In late December 2012, the United Nations Security Council approved the dispatch of an “African-led intervention force” to Mali’s to help the army reconquer the north of the country from Tuareg separatists and their allied Islamist militants. But in recent days, it is not the African-led troops who have been operating in Mali. Instead, troops from former colonial power France have been unilaterally deployed to fight the rebellion in the north. Since the coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure in March 2012, Mali has undergone a multifaceted crisis: a political crisis with all of Mali’s institutions put into question, a territorial crisis where the north is controlled by Tuareg rebels who have been joined by Islamists, and a security crisis with an army that is divided, demoralized and poorly equipped. Last but not least, there is also a humanitarian crisis involving more than 800,000 refugees.

via Mali: France’s Neo-Colonial…