar Dine signed an 

agreement brokered by Algeria with the MNLA in lateMay 2012 to cooperate and work together to create an 

independent Islamic state on the territory they occupy, 

stating both sides had made concessions.133 Only a few 

days later, the merger was rejected by MNLA over the 

issue of Shari’a.134 The MNLA ultimately dropped its 

demand for independence and entered into peace negotiations with the Malian government in December 

2012. In January 2013, they welcomed the French mili-
43

tary intervention in the north, offering support on the 

ground, declaring: “We can do the job on the ground. 

We’ve got men, arms and, above all, the desire to rid 

Azawad of terrorism.”135

AQIM, itself, was not immune to splintering. In 

2011, some younger members of AQIM broke off to 

form the MUJAO. There may also be an ethnic dimension to the split as MUJOA’s leadership is made up of 

black Africans, leading to speculation they resented 

domination by AQIM’s Arab leadership. Still others 

have suggested the split was a result of suspicions 

that AQIM had been infiltrated by Algerian security 

services. Sharing the same goals as AQIM, MUJAO 

has been very active in kidnapping for ransom.136 In 

November 2012, MUJAO claimed to have ousted the 

MNLA rebels from Menaka.137

The speed at which Islamist forces were able to 

consolidate their hold over the cities in the north and 

begin to push into other areas factored into France’s 

decision to take action rather than awaiting the arrival 

of regional force. In December 2012, the UN authorized deployment of an African-led security force to 

Mali, providing a legal international mandate for the 

use of force in Mali. The AFISMA was to be composed 

of forces, drawn primarily from ECOWAS countries, 

with a 1-year mandate.138 However, creation of the 

force would take time and their level of capability was 

a concern. According to the French foreign minister, 

“France had little choice but to intervene urgently or 

Islamist forces might have made it to Bamako. . . .”139

On January 11, 2013, French air strikes on Mali 

launched Operation SERVAL. France deployed nearly 

4,000 troops to Mali, including Special Forces. Working alongside Malian troops, they quickly forced the 

Islamists out of the region’s major cities. Troops from 
44

neighboring Chad also deployed, taking heaving casualties in the fight for Kidal.140 The cost of Operation 

SERVAL as of April 16, 2013, had reached €205 million. 

The total included €91 million for strategic transport, 

€55 million for personnel and €59 million in miscellaneous costs.141 The United States provided logistical, 

technical, and intelligence support to Operation SERVAL, including air tankers to refuel French jets and 

transport planes.142 Though the Barack Obama administration had initially declared they would not provide any ground troops in support of the French April 

2013 operation, they confirmed they had deployed a 

small number of troops (approximately 22) in noncombat liaison roles to French and African troops.143

In addition, the United States provided air tanker refuelers and transport planes.144 Deciding intervention 

was in its national interests, Canada provided a C-17 

aircraft, 25 percent of Operation SERVAL’s strategic 

lift, to transport French armored vehicles, trucks, 

and troops.145

France began to withdraw its force in April 2013 

and plans to have no more than 1,000 troops in the 

country by the end of 2013. Their duties are transitioning to the regional African force, AFISMA, which 

numbered approximately 6,300 in late April.146 The 

size of the force, following the approval of a revised 

concept of operations by the African Union’s (AU) 

Peace and Security Council, will be 9,620 personnel, 

including 171 civilians, 590 police officers, and 8,859 

military personnel.147 However, it will take some time 

for AFISMA to reach full deployment. Discussions 

over the size and status of the force are ongoing. Mali, 

with the support of ECOWAS and the African Union, 

requested the UN transition the force to a peacekeeping operation when possible. A subsequent report by 
45

the UN Secretary General ruled out this option, instead proposing either:

. . . beefing-up the current multidimensional presence in Bamako and transforming it into an integrated 

political presence with a better resourced AFISMA. 

AFISMA would then have “an offensive combat and 

stabilisation mandate, focusing on extremist armed 

groups,” together with bilateral military efforts. AFISMA would then transition to a UN stabilisation 

mission once certain critical benchmarks are met. The 

second option advocates for an integrated stabilisation 

mission with a military strength of 11,200 under Chapter VII alongside a parallel force to conduct counterterrorism operations beyond the scope of the UN’s 

mandate.148

While much of the focus right now is on AFISMA 

and stabilization of the northern part of Mali, there is 

an urgent need to examine the overall regional security framework and the U.S. role in it. At the time of the 

March 2012 coup, the United States had spent nearly a 

decade developing a regional security framework. The 

coup, and the speed at with AQIM was able to capitalize on it, illustrate the fragility of this framework. Part 

III explores the weaknesses of the regional framework 

and identifies issues and challenges that will impact 

on creating a robust regional security framework.
46

PART III: THE SAHEL REGIONAL SECURITY 

FRAMEWORK

With the exception of Nigeria, a significant source 

of U.S. oil, the United States had little strategic interest in West Africa, and the Sahel in general, before 

September 11, 2001 (9/11). The U.S. regional security 

framework in the North African Sahel was born out of 

post-9/11 concerns that the region could be a possible 

haven for members of the transnational al-Qaeda network. Under the Global War on Terror paradigm, Africa, with its poor governance, ethnic conflict, extreme 

poverty, and the availability of ungoverned spaces 

could become “fertile breeding grounds for transnational Islamist terror.”149

In 2002, the U.S. State Department launched the 

Pan Sahel Initiative (PSI), which later evolved into the 

Trans Sahara Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP) 

program. In its first year, the Pan Sahel Initiative 

spent $6.25 million to conduct training and capacity 

building in Niger, Mali, Chad, and Mauritania. These 

partner military forces received training from the U.S. 

Marines and Army Special Forces and were provided 

tactical equipment such as night vision goggles.150

A defining moment that reinforced the need for a 

well-planned and coordinated regional effort against 

counterterrorism in the Sahel was the response to the 

2003 kidnapping of 32 European hostages by AQIM’s 

predecessor, the GSPC. The ensuing transnational gun 

battle went from Mali to Niger to Chad. The hunt for 

the GSPC leader, the Algerian paratrooper Amari Saifi 

known as “El Para,” involved troops from Mali, Niger, Algeria, and Chad, with support from the United 

States European Command (EUCOM).151
47

The creation of the TSCTP in 2005 further expanded the extent of the regional security framework, while 

increasing focus on the underlying socioeconomic and 

political issues that drive violence and instability. A 

collaboration between the U.S. State Department and 

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the TSCTP: 

supports African states’ efforts to improve border 

security and counterterrorism capacity while also facilitating regional cooperation, promoting democratic 

governance, and improving relations with the US.152

The regional framework was expanded to include 

Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal. With 

an anticipated budget of $100 million for 2007-13, the 

TSCTP is more heavily funded than the PSI, though 

the resources pale in comparison with the vastness of 

the continent. The TSCTP also reflects a shift, at least 

rhetorically, to a more comprehensive or whole-ofgovernment approach toward terrorism that includes 

development initiatives. While military operations 

were still to be a major focus, emphasis was placed on 

increasing collaboration above the tactical level. Other 

government agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for 

International Development (USAID) and the Department of Treasury were to address underlying issues 

ranging from educational opportunities to moneyhandling controls, caused the program to be renamed 

the Trans Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative.153

The military training exercise Flintlock launched 

the TSCTP in 2005. Flintlock is directed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sponsored by AFRICOM and the Joint Special Operations Task Force, 

and conducted by the TSCTP and Special Operations 

Forces. This multinational exercise regularly draws 
48

participants from 16 countries, including those from 

the Sahel region as well as Canada and European states. 

Flintlock 2012, scheduled for February 27-March 18 in 

Mali, was to emphasize military support to humanitarian assistance operation. It was cancelled February 

10 due to ongoing clashes between government forces 

and rebel in the country’s north.154 The smaller annual exercise, Atlas Accord, took place in Mopti, Mali, 

from February 7-15, 2012. The exercise focused on enhancing air drop capabilities and drew more than 300 

participants from seven countries.155

Organizationally, TSCTP was part of the EUCOM’s 

Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Trans Sahel (OEFTS). In 2008, the TSCTP was transferred to the newly 

established AFRICOM. The creation of AFRICOM in 

2007 reflects the U.S. Government’s militarization of 

its relationship with African governments in the last 

decade. At its establishment, AFRICOM was touted 

for its potential capacity building and humanitarian 

role in Africa, the White House emphasized its ability 

to keep the peace through security cooperation:

Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring 

peace and security to the people of Africa and promote 

our common goals of development, health, education, 

democracy, and economic growth in Africa.156

Despite such statements, which intended to quell 

African concern over the growing U.S. military presence on the continent, AFRICOM’s focus has been 

overwhelmingly on tactical level counterterrorism 

activities: 

. . . the Department of Defense’s (DoD) most significant endeavors in Africa have been undertaken in pursuit of narrowly conceived goals related to the Global 
49

War on Terrorism (GWOT). Operations in North and 

East Africa, though couched in a larger framework 

of development, long-term counterinsurgency, and a 

campaign to win “hearts and minds,” have nonetheless relied on offensive military operations focused on 

short-term objectives.157

In short, the U.S. regional security framework for 

the Sahel has focused heavily on increasing local militaries capabilities to conduct direct action, not building 

long-term community and national level institutional 

capacity and resiliency to combat violent extremism 

or the development of strong national governance. 

