HOW DID MALI GET WHERE IT IS TODAY?

Surrounded by bickering nations, Mali’s cultural adherence to its centuries-old practice of the peaceful resolution of conflict, found in the Ancient Manuscripts of Mali, has enabled this West African nation to survive.  This does not mean uninterrupted tranquility, however.  But when conflict does arise, the Malians bring all the parties together and talk the matter out until their disagreements are resolved.

Mali has not had an easy history.  After independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered several decades of droughts, rebellions, a coup, and 23 years of military dictatorship, until the country’s first democratic elections in 1992.

Twenty years later, Mali faced the triple blow of a military coup in Bamako and  -- bolstered by weaponry confiscated from the leftovers of the Libyan Civil War -- a takeover of the north by Tuarag separatists (MNLA) plus al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants (Ansar Dine, MOJWA, AQIM) who imposed extreme Sharia, destroyed ancient shrines and their contents, and then began fighting  amongst themselves.  Malians scattered in retreat.

In January 2013, French troops arrived (roughly 1200 remain today), and in July, 10,000 MINUSMA UN troops began to turn up (still in Mali today). In August, the country had, with their help, pulled itself together sufficiently to go to the polls, and Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was elected President.  Malian refugees have begun trickling back, despite sporadic bursts of violence.

On February 10, 2015, the fifth round of the inter-Malian peace negotiations was scheduled to begin in Algiers.

This is an important moment in Mali’s history.