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| Africa North |
| Mali close to civil war? |
| 2013-01-19 |
| [Dawn] THE sudden escalation of fighting in Mali and the involvement of many NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... states, with La Belle France leading, has focused world attention on West Africa. It is not just the situation in the former French colony that has prompted Western European reaction; the 41 foreigners taken hostage -- and some reportedly killed -- by Algerian cut-throats include nationals from a number of European countries. Fierce fighting is taking place in northern Mali, where local krazed killers, joined by sympathisers from other countries, have been challenging Bamako's writ, running a parallel government, destroying the country's cultural heritage and terrorising the people. The intensity of French air strikes, followed by a ground assault helped by Malian forces to take rebel-held Diabaly, show the krazed killers' tenacity and strength. Observers feel Mali could sink into a long civil war or face a Somalia-like break-up, unless French, Malian and regional forces gain a quick victory. With Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb gaining strength, the West African region could become a powerful centre of Islamist insurgency. Those now trekking to Mali are immigrants rendered jobless after the end of the Qadaffy regime, fighters from Algeria and those loyal to Nigeria's Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... movement. Europe's concern is that this large minerals-rich region could become a base of operation for Al Qaeda-led krazed killers. The real losers, however, are the Malian people, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled their homes in the northern area to escape Ansar Dine's atrocities. As the krazed killers' behaviour elsewhere in the world shows, it is their own people whom they persecute and turn into their enemy because of the harshness of their interpretation of religion. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... depending upon how the French conduct the war, collateral damage from air strikes could turn the people against foreign involvement, leaving them between a rock and a hard place. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 That's like saying the waffles I had for breakfast are close to my stomach. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-01-19 10:04 |
| #1 Close?? |
| Posted by: tipper 2013-01-19 01:30 |