Debate continues over the appropriateness of a rather 

broad and ambiguous peace and security role for AFRICOM and the portrayal of it mission as “preventative.” Critics note that it is “highly plausible” that AFRICOM will use it full combatant command functions 

to respond to threats or crises on the continent, selling 

it as a preventative force creates the potential for backlash should that occur.158

Beyond failing to systematically address the drivers of conflict and extremism, some critics argue that 

increasing the ability of African partner governments 

to suppress terrorism within their own borders may 

have had the unintended consequence of increasing 

U.S. enemies. Such new counterterrorism capabilities 

have been used to repress local Muslim social and political organizations that have no link to al-Qaeda in 

an effort to reduce political challenges.159 Counterterrorism capabilities and participation in the U.S.-led 

GWOT can be used by those in power to settle longstanding scores against groups or individuals, a potential factor in the recent Mali crisis.

In his testimony before the Senate Committee on 

Foreign Relations, David Gutelius, a consulting senior 
50

fellow at Johns Hopkins University, described the 

situation in Mali:

From the beginning in 2003, key Tamashek and Arab 

populations were largely left out of PSI-sponsored 

activities, exacerbating the long-standing ill-will between these groups and the national governments of 

Niger and Mali. This fact, combined with the rhetoric 

U.S. officials and their local allies used at the time very 

quickly brought out older tensions and suspicions, 

and linked them to the U.S. military.160

Indeed, the U.S. focus on capacity building to meet 

the transnational threat emanating from Mali may 

have worsened an internal political situation that ultimately contributed to the overthrow of the civilian 

government. A more multifaceted concept of security 

threats, to include the role of effective and legitimate 

national governance on internal stability, should be 

the basis for the future, multidimensional, regional 

security framework. Such a framework, however, will 

face numerous challenges, many of which cannot be 

addressed through the use of military means alone.

Challenges of The Regional Security Framework 

in the Sahel.

Differing Priorities among Framework Members.

Differing priorities, and the lack of a common view 

of the threat, will continue to challenge the creation of 

a robust security framework in the Sahel region and 

the partnerships that will sustain it. The United States 

has held a far too narrow definition of African security 

interests; one that often conflicts directly with the security priorities held by most African states. While the 
51

threat of transnational violent extremism first drew 

the interest of the United States and remains its absolute priority, it is typically not the national priority of 

their partner countries. In these countries, the threats 

posed by corruption, poor growth, and internal instability, in addition to threats from armed groups, 

are, by pragmatism and necessity, often of far greater 

concern. In 2002, the AU established the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which established a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s 

future. Its action plan established four broad priorities 

for Africa: 

peace and security, democracy and governance, regional co-operation and integration, and capacity 

building. In addition, the framework highlights eight 

sectoral priorities, including: agriculture, human development, infrastructure, intra-African trade market 

access and the environment.161

This is not to say that the regional framework did 

not ever address U.S. priorities, however, the cooperation has been described as ad hoc and inhibited by a 

range of regional tensions. For example, in 2010, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger created the Joint 

Military Command in Tamanrasset, Algeria, to operationalize counterterrorism cooperation. Algeria and 

Mauritania conducted operations in Mali and Algeria 

and even provided Mali with training and equipment 

to fight AQIM. However, by January 2012, Algeria 

had withdrawn its cooperation in an effort to get Mali 

to address the Tuareg issue.162

With the current deployment of AFISMA and 

ECOWAS troops into Mali, the regional security 

framework has undergone a de facto expansion—and 

now includes a far broader range of countries. While 

this expanded framework brings benefits, not least of 
52

which is an African solution to the Mali crisis, it will 

increase the challenge of coordination and consensus 

building. These countries, too, are constrained by their 

national priorities. The Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) is 

struggling to recover from a decade-long civil war, 

while Guinea’s politics are marked by coups and cancelled elections. Nigeria, which at 1,200 troops is making one of the largest contributions to AFISMA, faces 

a growing conflict between the government and the 

Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, that will dominate its security concerns. 

Two thousand Chadian troops played a significant 

role in Operation SERVAL. Long an ally of France, 

Chad, at 1,800 troops, is also a major contributor to 

AFISMA and will likely expand its role in the region’s 

security framework. But Chad faces its own internal 

challenges. In May 2013, two senior generals, among 

others, were arrested for plotting a coup; though critics contend the government’s actions were to suppress 

opponents of President Idriss Deby.163

When the crisis broke, Mauritania reinforced its 

border with Mali, helping to contain the situation. 

But Mauritania also faces increasing protests by the 

Democratic Opposition Coordinating Body, which is 

calling for President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and 

his government to step down.164

While not an exhaustive list, these are representative of the issues that will compete with the priorities 

of a regional security framework.

Lack of Long Term Partnerships.

The lack of long-term alliances with many of the 

countries in the region hampered a rapid and robust 

U.S. response to regional threats emanating from 
53

there. Today, it is well understood within the DoD 

that “You can’t surge trust. You must build it slowly 

and deliberately before a crisis occurs.”165 Any regional framework must rest on the creation of long-term 

partnerships, however, both budgetary constraints 

and higher priority security issues in other regions 

will undermine sustained focus on the Sahel. 

Prior to 9/11, U.S. bilateral relations in North Africa focused primarily on Egypt, not the Maghreb, with 

a notable exception of Morocco. Much of North Africa 

and the Sahel has long been part of a French sphere of 

influence on the continent, and the United States has 

few deep commercial or economic ties. Similarly, in 

West Africa, U.S. relations have focused primarily on 

Nigeria, a major source of U.S. oil supplies and Senegal, which participated in Operation DESERT STORM. 

When the need arose to address the AQIM threat, the 

United States did not have a network of deep partnerships, especially at the military-to-military level, to 

draw on in the region; the gaps and seams in this network undermined the overall efficacy of the security 

framework.

While the United States has had a long-standing 

diplomatic relationship with many countries in the 

Sahel zone, the focus was typically on humanitarian 

and development aid, not military cooperation. With 

the notable exception of Morocco, deep bilateral military-to-military relationships in North Africa and the 

Sahel, especially with French speaking countries are 

also a post-9/11 phenomenon. The United States and 

Algeria, for example, conducted their first formal joint 

military dialogue in Washington, DC, in May 2005.

Following 9/11, the George Bush administration 

launched a major policy aimed at creating a deeper 

network of relations in the region in order to address 
54

global terrorism. The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) focused on democratization, in addition 

to economic growth, education, and women’s development. The political overtones of this initiative complicated efforts to build these relationships as regional 

governments were resistant to externally imposed political reform. It did not help that the MEPI program 

was launched at the same time that the United States 

invaded Iraq, an event that was to unleash a “democratic tsunami” in the region. The timing sent a message to the region’s leaders that they could face the 

same outcome and increased resistance to externally 

imposed political reform.166 Though MEPI’s budget 

has increased over time, it was initially poorly resourced, signifying that, despite rhetoric, the region 

and its role in GWOT were not a priority. The extent of 

the disparity between funds to fight war and money 

to prevent potential conflict was noted in a congressional hearing on MEPI by Representative (New York) 

Eliot Engel:

I find it ironic, almost surreal, that we are here discussing a program designed to help foster democratization 

in the Middle East through an incrementalist program 

just as our troops are poised to invade Iraq and bring 

democracy there forcefully. We look at the budget. 

We have $145 million for the Middle East Peace Initiative, and we have $145 billion for war and rebuilding 

in Iraq.167

Indeed, more pressing issues in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later the Horn of Africa, continued to draw 

increasingly scarce U.S. financial and diplomatic resources away from potential initiatives in the Sahel. 

