Sahel Blog: Tuareg rebellion in Mali's north sparks protests in South
Protests yesterday in Mali鈥檚 capital Bamako showed that the ongoing聽聽is seriously affecting politics and interethnic relations in the southern part of the country.听describes the scene:
Hundreds of Malians set up barricades and burned tyres in the streets of Bamako on Thursday, shutting down the capital in the latest protests against a rebellion that has seized several northern towns, and the government鈥檚 handling of it.
[...]
A Reuters reporter in Bamako said shops were shuttered early in the afternoon and smoke hung over parts of the city after tyres had been set on fire.
The centre of town was largely deserted except for groups of youths wandering around, the reporter said.
Yesterday鈥檚 demonstrations made international news, but protests actually began several days earlier. Military families began protesting 颈苍听, a town near the capital Bamako, on January 30th.听聽(French, my translation), writes that on Tuesday the 31st, 鈥淭he women of the military base in the town of Kati went out and marched in the direction of Koulouba [the presidential palace], burning tires on the Kati-Bamako highway.鈥� On Wednesday, military families聽聽鈥渁ttacked government buildings and targeted at least one business run by a Tuareg in鈥ati.鈥� Protesters have also, the聽says, targeted Tuareg shops 颈苍听.听聽has begun to speak of 鈥渁nti-Tuareg pogroms.鈥�
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Protesters are angry in part over what they see as the military鈥檚 lack of proper equipment. The protesters may also feel scared about the聽聽(French) and setbacks the military has faced so far. There also seems to be a perception among some protesters that the Tuaregs in the south are sympathetic to, or to blame for, the actions of their fellow tribesmen in the north. As聽聽comments, 鈥淭he demonstrations, sparked by local reports that the military ran out of ammunition and that dozens of soldiers may have been executed during rebel attacks, have raised the prospects of clashes between Malian communities.鈥�
惭补濒颈鈥檚 President Amadou Toumani Toure, who has only a few months left in office, has attempted to reassure his nervous nation and to defuse ethnic tensions. For the first time since the Tuareg rebellion resumed, he聽聽on Wednesday, 鈥減ledg[ing] not to give in to separatist demands but, in a sign of concerns that the conflict could spread, call[ing] on Malians to refrain from attacks on any particular community.鈥� (Read the full text of Toure鈥檚 speech聽, in French).
The administration is doing a lot of talking behind closed doors as well. Government representatives are聽; all signs indicate that the聽and believes one is still possible. Toure is also moving to assuage the protesters鈥� anger; yesterday morning he聽.
So long as the situation remains bad in the north, though, the possibility of protests and pogroms will remain in the south. This is a bad moment for Mali, and indeed for the region. As Fatoumata Lejeune of the UNHCR wrote on聽yesterday, 鈥�Touareg uprising 颈苍听Mali, Boko Haram 颈苍听Nigeria, Wade reelection bid 颈苍听Senegal. Too much trouble in West Africa these days!鈥�
For updates on the situation in southern Mali, I recommend following聽, a journalist based in Bamako who frequently writes for major news outfits.
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-聽Alex Thurston is a PhD student studying Islam 颈苍听Africa听补迟听Northwestern University聽and blogs at聽.
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