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Where is Mali?
-Landlocked country in Western Africa
-Its capital city is Bamako
-The main river in Mali is the Niger
Which ethnic groups live in Mali?
-Largest ethnic group = the Bambara (36.5% of total population)
-2nd largest group = the Fulani
-The Tuareg make up 1.7% of the total population of Mali
Who are the Tuareg?
-A group of semi-nomadic herders and traders who live in northern Mali, as well as in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Libya
-Most Tuaregs are Muslim
Brief history of Mali
-Mali Empire formed in 1226 and was the dominant force in the area until the Songhai Empire comes into power (and is then defeated in 1591)
-Mali becomes a colony of France in 1898 and is called French Sudan
-It gains independence from France in 1960
What is Azawad?
-A territory of Mali that occupies 2/3 of the country, spanning the southern part of the Sahara desert and the Sahel
-It is inhabited by many different ethnic groups, including the Tuaregs, Arabs and Songhai
How did the name Azawad come about?
-In the early 1990s, several politico-military groups began to use the name ‘Azawad’ to refer to this area (and also part of Niger)
-They wanted to declare independence from those 2 postcolonial states as they blamed them for abandoning the Tuaregs + people of the north → this is a sovereignty issue as the ineffective governance of the north has caused a separatist movement
What happened in 2012?
-There is a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA)
-This rebellion happened as they wanted to create their own state that would represent their own interests
When was Azawad declared an independent state by the Tuaregs?
April 2012
How did the 2012 rebellion threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Mali?
-It threatened the sovereignty of Mali because it triggered an attempted military coup as they were unhappy with how the government had dealt with the separatist rebellion
What is the role of France in dealing with these sovereignty/territorial integrity issues?
-Malian authorities request the intervention of France after the attempted military coup
-France sent 5,000 troops as part of Operation Serval
What can Mali's challenges to sovereignty and territorial integrity be explained by?
-International borders drawn by European colonial powers in the early twentieth century had little regard for tribal lands → division of the Tuareg people
-Tuareg declaring independence for Azawad
-Conflict between other ethnic groups eg the armed conflict between the Dogon and Fulani who are fighting over the Mopti region in central Mali
What is the aim of global governance strategies in Mali?
-To sustain the global system of sovereign nation-states by restoring Malian sovereignty and territorial integrity
-Both global and regional institutions have intervened
Global governance: What is the UN mission in Mali called, when was it established and what does it do?
-MINUSMA
-Was established in 2013
-Aims to stabilise Mali + protect civilians, re-establish the state’s authority, protect human rights + give assistance to IDPs
Has this been a success? (yes)
-enabled there to be peaceful elections in 2013
-allowed for a peace agreement in 2015 between Malian gov + Tuaregs which gave them more control in the north, better representation in discussions in the capital and recognition of local leaders
-GDP per capita increased to over $2,000 in 2017
Has this been a success? (no)
-9,000 military personnel deployed by UN as part of MINUSMA in 2013
→ this has increased to 15,000 in 2020 → arguably still problems and instability in Mali
-MINUSMA stopped in 2023 as they were asked to leave by the Malian government (which had been taken over by military in a 2021 coup)
Global governance: how have ECOWAS and the African Union been involved?
-Were involved in mediation and the returning of power to civilian administration
-The success of their efforts (alongside the UN + other global groups) is shown in the 2015 peace deal that gave the Tuaregs more authority in the north
Global governance: which NGOs have been involved and how have they helped?
-Population Services International - reproductive health projects
-World Education Mali - addressing educational barriers to literacy
-Solidarites International - rebuilding health centres in the north (Gao and Timbuktu) and helping with water, hygiene, sanitation and food security
Opportunities: stability
-MINUSMA is establishing mechanisms for political, social + economic stability → restoring state control over the north of Mali (shown by peace agreement 2015)
→ provision of military force is designed to minimise terrorist activity + allow for peaceful elections to be set up → hope for long-term peace + stability
Opportunities: growth
-Allowing Mali to reduce its trade deficit by increasing economic diversity + ensuring industries like gold mining (Mali’s biggest export at 72%) are regulated to stop corruption + improve growth
-The World Bank support smallholder farmers by enhancing supply chains in farming and fishing
Opportunities: development
-Reducing the attacks on schools means that more Malian children are attending school - in 2015, the mean years of schooling was 2 but it was 5.2 in 2020 (pre-COVID)
-Other international organisations in co-operation with the Mali government include Water Aid, which works with local communities in urban + rural areas to secure sustainable water supplies and sanitation → a vital opportunity for citizens to become healthier, better educated and more food secure
Challenges: inequality
-There are still socio-economic inequalities between the north and the south → the north is underdeveloped + politically under-represented
-Urban-rural divide in terms of basic infrastructure eg sewers, electricity → many villagers feel abandoned + disconnected from the state
-Deep-rooted cultural and political divisions within/between Tuaregs, Arabs, Songhai + other ethnic groups are a major challenge for peace
→ the international community mistakenly decided to deal with the north as a whole, and this is inaccurate as not all people see Azawad as common territory
Challenges: injustice
-Government fails to protect against human rights abuses, especially against women and young girls who are more likely to experience child marriage, female genital mutilation + domestic violence
→ there are also high rates of maternal + child mortality
-The government’s inability to police its own country has led to high levels of human trafficking, drug smuggling and kidnapping
-There are abductions, killings, bombings + land mines
Note 
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