The long adversarial relationship with Libyan 

ruler Muammar Gaddafi excluded it from the U.S.-led 
55

regional security framework. The antagonism extended for decades, fueled by Gaddafi’s nationalization 

of oil companies in 1972, the Gulf of Sidra incident 

and Libya’s role in the downing of the airliner PAN 

AM 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Though the United 

States and Libya began a normalization process prior 

to the Libyan revolution in 2011, it was not involved 

in formal mechanisms of the U.S. regional security 

framework. As a result, the framework had a crucial 

and critical gap. Sharing a long border with Algeria, 

perhaps the closest U.S. partner in the region today, 

and having a long-term relationship with the Tuaregs, 

Libya was a major player in the regional security 

framework, even if the United States did not wish to 

acknowledge it. In addition to his support for the Tuareg and their integration into his military, Gaddafi 

also used his oil wealth to pay for essential services 

in neighboring countries, giving him considerable influence and reach. Burkina Faso, for example, offered 

him exile at the time of the Libyan revolution.

The demise of Gaddafi’s regime, hastened by the 

NATO-led Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, was a 

catalyst that drove the events leading to the crisis in 

northern Mali. While the Libyan revolution may eventually lead to the development of a stable government 

with civil society participation, its current instability 

in the short term, and the potential for Libya itself to 

develop into a safe haven will dramatically impact the 

region’s future security framework.
56

Competing Interests and Capabilities Among Regional 

Partners.

Within the TSCTP regional framework, the differing interests, priorities, and capabilities of the member 

states can undermine the effectiveness of the overall 

framework. In light of AQIM’s Algerian roots, Mali 

views them as an Algerian problem, and has doubts 

about Algeria’s level of cooperation. Conversely, Algeria sees Mali as the weak link in the chain, not committed to dealing with AQIM.168 Indeed, the state of relations between Algeria and Mali has been described as 

a “rupture of the strategic alliance” during President 

Touré’s term. This situation undermined security cooperation to the advantage of both AQIM and Ansar 

Dine. To avoid getting drawn into an internal conflict 

between the Tuareg and the government, Algeria did 

not intervene when the rebels took the strategic border town of Tessalit and did not help Malian forces 

hold Kidal, despite the General Staff Joint Operations 

Committee (CEMOC) of the region’s countries (Mali, 

Mauritania, Niger, and Algeria) being based in Tamanrasset, southern Algeria.169

At the same time, Algeria has long played a role in 

mediating between Mali and the Tuareg, promoting 

a political solution. In 2008, they negotiated a shortlived peace deal. Algeria has also played a key role 

in the development of regional counterterrorism capability, providing military support to Mali, including 

logistics, training, and equipment, especially along 

their shared border. Algeria has given Malian soldiers, 

both officers and noncommissioned officers, access to 

Algerian military schools. In January 2012, Algeria 

temporarily froze military support to Mali after Mali 

suspended counterterror operations in Gao, Kidal, 
57

and Timbuktu to focus on addressing the Tuareg rebellion. At the same time, Algeria launched a diplomatic effort to mediate between the MNLA and the 

Malian government.170 Algerian diplomats reportedly 

tried to pressure the Tuareg into talks. Algeria refused 

to treat wounded MNLA fighters, instead insisting on 

maintaining its neutral stance in the conflict.171

Distrust, especially over the disputed Western Sahel territory, has long characterized the Algerian-Moroccan relationship. Algeria has accused Morocco of 

hosting and supporting the Armed Islamic Group of 

Algeria, an accusation Morocco denies.172 Conversely, 

some Moroccan officials have accused Algeria of involvement in the 1994 Marrakesh bombing. These tensions led to the closing of their shared border in 1994; 

it remains closed. 

While Algeria is often concerned that the actions 

of its neighbors are counter to Algerian interests and 

keeps a wary eye on partnerships such as French-Niger cooperation, it also does not want to be excluded 

from regional alliances. Algeria is not part of ECOWAS and is not a participant in AFISMA. However, Algerian permission to overfly its territory was crucial to 

the success of Operation SERVAL.173

Memories of the Algerian War of Independence 

always overshadow the Algerian-French relationship. 

The war, much of which took the form of an urban 

guerilla campaign, lasted from 1954 until Algeria’s 

independence in 1962. Estimates of Algerian casualties range from 1 to 1.5 million; the French lost over 

25,000, with another 65,000 wounded. There is enormous sensitivity inside Algeria to the idea of French 

military deployment on their border. In the run up to 

Operation SERVAL, Algeria pushed for a political, not 

military, solution to the problem of northern Mali. 
58

Differing Levels of Military Capability among 

the Partners.

Among the countries in the regional framework, 

Algeria’s military, with a force of 147,000 (127,000 active duty) and a budget exceeding $5 billion a year, is 

by far the largest, and likely the most well-trained.174

As Warner notes: 

Having fought insurgency and terrorism since the 

early 1990s, Algeria’s military was also one of the 

strongest, most capable and most battle-hardened in 

the region.175

Other regional forces are much smaller in comparison. 

Even Chad, which actively participated in Operation 

SERVAL and has had a number of notable counterterrorism successes, has a force of only 23,350 and a 

budget of $436 million. With a strength of 7,750 troops 

(before the coup) and a budget of $174 million, Mali 

and Niger (5,300 troops, $53.1 million budget) have 

few resources to control their vast territories.176

In a very real sense, Mali’s current crisis is—at least 

in part—a result of Algeria’s counterterrorism success, 

especially its activities in remote Kabylie Mountains. 

There, in the fall of 2012, the local Berbers population 

began to turn against AQIM. Frustrated by the impact 

of kidnappings on their essential tourist economy, 

they began to assist security forces and provide them 

with information leading to the capture or killing of 

militants. The most significant event was the October 

14 killing of Bekkai Boualem, also known as Khaled 

El Mig, the head of external relations for AQIM, by 

security forces.177 Their success pushed AQIM further 

south, into northern Mali. 
59

Such a “whack-a-mole” approach is also reflected 

in the level and type of training provided by the United States to its regional partners, which focused overwhelmingly on tactical level capabilities. There seems 

to have been little attention to strategic level considerations and the linkages between the three levels of war. 

Operational considerations, such as how residents of 

northern Mali, including the Tuareg, would perceive 

the U.S. and Malian government counterterrorism cooperation, seem to have been overlooked or ignored. 

Though a key element of the military-to-military 

engagement was to promote professionalism and deference to civilian authority, the coup in Mali was led 

by a U.S. trained officer, Captain Sandogo. This fact, 

and the human rights violations by Malian forces, 

suggests that more training is needed in this area. According to General Carter F. Ham, former commander 

of AFRICOM: 

From a purely military standpoint, U.S. forces focused Malian training almost exclusively on tactical 

and technical matters such as operating equipment, 

improving tactical effectiveness and aerial re-supply 

to remote bases. All of which is very, very good, we 

didn’t spend, probably, the requisite time focusing on 

values, ethics and military ethos.178

In the future, development of the regional security 

framework should broaden to include a focus on security sector reform, including strengthening the civilian 

institutions that uphold the rule of law, not just security force assistance and tactical level capabilities. Here, 

African institutions such as the AU and ECOWAS 

may be able to take the lead or provide a substantial 

supporting role. The AU developed a common Security Sector Reform framework, and ECOWAS adopted 

the Code of Conduct for the Armed Forces and Security 
60

Services in West Africa. Again, increasing security force 

capability without institutional development reform 

could worsen the situation in Mali.179

However, ECOWAS’ mandate in Mali, and its 

troops’ capabilities, is limited. AFISMA is initially 

authorized to operate only for 1 year, until December 2013. Much of that time will be spent organizing and deploying the troops. Critics in the UN and 

Europe describe ECOWAS’ initial plan for deployment as confused and inadequate, a factor that led to 

France’s action. 

The internal chaos in Mali further complicates the 

deployment of AFISMA troops. Following the coup, 

the Malian military broke up into various factions, 

leaving ECOWAS with no single representative to coordinate and define the military mission. The armies 

of ECOWAS also have primary expertise in forested 

terrain, not the arid terrain of the Sahel. 

The Sahel’s Increasing Vulnerability to Humanitarian 

Crisis.

