The Politics Behind French Intervention in Mali

By ⋅ January 14, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment
Yacouba Konate, 56, wears a French flag to show his support for the French military intervention in Mali in the Malian capital of Bamako (photo: Joe Penney/REUTERS)

Yacouba Konate, 56, wears a French flag to show his support for the French military intervention in Mali in the Malian capital of Bamako (photo: Joe Penney/REUTERS)

France’s military intervention in Mali represented a shift in the country’s foreign policy.

Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said France had been reluctant to intervene, preferring instead to let the Economic Community of West African States address the situation in Mali.

But the advance of the rebel Islamic forces southward toward the capital Bamako may have been the turning point for the French, said Cooke.

The fear of a rebellion in the south of Mali threatens to turn the Sahel region into a haven for terrorists, drug traffickers, hostage takers, Cooke said, and could further destabilize neighboring countries of Niger and Mauritania.

Discussion

3 comments for “The Politics Behind French Intervention in Mali”

  • sandritamason

    Why don’t any NPR programs include May Ying Welsh of Al Jazeera English? Her take on French intervention in Mali makes more sense than that of your other experts.  ” France has a huge economic interest in northern Niger. That is—northern Niger, Niger, is one of the world’s biggest reserves of uranium. France is—gets 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. And as we know, France is a major exporter of nuclear power, and it’s a major component of French’s—the France’s military-industrial entity. I mean, uranium, you know, the uranium from Niger, which is France’s former colony, really was a key for France in its own development. I mean, they developed their nuclear industry on the back of that very cheap uranium coming from northern Niger.”

  • http://twitter.com/joepenney Joe Penney

    May Ying Welsh doesn’t know what she’s talking about. People have been looking for resources in northern Mali for the 53 years Mali’s existed and no one has found anything but sand. It’s not as simple as that sorry

  • http://twitter.com/IncIncredible Incredible

    #Mali natural resources gold,& diamond but half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day