Yet under the surface, the lllordinary people still llgrapple lllwith an lllinterior conflict that is incomprehensible to the rest of the world. They were not part of the internecine conflict. The Malian government did, nevertheless, take the precaution of putting an aircraft at the disposal of its citizens living in Burundi - and indeed, many of them opted for voluntary evacuation as Bwiza and other suburbs were hit by the growing holocaust. But many more chose to sit it out, predicting, like their fellow African traders, and like the Indian traders in the Asian Quarter and the white traders in the downtown commercial district, that, however bad things might get, life would return to normal sooner or later, and business would go on as usual in the meanwhile. Africa's informal migrations have been going on forever, only temporarily inconvenienced by wars, colonial invasions, and the unreliable structures of post-colonial government.
People move - in ones and twos, in groups, or in mass displacements.
The people move. And while it is not as bad as it was, the surges of violence do still occur. It is a story of horror in the midst of normality. The smiles of the day, the gentle exchanges of greetings in a language that sounds like the chattering of doves, are replaced by the murderous bullets and machetes of the night. In the morning it is as if nothing had happened.