During the crisis in northern Mali, Mali and the 

surrounding countries faced a severe humanitarian 

crisis that was rooted in long-term food insecurity 

issues and worsened by increasing flows of refugees 

fleeing conflict areas. In April 2012, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that: 

more than 16 million people were facing food security 

issues including more than 1 million children under 

the age of five who are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, putting them at risk of death from starvation or 

disease in the Sahel Region of Western Africa.180
61

In Mali, 178,000 children were at risk, 330,000 in Niger, 

127,000 in Chad, and 208,000 in Northern Nigeria.181

After the coup and increase in fighting in the north, 

few humanitarian organizations were able to remain 

in the area and provide services. The United Nations 

had no presence during the conflict. The FAO issued a 

warning for Mali:

The humanitarian situation, particularly for pastoralists, is a matter of very deep concern as insecurity 

worsens in Mali and the food supply is disrupted. 

Extreme food insecurity or localized famine situations cannot be excluded if this situation lasts two 

or three additional months. (Emphasis in original.) 182

Historically, food insecurity and famine among 

the Tuareg is linked to periods of mobilization among 

the population for anti-government action. A hunger 

crisis and the government’s inability to address it adequately could lead to additional support for the Tuareg rebels and increased calls for independence.183

Fighting in the north also created a refugee crisis. 

As of February 2013, there were 260,665 estimated 

internal displaced persons in Mali. Of these, 76,500 

were located in the north (Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal), 

as many others fled south during the conflict.184 Malians, including large numbers of Tuaregs, also fled 

to neighboring countries. In June 2013, there were an 

estimated 170,000 refugees in Burkina Faso (49,975), 

Mauritania (74,108), and Niger (50,000).185 Issues such 

as these are, according to General Ham, “patently the 

most difficult to address.” 

In the aftermath of Operation SERVAL, some refugees and internally displaced persons have begun to 

return to their homes, and nongovernmental organizations now have access. However, the impact of the 
62

conflict will linger, and as of June 2013, northern Mali 

remained classified as a food crisis area. It will take 

time for trade and market activity to recover. As many 

of the most well-off families, who had provided jobs 

for other members of society, fled, economic opportunities became scarce.186 Even beyond the current crisis, 

Mali faces long-term food security issues that can create dissatisfaction among the population. If the state 

cannot meet their needs, others will exploit this gap.

Over the longer term, Mali must also deal with the 

effects of climate change.187 The rise of water temperatures in Gulf of Guinea has shifted flow of rain clouds 

southwards, causing even greater dryness in the Sahel. Drought has severely impacted cereal production 

across the region. In Niger, the cereal harvest was 

more than 25 percent smaller in 2011 than in previous 

years. Niger faces a shortfall of 500,000 tons of grain, 

a situation worse than the previous crises in 2005 and 

2010.188 In Mali, grain production has fallen by 41 percent compared to 2011.189 Indeed, the northern Sahel 

region has faced three droughts in the last 10 years. 

Mali’s average annual rainfall has decreased 30 

percent since 1998; droughts are longer and more 

common. Desertification, where land is becoming increasingly arid, is also a problem in Mali where the Sahara is moving southward at a rate of 48-km (30 miles) 

a year.190 As a result of the Sahara’s southern movement, Mali is experiencing climate zone shift. This 

shift will bring additional negative consequences to 

Mali. According to 22 global climate models that forecast to 2030, the most negative scenario could mean a 

decrease in rainfall by 10 percent and an increase in 

average temperatures by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. This 

scenario would result in a $300 million agricultural 

loss for Mali; even under the most optimistic climate 
63

models, annuals losses of $120 million are forecast.191

This anticipated climate change will put even greater 

strains on the population and society in northern Mali, 

and increase the potential for instability that can be 

exploited by criminals and militants. 

Internal Stability in Mali.

Finally, Mali’s own internal political and security 

issues prevented it from becoming a reliable partner 

in any regional security framework, at least until the 

current interim government was replaced with a permanent one. Any new government in Mali may face 

a potential protracted conflict with AQIM and associated groups. Though French and African forces were 

able to quickly clear the cities, many of the militants 

melted away in to the desert and highlands, and likely 

across borders, where they may regroup and plan 

new attacks.

In a foreboding sign that liberated Mali might descend into insurgency, in February 2013, MUJAO militants used canoes to cross the Niger river and infiltrate 

Gao, launching three separate attacks on Malian and 

French troops. Two of the attacks were suicide bombings. No French or Malian soldiers were killed, though 

one Malian soldier was wounded.192 A few months 

later in May 2013, two Malian soldiers were killed by 

a suicide bomber in Gao.193

Also recovered in northern Mali was a copy of 

an AQAP-authored document containing 22 ways to 

avoid drone detection/attacks. Options range from 

the low tech, such as the use of reflective pieces of 

glass on roof of car or building or hiding under trees 

trees, to high tech, including the use of Russian-made 

sky grabber device to infiltrate the drone’s waves and 
64

the frequencies. The device is available in the market 

for $2,595.194 Though it is unclear how successful such 

tactics are against drones’ electronic countermeasures, 

the document illustrates information sharing across 

the al-Qaeda network and the potential for low technology approaches to facilitate sustainment of longterm conflict in the region. To build security in the 

north long-term security sector reform and political 

legitimacy are essential.

The institution of a new government recognized 

as legitimate by the country as a whole is an absolute 

requirement for Mali to be able to address the security 

situation in the north. It is not clear if that will happen. 

In December 2012, prime minister Cheick Modibo 

Derra and his cabinet resigned abruptly, following his 

arrest by a soldier. The country’s military leadership 

accused him of playing a personal agenda.195

Presidential elections, originally scheduled for 

April 2013, took place in July and August 2013. Despite 

the challenges posed by geography, severe weather, 

and security issues, the electoral process was largely 

considered to be credible. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 

often referred to as IBK, won the presidency in a second round of voting. He and his opponent, Soumaila 

Cissé, received the most votes of the 27 candidates 

that stood in the first round of voting. Keita served as 

Mali’s prime minister from 1994 to 2000. The successful election will allow Mali to access $4 billion in aid 

from international donors that was suspended following the coup.196

A new government will have to be constructed 

against a backdrop of growing ethnic tensions unleashed during the conflict in the north. During the 

conflict, Malians of Arab or Tuareg descent were looted or harassed, targeted on the basis of their physi-
65

cal appearance. Malian soldiers have been accused of 

such targeting and committing atrocities against those 

from the north. According to one report, “People with 

fair skin (notably Tuaregs and Arabs) no longer use 

buses to travel between the north and the south.”197

Long simmering tensions have now erupted and will 

need to be addressed if there is to be stability in the 

long term.

President Keita has stated that a lasting peace 

deal—a real peace with the Tuareg—is his first priority. According to a ceasefire that allowed voting to take 

place in northern Mali, Keita’s government must open 

talks with the Tuaregs within 60 days. Any chance for 

long-term stability of Mali rests on the successful conclusion of an agreement and its implementation.198

CONCLUSION

While there is no doubt that the presence of AQIM 

in northern Mali is a counterterrorism problem for the 

United States, the solutions to the crisis in Mali are 

as much political and economic, if not more so, than 

military. Long-term stability and resiliency against 

militant Islamic extremism depends on an approach in 

which the indirect lines of operation, such as economic development, strengthening of political institutions, 

and the amelioration of the effects of climate change, 

work alongside the careful application of direct action 

against the threat of violent extremism. 

This will be impossible to achieve without the full 

support of the new Malian government. The position 

the government adopts toward the Tuareg movements, both nationalist and religious, will determine 

the likelihood of bringing long-term stability to Mali. 

Should the government decide that it will not nego-
66

tiate with Ansar Dine, this will severely complicate 

efforts to normalize the north and will allow for the 

continuation of grievances than can again be exploited 

by AQIM. Similarly, in their joint support for Operation SERVAL, the secular, nationalist Tuaregs and the 

Malian government found themselves on the same 

side of an issue. Though unplanned, this alignment 

offers the opportunity for renewed negotiation on the 

status of the Tuareg and the conditions in the north of 

the country. 

U.S. policymakers should adopt a more multidimensional view of security in Mali, and indeed, Africa 

overall. While countering violent extremists must remain a priority, increased emphasis should be focused 

on the issues that create the safe havens in which they 

hide. Physical security, often secured through military and law enforcement efforts, is a prerequisite for 

the development of institutions of good governance. 

Without such institutions physical security is fleeting 

and needs constant intervention when a crisis erupts.

Building stability in Mali will require a long-term, 

focused commitment of money and diplomatic effort. 

