Tag Archives: war

Getting a read on Serval

Posted on June 1, 2016 by brucewhitehouse

From January 2013 through July 2014, the French military carried out on Malian territory a vast intervention codenamed Opération Serval. It has been reputed to be the largest unilateral overseas deployment of France’s armed forces since the Algerian war ended … Continue reading →

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Who wants peace in Mali?

Posted on May 27, 2015 by brucewhitehouse

“We should not be misled by talk of entering a time of peace. Peace is not the absence of war; it is the absence of the rumors of war, the threats of war, the preparations for war….” – Gil Scott … Continue reading →

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Kidal, as seen from Bamako

Posted on May 20, 2014 by brucewhitehouse

There are, of course, radically different narratives about what happened in the northern town of Kidal last weekend. One of them, which we’ll call the “loyalist narrative,” says that Moussa Mara, Mali’s dynamic and courageous prime minister, flew to Kidal … Continue reading →

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Accord and discord in Mali

Posted on June 19, 2013 by brucewhitehouse

Representatives of the Malian government and Tuareg separatist groups have signed a peace agreement in Ouagadougou, capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, and the response from abroad has been enthusiastic. The EU’s top diplomat hailed it as an “historic accord,” while … Continue reading →

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The paths of conflict diverge

Posted on June 5, 2013 by brucewhitehouse

As French troops hunted Islamist fighters in northern Mali this past winter, historian Greg Mann said that what was taking place in the region was not one war, but several. For a few months starting in January 2013, the various … Continue reading →

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