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Author Archives: brucewhitehouse
A deal, but will it stick?
By Sunday morning those of us in Bamako had all heard the news that broke late Saturday night: after weeks of deadlock, negotiators from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had reached an agreement with Mali’s CNRDRE junta, … Continue reading
False passports, false hopes, and false flags
Here in Bamako we’re in waiting mode while negotiations drag on over who will be the country’s president during the transition period to new elections. The CNRDRE junta’s recent call for a “national convention” on the matter appears to have … Continue reading
The problem with the political class
This past Monday Captain Amadou Sanogo, leader of Mali’s CNRDRE (the group most foreign media mistakenly label the “ex-junta”), announced that he had asked Mali’s prime minister to organize a “national convention” to choose a president to oversee the transition … Continue reading
President Sanogo?
The preoccupation in Bamako lately is what will happen on Tuesday, May 22. That’s the day when Mali’s constitutionally mandated interim period ends, and the 40-day term of office of Dioncounda Traoré, the man who’s been serving as interim president, … Continue reading
On teaching, and not teaching, in Bamako
I didn’t teach class yesterday. Normally I give a two-hour lecture on Friday afternoons, the sole weekly meeting of my “Anthropology and Development” course at Bamako’s Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines (ULSH). Then again, there’s been absolutely nothing … Continue reading
Briefs for Wednesday, May 9: Afghanistan-on-the-Niger?
We are hearing more and more worrisome news from the north. Reports from both RFI and the Algerian press indicate that jihadis from Pakistan have been arriving in Timbuktu and Kidal to join forces with Al Qaeda in the Islamic … Continue reading
Pushing all the right buttons
Mali’s strongman is a skillful communicator Since the coup d’état six weeks ago, Malians at home and abroad have been desperate to gauge the character and motivations of the men who carried it out. Starting in the early morning of … Continue reading
Au revoir Sarko
What if you were to take an opinion poll in Bamako (a purely hypothetical case — such things almost never happen) and ask, “Which world leader do you hate most?” I’m quite certain Nicolas Sarkozy would top the list. This … Continue reading
Update for Friday, 4 May
Briefs 18:30 GMT: The city was calm throughout the day and I haven’t heard shots for a couple of days now. The Bamako airport has reopened and some outbound flights managed to depart on Thursday. A team of Nigerian footballers … Continue reading
Fears, foreigners, and falsehoods
Although the day started out on a note of calm routine, the climate in Bamako has been tense since late morning, for reasons that remain unclear. As with previous days of unrest, our first warning sign came from our son’s … Continue reading
Bridges from Bamako 