Such costs are difficult to justify, especially at a time 

when the United States and its European allies face 

enormous economic challenges. However, the investment in social, political, and economic development 

to address the underlying or “upstream” factors that 

lead to instability may be a far less expensive option 

than paying for military intervention when a crisis 

erupts. In the 5 years before the coup, the United States 

provided about $400 million in civilian assistance programs to Mali. The first 6 months of Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR in Libya, however, cost the United 

States $1 billion.199 While military assistance was not 

responsible for the crisis in Mali, the balance between 
67

military and civilian forms of assistance in creating 

overall security should be given serious consideration. Long-term persistent partnerships with key 

partner nations must integrate any counterterrorism 

campaign into a multidimensional approach to security that seeks to address diverse types of threats and 

potential threats. 

ENDNOTES 

1. Office of the Press Secretary, Statement by the Press Secretary on Mali, Washington, DC, The White House, March 22, 2012, 

available from www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/22/

statement-press-secretary-mali.

2. Lyrics from the group, Tinariwen, available from www.tinariwen.com/tassili-lyrics/.

3. In 2009, the Obama administration requested the term 

“Global War on Terror” be replaced with the “long war” or, more 

commonly, “overseas contingency operation.” See Scott Wilson 

and Al Kamen, “‘Global War on Terror’ is Given a New Name,” 

The Washington Post, March 25, 2009, available from articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-03-25/politics/36918330_1_congressional-testimony-obama-administration-memo.

4. Atlas Accord, available from www.africom.mil/what-we-do/

exercises/atlas-accord.

5. United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 

2085, passed in December 2012, authorized deployment of an 

African-led International Support Mission to Mali. Earlier resolutions, UNSC 2056 called for the restoration of constitutional 

order. UNSCR 2071 authorized the African Union (AU) and the 

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to plan 

for military intervention in Mali. UNSCR 2085 available from 

www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10870.doc.htm.

6. David Lewis, “Analysis: Mali Coup Shakes Cocktail of 

Instability in Sahel,” Reuters, March 24, 2012.
68

7. Anne Gearan and Craig Whitlock, “Panetta ‘Confident’ 

that U.S. Will Clear Legal Hurdles to Helping France in Mali,” 

The Washington Post, January 16, 2013.

8. “US Military Sending Air Tankers to Refuel French 

Jets Over Mali,” The Guardian (UK), January 27, 2013, 

available from www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/27/us-militarytankers-french-mali.

9. Adam Entous and Siobhan Gorman, “US to Expand Role 

in Africa,” The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2013, available from 

online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732364490457827037413070

8196.html.

10. In April 2012, the United States suspended $13 million 

of its $140 million dollar aid program for Mali. Programs cut included health services, school construction, and agricultural development, see “US Suspends $13 Million in Aid to Mali,” Reuters, 

April 4, 2012, available from www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/usmali-usa-idUSBRE83402P20120405. Section 7008 of the Fiscal Year 

(FY)2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act, P.L. 112-74, bars State 

Department and USAID-administered aid to the government of 

any country in which a military coup or decree has overthrown 

a democratically elected government. For additional information 

on cuts to the U.S. security assistance program for Mali, see Alexis 

Arieff, “Crisis in Mali,” CRS Report for Congress, January 14, 2013, 

available from www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42664.pdf.

11. “Mali Facts,” National Geographic, available from travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/mali-facts/#.

12. Mali data (2011) retrieved from the World Bank, “World 

Development Indicators,” available from available from data.worldbank.org/country/mali.

13. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, “Mali.”

14. Ibid.

15. For a detailed analysis of Tuareg pastoral systems and 

the various Tuareg confederations, see Edmond Bernus, “Dates 

Dromedaries and Drought: Diversification in Tuareg Pastoralist 
69

Systems,” in John. G. Galaty and Douglas L. Johnson, eds. The 

World of Pastoralism Herding Systems in Comparative Perspective, 

New York: Guilford, 1990, pp. 149-176, available from horizon.

documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/b_fdi_33-

34/38699.pdf.

16. Antonio Guterres, “Why Mali Matters,” The New York 

Times (Opinion), September 4, 2012, available from www.nytimes.

com/2012/09/05/opinion/why-mali-matters.html?_r=0.

17. Angelia Sanders and Samuel Lau, Al Qaeda and the African 

Arc of Instability, Norfolk VA: Allied Command Operation (ACO) 

Civil Military Fusion Center, 2012, available from www.cimicweb.

org/cmo/medbasin/Holder/Documents/r025%20CFC%20Monthly%20

Thematic%20Report%20(03-JAN-13).pdf.

18. “Revealed Al-Qaeda’s 22 Tips for Dodging Drones,” The 

Telegraph (United Kingdom), February 21, 2013, available from 

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9886637/Revealed-alQaedas-22-tips-for-dodging-drones.html.

19. “The Al-Qaida Papers—Drones,” The Associated Press, no 

date, available from hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-papers-drones.pdf.

20. “Africa’s arc of instability has myriad causes,” The Guardian (United Kingdom) Opinion, January 19, 2013, available from 

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/20/observer-editorialmali-algeria-western-response.

21. Tyrone C. Marshall, “Africom Commander Addresses 

Concerns, Potential Solutions in Mali,” Armed Forces Press Service, 

January 24, 2013, available from www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.

aspx?id=119103.

22. The Malian empire is also sometimes referred to as the 

Manden Kurufaba.

23. For more information on Sijilmassa and the Saharan trade 

route network, see Dale R. Lightfoot and James Miller, “’Sijilmassa’: The Rise and Fall of a Walled Oasis in Medieval Morocco,” 

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 86, No. 1, 

March 1996, pp. 78-101.
70

24. For more on Ibn Battuta’s travels, see Ross E. Dunn, The 

Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century, 

Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.

25. Ibn Khaldun wrote that the Malian Empire experienced 

dynastic cycles in where a strong ruler would be followed by a 

good ruler but the quality of leadership would deteriorate by the 

third successor, causing a period of ineffective rule that would 

lead to the rise of a new strong ruler, and the dynastic cycle would 

start again. For details of Ibn Khaldun’s theory, see Ralph A. Austen and Jan Jansen, “History, Oral Transmission and Structure in 

Ibn Khaldun’s Chronology of Mali Rulers,” History in Africa, Vol. 

23, 1996, pp. 17-28, available from https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/

bitstream/handle/1887/2778/1241586_032.pdf;jsessionid=060C3125B0

F319109C1572C1FFDF0A36?sequence=1.

26. Thomas A. Hale, Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and 

Music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998.

27. “Mansa” is a term meaning emperor or ruler.

28. A. J. H. Goodwin, “The Medieval Empire of Ghana,” South 

African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 12, 1957, pp. 108–112.

29. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “Timbuktu,” available from whc.unesco.org/

en/list/119.

30. See also Lydia Polgreen, “As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts of a Golden Age,” The New York Times, February 3, 2013, available from www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/world/

africa/saving-timbuktus-priceless-artifacts-from-militants-clutches.

html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&pagewanted=print.

31. Ishaan Tharour, “Mali’s Crisis: Terror Stalks the History Treasures of Timbuktu,” Time, April 5, 2012, available from

world.time.com/2012/04/05/malis-crisis-terror-stalks-the-historictreasures-of-timbuktu/#ixzz2JrsZXbYO.

32. Graziano Krätli, “The Book and the Sand: Restoring and 

Preserving the Ancient Desert Libraries of Mauritania—Part I,” 

World Libraries, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2004.
71

33. “Timbuktu Mausoleums Destroyed,” British Broadcasting 

Corporation (BBC), December 23, 2012, available from www.bbc.

co.uk/news/world-africa-20833010.

34. Sufism is a moderate, spiritual, and mystical form of Islam that focuses on an individual’s achievement of total commitment to God. Salafists such as Ansar Dine consider Sufism to 

be “unIslamic.” “Mali fighters destroy more Timbuktu tombs,” 

Al Jazeera, December 23, 2012, available from www.aljazeera.com/

news/africa/2012/12/2012122317115353560.html.

35. Luke Harding, “Timbuktu Mayor: Mali Rebels Torched 

Library of Historic Manuscripts,” The Guardian (UK), January, 28, 

2013, available from www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/28/malitimbuktu-library-ancient-manuscripts.

36. Polgreen, “As Extremists Invaded.”

37. Tristan McConnell, “How Timbuktu Saved its Books,” 

Harper’s Magazine, February 4, 2013, available from harpers.org/

blog/2013/02/how-timbuktu-saved-its-book/.

