What Do You Know About Mali?

Because I spent a month there a couple of years ago, I tend to write about news from Mali in my travel blog. But the country is falling apart and it's hardly only a matter for vacationers and would-be adventure travelers. Sure, the country's preeminent tourist destination, ancient Timbuktu, has been closed to tourists this year (kidnappings) and is now on the verge of being seized by Tuareg rebels, but it goes beyond that. It's important to remember-- though the Western media doesn't ever report it-- that the Tuaregs who are now trying to carve out their own country there, only "gave up" widespread slavery a few years ago and only because of a catastrophic drought. To the Tuaregs this was a temporary imposition and they still hold tens of thousands of people in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso in slavery. In Mali, the Bella are still slaves to the Tuareg in all but name. Keeping that in mind will help you understand why people are fleeing from the northern part of the country as the Tuaregs advance on cities like Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

So the northern part of the country is engulfed in civil war with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing south to keep from falling into the clutches of the savage Tuaregs. And the government in Bamako has been incapable of any kind of effective response. The Tuaregs are led by fighters who have returned after working as mercenaries in Libya and they'll more heavily armed and better trained than the 7,000-man Malian army. Last week junior officers in the army ousted the president, Amadou Touré, in a coup. Reporters from A.P. and other western sources are clueless about Mali and keep describing it as a successful and prosperous democracy. They have no idea what they're talking about. The U.S. Embassy in Mali hasn't even allowed any of their employees to travel into the northern two-thirds of the country for the past 5 years. A report from Al Jazeera today, at least is only partially based on fiction (much of it supplied by the A.P.). The international community is attempting to reinstate the constitutional government and Touré, who seized power himself in a coup two decades ago.

Mutinous soldiers seized the presidential palace and Mali's state television on Thursday, saying they were dissatisfied with President Amadou Toumani Toure's handling of a rebellion by Tuaregs in the north of the country.

[The African Union's Peace and Security Council Paul] Lolo said the coup leaders had to step aside to ensure Mali moved forward in an orderly manner, but he said direct military intervention was not being contemplated at the moment.

Meanwhile, coup leader Amadou Sanogo stressed unity and said he had no fears of a countercoup.

"Tuareg people in the north, Arab people, are our brothers. ... I want all of them to come to the same table," he told The Associated Press news agency in the capital, Bamako.

"Right now I'm in control of all the country."

The 39-year-old captain has made regular appearances on state television in a bid to show that he is in charge.

Insisting he had the backing of all of the armed forces, he asked the camera to pan over representatives of the police, paratroopers, air force and paramilitary police. All appeared to be low-ranking officers.

Sylvain Touati, an associate fellow at the French Institute for International Relations, told Al Jazeera that it was uncertain how much support the coup leaders had inside Mali, and that a countercoup could not be ruled out.

"It seems they have connections within the army all over the territory but it's not sure that all the sections, all the regiments  and all the soldiers in different garrisons support the coup.

"Among the population, it's clear that there is support for claims from the soldiers that they don't have enough support from the state to fight against the [Tuareg] rebellion. There is a strong nationalist movement. But most of the population was not expecting a coup."

The African Union has temporarily suspended Mali, while the European Union and Canada have frozen aid and the United States has threatened to follow suit.

Sanogo also issued a statement calling on soldiers to return to their barracks and reminding unit commanders they were responsible for their men, after residents accused troops of looting in the capital.

Few people ventured outside and there were complaints of cash machines running low on money and petrol shortages.

In the north, Tuareg fighters said they had surrounded Kidal, a major city, on Sunday.

"Thanks to Allah the almighty and his blessings, we will soon take our land in Kidal," said a statement issued by a group identifying itself as Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), adding that it wanted to establish Islamic law in the city.

Ansar Dine is fighting alongside the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) for the independence of the homeland of the nomadic desert Tuareg in the country's north.

The Tuareg desert tribes that populate the north of Mali are a minority in the vast country. Reacting to what they say is neglect from Bamako, they have staged several uprisings in recent decades.

On January 17, they launched their first rebellion since 2009, boosted by the return of heavily armed fighters from Libya, who formerly served late leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Their forces have already taken several towns and scores of soldiers are said to have been killed and captured.