Mitt adds to momentum on Mali
Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been obsessed with Mali since al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb took control of the northern part of the country earlier this year.
I’m no longer feeling so lonely. Mitt Romney mentioned it three times in last night’s presidential debate on foreign policy, and Hillary Clinton has floated the idea that terrorists based in northern Mali were involved in killing the US ambassador to Libya last month.
David Cameron has appointed a special envoy to the Sahel, who has just returned from the Malian capital, Bamako.
Not that anyone is moving very fast – at least in public. Special envoy Stephen O’Brien said today: “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb … is growing both in capability and in ambition and if we don’t act there is a very real threat of further attacks in Africa and eventually Europe, the Middle East and beyond.”
He then outlined a lengthy process involving EU, AU, UN, ECOWAS and sundry other acronym-ed organisations who need to co-ordinate any intervention.
The plan still seems to be for between 3,000 and 5,000 West African soldiers to go in, but that’s unlikely to be before the middle of next year.
The British will probably offer training to West African forces who have little experience of desert warfare, but Mr O’Brien was clear that any action must be “a local and regional effort”. They’re still stumbling around the same old problems of the government in Bamako being weak and under the thumb of the former junta.
Mr O’Brien said there might be elections in April, but he didn’t sound very convinced and it’s not clear what legitimacy such a poll would have if most in the north couldn’t vote.
Co-ordination, of course, is a good thing and many in the region are sensitive about former colonial powers such as France getting involved. It would be nice if the solution could be – as the jargon puts it – “African owned and led”.
But the jihadis are not waiting. According to AFP, 150 more arrived at the weekend, mainly from Sudan and Western Sahara.
And maybe the French won’t wait either. Reports suggest that they’re already moving drones to the region, and meeting US officials to discuss how to stop the jihadis before it’s too late.
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