38. “Director-General visits Mali with French President Hollande,” UNESCO, February 3, 2013, available from www.unesco.

org/new/en/unesco/resources/director-general-visits-mali-with-frenchpresident-francois-hollande/.

39. For more on the impact of the development of the compass, see Amir Aczel, The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that 

Changed the World, New York: Harcourt Books, 2001. 

40. By far the best description of the world system prior to the 

Age of Discovery is Janet Abu Lughod, Before European Hegemony: 

The World System AD 1250-1350, Oxford, UK: Oxford University 

Press, 1989. See, in particular, the final chapter on the restructuring of the 13th century world system. 

41. The full title of the work is Description de l’Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’armée française (Description of Egypt, or the Collection of Observations and Research which Were Made in Egypt during 

the Expedition of the French Army). The World Digital Library has 
72

scanned digital copies of much of this work, available from www.

wdl.org/en/item/80/.

42. Many of Burton’s writings are in the public domain and 

available free in digital form. This includes his two-volume account of West Africa: To the Gold Coast for Gold. A Personal Narrative

(1883). 

43. Martin Dugard, “Stanley Meets Livingston,” The Smithsonian, October 2003, available from www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/livingstone.html.

44. For an excellent, detailed account of European imperial 

expansion into Africa, see Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876-1912, 

New York: Avon Books, 1991. 

45. This area was originally called Upper Senegal in 1880 and 

renamed French Sudan in 1890. The territorial components of the 

French Sudan changed numerous times; at one time French Sudan 

split into Upper Senegal and Niger. By 1920, it was again called 

the French Sudan, and this name remained in use until Mali’s independence in 1960. 

46. Norman Dwight Harris: “French Colonial Expansion in 

West Africa, the Sudan and the Sahara,” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1911, pp 353-373.

47. The African Franc (CFA) replaced it in 1945 and is still 

used in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinuea-Bissau, Mali, 

Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

48. An English translation of Rene Caillie’s book, Travels 

Through Central Africa to Timbuctoo: and Across the Great Desert to 

Morocco, Performed in the Years 1824-1828 Vols. 1 and 2, is available from books.google.com/books?id=ex5OAAAAcAAJ&printsec=fro

ntcover&dq=rene+Callié&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gqlpUbDQNYa08QTU5o

GQBg&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=rene%20caillie&f=false. 

His description of Timbuktu can be found in Vol. 2.

49. Ibid., p. 49.
73

50. Ibid., p. 83.

51. Ibid., p. 64.

52. Note the language and imagery used to describe the Tuareg, this is representative of a colonial narrative that constructed 

a Tuareg identity that is still influential today. See Edward L. Bimberg, “Faceless Warriors of the Sahara,” Military History, January/

February 2006. 

53. Martin Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 139.

54. A. S. Kanya-Forstner, The Conquest of the Western Sahara: A 

Study of French Military Imperialism, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge 

University Press, 1969.

55. Ibid.

56. Francesca Davis Di Piazza, Mali in Pictures, Minneapolis, 

MN: Lerner Publishing, 2007.

57. Matthew Saltmarsh, “Colonial Soldiers Want more from 

France,” The New York Times, August 12, 2009, available from 

www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/europe/13iht-vets.html?page

wanted=all&_r=0.

58. John D. Hargreaves, Decolonization in Africa, London, UK: 

Longman, 1996.

59. Global Security, “Algerian National Liberation (1954-

1962),” available from www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/

algeria.htm.

60. Serge Berstein, The Republic of De Gaulle 1958-1969, Paris, 

France: Institut d’Etudes Politiques, 2006.

61. “France Remembers the Algerian War, 50 Years On,” 

France 24, March 19, 2012, available from www.france24.com/en/

20120316-commemorations-mark-end-algerian-war-independencefrance-evian-accords.
74

62. Many French colonies achieved independence in 1960: Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Gabon, Ivory Coast, 

and Chad.

63. William J. Foltz, From French West Africa to the Mali Federation, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1965.

64. Ibid., p. 189.

65. Robert Pringle, “Miracle in Mali,” The Wilson Quarterly, 

Vol. 30, No. 2, 2006, pp. 31-39, available from www.wilsonquarterly.

com/essays/miracle-in-mali.

66. Susanna D. Wing, Constructing Democracy in Africa: Mali in 

Transition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 8.

67. The Malian constitution limits the president to two 

5-year terms.

68. Robert Pringle, “Democratization in Mali: Putting History 

to Work,” Washington, DC: U.S. Institutes of Peace, 2006, p. 1.

69. “Mali President Touré Resigns in Deal with Coup Leaders,” BBC, April 8, 2012, available from www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldafrica-17653882.

70. L. Diarra and H. Breman, “The Influence of Rainfall on 

the Productivity of Grasslands” in Evaluation and Mapping of 

Tropical African Rangelands, Proceedings of the Seminar 3-6 March 

1975, Bamako Mali, International Livestock Centre for Africa, 

Ethiopia, 1975.

71. Population figures are estimates and based on the CIA 

World Factbook, Tuaregs make up approximately 10 percent of 

population in Mali and Niger. 

72. H. T. Norris, The Tuaregs: Their Islamic Legacy and Diffusion 

in the Sahel, Warminster (UK): Aris & Phillips, 1975.

73. Ibid.
75

74. Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of 

Minorities and Indigenous Peoples—Mali: Overview, 2007, available 

from www.refworld.org/docid/4954ce5bc.html. 

75. Robert Pringle, “Democratization in Mali: Putting History 

to Work,” Washington DC: U.S. Institutes of Peace, 2006.

76. Mali’s neighbors, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger, are 

ranked 183, 184, and 186, respectively. See “Mali Country Profile: 

Human Development Indicators,” available from hdrstats.undp.

org/en/countries/profiles/MLI.html.

77. World Bank, “Mali.” 

78. The total fertility rate is the average number of children 

born to a woman over her lifetime. This figure is typically reported at the country level. 

79. World Bank, “Mali Overview.” 

80. Wieteke Aster Holthuijzen and Jacqueline Rugaimukamu 

Maximillian, “Dry, Hot, and Brutal: Desertification in the Sahel of Mali,” Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, Vol. 13, 

No. 7, 2011, pp. 245-268, available from www.jsd-africa.com/Jsda/

Vol13No7-Winter2011A/PDF/Dry%20Hot%20and%20Brutal.Wieteke%20Holthuijzen.pdf.

81. “Shaping Climate-Resilient Development: A Framework 

for Decision-Making,” Economics of Climate Adaption Working 

Group, 2009.

82. Scott Baldauf, “Mali Moves Music Festival as Tourism 

Threatened by AQ Threat,” The Christian Science Monitor, January 

8, 2010, available from www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0108/

Mali-moves-music-festival-as-tourism-threatened-by-Al-Qaeda-threat/

(page)/2.

83. “Mali Kidnapping: One Dead and Three Seized in Timbuktu,” BBC, November 25, 2011, available from www.bbc.co.uk/

news/world-africa-15895908.

84. Tom Pryor, “Festival in the Desert Announces 2013 Plans,” 

The National Geographic Magazine, October 23, 2012, available from 
76

worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/article/content.

article/festival_in_the_desert_2013/en_US.

85. Pringle, “Democratization in Mali.”

86. Kalifa Keita, “Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the Sahel: The Tuareg Insurgency in Mali,” Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 1998. 

87. Pringle, “Democratization in Mali.”

88. Keita, pp. 10-11.

89. Lutz Barend, “Tuareg desert blues, rebellions and music 

festivals,” September, 11, 2012, Africa Interpreted’ blog by Consultancy Africa Intelligence (CAI), available from consultancy

africablog.com/2012/09/11/tuareg-desert-blues-rebellions-and-musicfestivals/.

90. Klaus M. Leisinger and Karin Schmitt, Survival in the Sahel: 

An Ecological and Developmental Challenge, The Hague, The Netherlands: International Service for National Agricultural Research, 

1995. 

91. Peter Gwin, “Mali: How Al Qaeda Claimed Timbuktu,” 

Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. December 12, 2012, available from pulitzercenter.org/reporting/timbuktu-al-qaeda-mali-libyatuareg-Qaddafi-mercenaries-obama-arab-spring-economy-tourismterrorism.

92. Andy Morgan, “The Causes of the Uprising in Northern 

Mali,” Think Africa Press, April 6, 2012, available from thinkafricapress.com/mali/causes-uprising-northern-mali-tuareg.

93. R. Poulton and I. ag.Youssouf, A Peace of Timbuktu: 

Democratic Governance, Development and African Peacemaking, Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Institute for Disarmament 

Research, 1998.

