January 30, 2013 The Importance of MaliBy Georgy Gounev Media
coverage of the French reaction to the establishment of an
Islamic enclave in Mali creates the impression of a limited
operation conducted by a small military contingent. The vastness
of one of the largest and poorest African countries has helped
to reinforce such an impression. What should not be forgotten,
however, is that this picture is only the visible part of the
mighty iceberg. The early stages of the process that led to the
French intervention in Mali was connected to the appearance of
the first Islamic groups in the northern part of the country
during the 1990s. The development that brought about the
creation of an Islamic enclave in Mali was initiated by the
Islamic leftovers from the Libyan and the Algerian civil wars.
The oil-related cash that for decades flowed into Libya produced
a wave of immigrants from countries tot he south. The largest
majority of black jobseekers were looking for employment at the
numerous construction projects