From Here to Timbuktu - The Story of Mali’s Descent Into Disaster
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/190-issues/51977-from-here-to-timbuktu-the-story-of-malis-descent-into-disaster.h
By Evelyn Leopold
Huffington Post
October 9, 2012
This Huffington Post article heatedly discusses the situation in Mali and the UN’s response to the crisis in the Sahel. According to the article, the situation in northern Mali is currently in the hands of “brutal and radical” Islamic groups, with ties to al Qaeda, who are destroying monuments and torturing civilians. ECOWAS is putting together a military force to help “liberate” the north of the country and has asked the UN Security Council for support. However, the crisis in Mali should not be seen as a product of Al Qaeda’s “atrocities” but as an outcome of the country’s rampant poverty and deeply rooted political and local inequalities, as well as the spillover from other conflicts in the region.