94. Wing, p. 160.
77

95. “National Pact Concluded Between the Government of 

Mali and the Unified Movements and Fronts of Azawad Giving 

Expression to the Special Status of Northern Mali,” April 1, 11, 

992, available from https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/site_media/media/accords/Mali_Peace_Accord-proof.pdf.

96. Keita, p. 18. 

97. Morgan.

98. Ag Bahanga died on August 26, 2011.

99. Ferdaous Bouhlel-Hardy, Yvan Guichaoua and Abdoulaye Tamboura, “Tuareg Crisis in Niger and Mali,” Paris, France: 

Ifri, 2007.

100. “Strife in the Sahel: A Perfect Desert Storm,” The Economist. March 17, 2012. 

101. “Ex-Gaddafi Tuareg Fighters Boost Mali Rebels,” BBC 

News Africa, October 17, 2011.

102. “Putting Mali Back on the Constitutional Track,” Dakar, 

Senegal/Brussels, Belgium: International Crisis Group, March 

26, 2012, available from www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/

alerts/2012/mali-putting-mali-back-on-the-constitutional-track.aspx.

103. Drew Hinshaw, “Mali Rebels Add Timbuktu to Areas in 

Their Control,” The Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2012.

104. Robyn Dixon and Jane Labous, “Gains of Mali’s Tuareg 

Rebels Appear Permanent, Analysts Say,” The Los Angeles Times, 

April 4, 2012. 

105. Horand Knaup, “Fighting in Mali Adds Chaos to Troubled African Region,” Spiegel Online International, May 11, 2012. 

106. International Crisis Group.

107. Poulton and Ag Youssouf.
78

108. Scott Stewart, “Mali Besieged by Fighters Fleeing Libya,” 

Stratfor, February 2, 2012, available from www.stratfor.com/weekly/

mali-besieged-fighters-fleeing-libya.

109. “Strife in the Sahel.” 

110. Andrew Chuter, “5,000 Libyan MANPADS Secured,” 

Defense News. April, 12, 2012.

111. “Strife in the Sahel.” 

112. Lesley Anne Warner, “Instability in Mali Complicates 

Regional Approach to AQIM,” World Politics Review, April 5, 

2012, p. 1-1.

113. Stewart; P. Batacchi, “Tuaregs Seized Regional Zeitgeist 

in Successful Coup,” Defense News, April 22, 2012. 

114. Ibid.

115. Peter Dorrie, “Mali’s Tuareg Rebellion Puts Region at 

Risk,” World Politics Review, March 14, 2012.

116. Jonathan Masters, “Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb 

(AQIM),” Council on Foreign Relations, 2013, available from www.

cfr.org/north-africa/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717.

117. Review of the documents seized in Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound by the Harmony Program at the Combatting 

Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point found that the discussions 

related to AQIM “were not substantive enough to inform an understanding of the relationship between AQiM and al Qai’da’s 

senior leadership and these groups.” See Nelly Lahoud, Stuart 

Caudill, Liam Collins, Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, Don Rassler, and 

Muhammad al ‘Ubayti, “Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Laden 

Sidelined?” May 3, 2012, West Point, New York: CTC. 

118. For a more comprehensive list of attacks, see John Rollins, “Al Qaeda and its Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global 

Presence and Implications for U.S. Policy,” Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, January 25, 2011.
79

119. Erin Foster-Bowser and Angelia Saunders, “Security 

Threats in the Sahel and Beyond: AQIM, Boko Haram, and al Shabaab,” Norfolk, VA: Civil Military Fusion Centre (NATO), April 

2012, available from www.cimicweb.org/cmo/medbasin/Holder/Documents/r013%20CFC%20Monthly%20Thematic%20Report%20(18-

APR-12).pdf.

120. See also Knaup, 2012.

121. Geoff D. Porter, “AQIM’s Objectives in North Africa,” 

CTC Sentinel, February 1, 2011, available available from www.ctc.

usma.edu/posts/aqim%E2%80%99s-objectives-in-north-africa.

122. John Rollins, Al Qaeda and Affiliates: A Historical Perspective, Global Presence and Implications for U.S. Policy, Washington 

DC: Congressional Research Service, January 25, 2011, p. 20. 

123. Batacchi.

124. Stewart, 2012.

125. “Strife in the Sahel.” 

126. Ibid.

127. Norman Cigar, and Stephanie E. Kramer, eds., “Al-Qaida 

After Ten Years of War: A Global Perspective of Success, Failure 

and Prospects,” Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 30, 2012; and Modibo Goita, “West Africa’s Growing 

Terrorist Threat from Confronting AQIM’s Sahelian Strategy,” 

Africa Security Brief, Washington, DC: Africa Center for Strategic 

Studies, National Defense University, 2011.

128. Raby Ould Idoumou, “AQIM Fighters impose Sharia in 

Gao,” Maghrebia, July 4, 2012, available from magharebia.com/en_

GB/articles/awi/features/2012/07/04/feature-03?change_locale=true.

129. Andrew Lebovich, “AQIM and its allies in Mali,” 

Washington, DC: The Washington Institute, February 5, 2013, 

available from www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/

aqim-and-its-allies-in-mali.
80

130. Dixon and Labous.

131. International Crisis Group, 2012.

132. William Lloyd-George, “Armed Groups in Northern Mali 

Raping Women,” IPS Inter Press Service, April 24, 2012, available 

from www.ips.org/africa/2012/04/armed-groups-in-northern-mali-raping-women/.

133. “Ansar al-Din, MNLA Sign Deal in Algiers,” Maghrebia, 

December 23, 2012.

134. “Strange Bedfellows: The MNLAs On-Again, Off-Again 

Marriage with Ansar Dine,” France 24, June 27, 2012, available 

from www.france24.com/en/20120605-mali-strange-bedfellows-mnlaansar-dine-al-qaeda-aqim-islamists-tuareg.

135. “Tuareg Forces Ready to Help French Forces in Mali,” Al 

Arabiya News, January 14, 2013, available from www.alarabiya.net/

articles/2013/01/14/260337.html.

136. Foster-Bowser and Saunders.

137. “Mali Islamists Claim Menaka Victory Against Rebels,” 

BBC News, November 19, 2012, available from www.bbc.co.uk/

news/world-africa-20404519.

138. “UN Security Council Approves Mali Intervention 

Force,” AFP, December 21, 2012, available from www.afp.com/en/

news/topstories/un-security-council-approves-mali-intervention-force.

139. “France Goes it Alone,” The Economist, January 14, 2013, 

available from www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2013/01/

french-foreign-policy.

140. “Heavy Casualties in Northern Mali Fighting,” Al 

Jazeera, February 23, 2013, available from www.aljazeera.com/news/

africa/2013/02/201322223819792689.html.

141. Jorge Bentiz, “The Cost of the French Mission in 

Mali: Operation Serval,” NATO Source Alliance News Blog, 

April 26, 2013.
81

142. “U.S. Spy Drones Aiding in Mali Conflict,” UPI, 

March 4, 2013, available from www.upi.com/Top_News/WorldNews/2013/03/04/US-spy-drones-aiding-Mali-conflict/UPI40421362411298/.

143. Craig Whitlock, “Pentagon Deploys Small Number 

of Troops to War-Torn Mali,” The Washington Post, April 30, 

2103, available from articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-30/

world/38921208_1_robert-firman-mali-bamako.

144. Adam Entous, “U.S. Agrees to Support French in Mali 

with Plane Refeuling,” The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2013, 

available from online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324039504

578266893897303204.html. 

145. David Pugliese, “Canadian Forces Mission to Mali ‘Ends 

with a Bit of Whimper’,” The Ottawa Citizen, April 18, 2013.

146. “Mali Crisis: French Troops Begin Withdrawal,” BBC, 

April 9, 2013, available from www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22079290.

147. Security Council Report, “Mali: April 2013 Monthly Forecast,” March 28, 2013, available from www.securitycouncilreport.

org/monthly-forecast/2013-04/mali_6.php.

148. Ibid.; Mali April 2013 Monthly Forecast.

149. Princeton N. Lyman and J. Stephen Morrison, “The Terrorist Threat in Africa,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, Issue 1, January/

February 2004, pp. 75-86.

150. Donna Miles, “New Counterterrorism Initiative to Focus on Southern Africa,” Armed Forces Press Service, May 17, 2005, 

available from www.eucom.mil/article/21641/New-counterterrorisminitiative-focus-Saharan.

