The Situation in Mali

It's a similar feeling, I imagine, to what one feels when you've been diagnosed with a terrible disease.  There's a feeling of denial that makes you have to ask yourself, "How could this happen to me?  I'm healthy!"  Similarly, Mali has for a long time had a reputation of being one of the sanctuaries of peace and Democracy in West Africa, and really the continent as a whole.  They have had a strong Democratic government for years, and relative stability, one of the freest medias in Africa, and while desperately poor as a country, and certainly not without its strifes, it just feels like a safe and happy place.  So it's amazing to me that things have gotten as out of hand as they have.

If you haven't been following the situation as it's been unravelling, over the last several months, there has been a resurgence of rebel activity in the northern part of the country from militants of the nomadic Tuareg ethnic group, MNLA, who want their own independent country in the north.  This fight has been going on for decades, but has been fairly quiet and civil, up until a couple years ago, when I was in Mali the first time.  With the combination of MNLA rebels and a rapidly increasing presence of AQIM terrorists using that desert part of the country as a safe haven, stability began to decrease.  In the last several months, MNLA has become much more determined and agressive in it's demands, and has begun advancing south into more populated areas of the country, seizing towns, killing locals, and and successfully resisting Malian troops almost the entire way.  The Malian government has been sending forces up to combat, but their lack of success at stopping the MNLA advance has angered civillians all over the country.  Combined with the long-lasting drought that has been going on, there have been nearly 200,000 refugees from Mali, either to other neighboring countries or to more central parts of the country, near Bamako.  And in Bamako, there have been demonstrations, riots, and occasional violence as people are getting fed up with watching their soldiers and countrymen killed only because of what they consider to be the weak handling of the situation by President Amadou Toumani Touré, ATT, whose already weak popularity had become total disdain by many Malians.  And that was the state of things, until Wednesday.

Despite the democratic elections being held next month, the military faction, CNRDR (National Committee for the Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State), declared a coup d'etat yesterday to oust the "incompetent and disavowed" President.  They took over the national TV station and Presidential Palace in Bamako to make this speech, and have begun arresting cabinet members.  ATT disappeared, and is reportedly hiding in a base outside the city, protected by his special guards and paratroopers.  According the Red Cross, there have been 40 injuries and one death.  A full-time nation-wide curfew has been declared, and in the meantime, NMLA has decided to take the opportunity caused by the confusion in the capital and preoccupied state of the military to "take advantage of the chaos to gain more ground" and "make new advances in their campaign to carve out a northern homeland." (http://af.reuters.com/article/maliNews/idAFL6E8EMAAJ20120322)

As for me, I've had some contact with Peace Corps officials who called me to tell me that we are on Standfast, meaning stay inside and don't try anything funny.  All day, I've been at my office, around the corner from my house, with the other 3 American staff and a couple of our Malian coworkers as well.  We've been soaking up the news, staying in contact with friends, and waiting to see what happens next.  Our plan is to head over to my house if anything heats up around here, which is not likely, but my house has lots of locking doors and is well fortified, with food and water if the worst were to happen.  We just ventured out to my house to get my external hard drive full of movies, some TV shows, and the 2008 World Series (which nobody else seems interested in watching), and some whiskey I had stowed for special occasions, such as violent military uprisings.  Nobody in the streets seem the slightest bit concerned over anything that's going on.  A truck full of armed soldiers passed by the road earlier, but it hasn't caused a bit of a stir, and people say they were probably just filling up on gas, or perhaps arresting some political figure who might live in the next town over.  We're going to start making dinner together soon, and we're keeping a good sense of humor as we wonder how this could have happened to our little Mali.  It's surreal, because by the looks of it, things seem more or less the same as they always do here in Sikoro, making the whole day seem more unbelievable.  And yet, here we are, waiting to know what the future holds.  I finally got to meet my adorable new niece over Skype, less than two weeks old, and to echo the words of her mother, my sister, I hope it will still be another year before I get to meet her in person.

Here's a nice long list of all the major Mali-related news headlines since the begining and earlier to get a better idea of what's been going on here: http://twitter.com/#!/mali