151. Craig Whitlock, “Taking Terror Fight to North Africa 

Leads U.S. to Unlikely Alliances,” The Washington Post, October 

28, 2006, available from www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/

article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701713.html.
82

152. Lianne Kennedy Boudali, “The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership,” West Point, NY: United States Military 

Academy, The Combating Terrorism Center, April, 2007, available from www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA466542.

153. Miles.

154. “Flintlock 2012 Exercise Postponed,” Bamako, Mali: Embassy of the United States, available from mali.usembassy.gov/flintlock_2012_posponed.html.

155. “10 Things about Atlas Accord 2012,” February 

24, 2012, AFRICOM Blog, available from africom.wordpress.

com/2012/02/24/10-things-about-atlas-accord-2012/.

156. “President Bush Creates a Department of Defense Unified Combatant Command for Africa,” Washington, DC: The 

White House, February 6, 2007, available from georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070206-3.html.

157. Robert G. Berschinski, AFRICOM’s Dilemma: The “Global 

War on Terrorism,” “Capacity Buiiding,” “Humanitarianism” and the 

Future of U.S. Security Policy, Carlisle, PA: The U.S. Army War 

College, 2007, available from www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.

mil/pdffiles/pub827.pdf.

158. J. Stephen Morrison, Mark Bellamy, and Kathleen Hicks, 

“Strengthening AFRICOM’s Case,” Washington, DC: Center for 

Strategic and International Studies, March 5, 2008, available from 

csis.org/publication/strengthening-africoms-case-0.

159. David Gutelius, “U.S. Creates African Enemies Where 

None Were Before,” The Christian Science Monitor, July 11, 2003, 

available from www.csmonitor.com/2003/0711/p11s01-coop.html.

160. Testimony of Dr. David Gutelius Partner, Ishtirak Consulting Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics 

Laboratory, Before The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 

Subcommittee on African Affairs, “Examining U.S. Counterterrorism Priorities and Strategies Across Africa’s Sahel Region,” 

November 17, 2009, available from www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/

media/doc/GuteliusTestimony091117a1.pdf.
83

161. Josephine Osikena, “Africa’s Alternative Security and 

Development Partnerships,” in David J. Francis, ed., U.S. Strategy in Africa: AFRICOM, Terrorism and Security Challenges, London, UK: Routledge, 2010. Complete copy of NEPAD Framework 

Statement available from www.nepad.org/system/files/NEPAD%20

Framework%20(English).pdf. 

162. Warner, p. 1.

163. John Irish and Daniel Flynn, “Chad Emerges as African 

Power Broker as France Steps Back,” Reuters, May 8, 2013, available from ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE94707C20130508.

164. Bakari Gueye, “Mauritanian Army Boosts Border Presence,” Magharebia, April 12, 2012. 

165. Special Operations Forces Operating Concept, McDill Air 

Force Base, FL: U.S. Southern Command (USSOCOM), May 2013.

166. Dona J. Stewart: “The Greater Middle East in the Bush 

Administration’s Ideological Imagination,” The Geographical Review, Vol. 95, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 400-424. 

167. “The Middle East Partnership Initiative: Promoting Democratization in a Troubled Region,” Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia of the Committee on 

International Relations, House of Representatives, 108th Cong., 

1st Sess., March 19, 2003, available from commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa85842.000/hfa85842_0f.htm.

168. Laurence Aida Ammour, “Regional Security Cooperation in the Maghreb and the Sahel: Algeria’s Pivotal Ambivalence,” Africa Security Brief, No. 13, February 2012.

169. “Mali: The Need for Determined and Coordinated International Action,” Washington DC: International Crisis Group, 

September 24, 2012.

170. Walid Ramzi, “Algeria Freezes Mali Military Support,” 

Magharebia, January 31, 2012, available from www.magharebia.com/

cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en _GB/features/2012/01/31/feature-02.
84

171. Stewart, 2012. 

172. Miguel Hernando De Larramendi, ”Intra-Maghreb Relations: Unitary Myth and National Interests,” in Yahia H. Zoubir 

and Hazam Amirah-Fernandez, North Africa Politics, Region and 

the Limits of Transformation, London, UK: Routledge, 2008.

173. Maxime Larive, “France in War: Operation Serval,” Foreign Policy Association Blog, January 16, 2013, available from 

foreignpolicyblogs.com/2013/01/16/france-in-war-operation-serval/.

174. Ammour, based on 2010 figures from “Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security,” Stockholm International 

Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2010, Stockholm, Sweden: 

SIPRI, 2010; and The Military Balance 2010, London, UK: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010.

175. Lesley Anne Warner, “Instability in Mali Complicates 

Regional Approach to AQIM,” World Politics Review, April, 5, 

2012, p. 1-1.

176. Ammour.

177. “Algeria Gains Crucial Help in the Fight Against Al Qaeda,” The New York Times, November 3, 2012, available from www.

nytimes.com/2012/11/04/world/africa/algeria-gains-berber-help-inpushing-out-al-qaeda.html?_r=0.

178. Tyrone Marshall, “AFRICOM Commander Addresses 

Concerns, Potential Solutions in Mali,” American Forces Press Service, January 24, 2013, available from www.africom.mil/Newsroom/

Article/10234/general-ham-at-howard-university. 

179. Matthew Redding, “Mali: The Importance of SSR in Bamako,” Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Security Sector Reform Resource Center, January 9, 2013, available from www.ssrresourcecentre.org/2013/01/09/mali-the-importance-of-ssr-in-bamako/.

180. “Crisis Warning on North Africa,” The Wall Street Journal, 

April 10, 2012. 
85

181. Ibid.

182. Foreign Area Office, April 2012, p. 1.

183. Dorrie.

184. “Mali Crisis, Situation Report No. 12,” The World Food 

Programme, March 8, 2013, available from home.wfp.org/stellent/

groups/public/documents/ep/wfp255935.pdf.

185. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Operation Mali,” available from data.unhcr.org/MaliSituation/regional.php.

186. “Mali Food Security Outlook Update,” FEWS—Famine Early Warning Systems Network, May 2013, available from 

reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Mali%20Food%20

Security%20Outlook%20Update%20May%202013.pdf.

187. “The World Bank, “Mali Overview,” available from www.

worldbank.org/en/country/mali/overview.

188. Rob Bailey, “Food Crisis in West Africa: Action Needed,” 

London, UK: Chatham House, December 9, 2011. 

189. “WFP at the Forefront of Response to Complex Emergency in Mali, Bamako,” World Food Programme, March 23, 2012, 

available from www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-forefront-response-complexemergency-mali.

190. Wieteke Aster Holthuijzen and Jacqueline Rugaimukamu Maximillian, “Dry, Hot and Brutal: Desertification in the 

Sahel of Mali,” Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, Vol. 

13, No. 7, 2011, pp. 245-268, available from www.jsd-africa.com/

Jsda/Vol13No7-Winter2011A/PDF/Dry%20Hot%20and%20Brutal.

Wieteke%20Holthuijzen.pdf.

191. “Shaping Climate-Resilient Development: A Framework 

for Decision-Making, “Report of the Economics of Climate Adaptation Working Group,” San Francisco, CA: Climate Works 

Foundation, 2009, available from ccsl.iccip.net/climate_resilient.pdf.
86

192. “Mali Rebels Launch Guerrilla Attack on Gao,” Al Jazeera, 

February 11, 2013.

193. “Two Malian soldiers killed in suicide attack near Gao,” 

British Broadcasting Corporation, May 4, 2013, available from www.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22416987.

194. “The Al-Qaida Papers - Drones.”

195. Adam Nossiter, “Mali’s Prime Minister Resigns After Arrest, Mudding Plans to Retake the North,” The New York Times, 

December 12, 2012.

196. “Keita Wins Mali Polle as Cissé Concedes Defeat,” 

France 24, August 13, 2013; and Daniel Flynn and Tiemoko Diallo, “Front-runner in Mali Election Runoff Pledges to Reinforce 

Peace,” Reuters, August 9, 2013.

197. Lydia Polgreen, “Islamists’ Harsh Rule Awakens Ethnic 

Tensions in Mali,” The New York Times, February 17, 2013.

198. Flynn and Diallo.

199. Heather Hurlburt, “Mali’s Crisis Caused by Development Failures, Not Military Aid,” The Guardian, January 15, 2013.
U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE

Major General Anthony A. Cucolo III

Commandant

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STRATEGIC STUDIES INSTITUTE

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U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE PRESS

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Professor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr.

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