1.    Historical Background
In order to have a precise comprehension of the Mail Conflict, the historical background should climb up to the French conquest during Imperialism. The history of Mali consists of a number of protests since the independence from the French forces consists of a number of protests, ousting of the dictator, conflict against contingent natins, famine, and other natural disasters. All these factors contributed to the current crisis in Mali. However, the real game starts from the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. To sum up the situation of the entire crisis, rebels are trying to declare an independent state in Northern Mali.
In the October of 2011, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, the MNLA, was created. The Azawad is the Northern region of Mali, and the main objective of the MNLA, is recovering the land of Azawadian by the hands of themselves and free the people of Azawad who have been illegitimately ruled under the illegal actions of the government.
In the next year of 2012, on January, the MNLA attempted belligerence on the area called Menaka located in the North. They proposed this was their reaction upon the millitary intervention of the Malian government. Also, the MNLA argued that their objective of this mission was “winning peace and justice for the Azawad community”, and stability for our nation”. The MNLA did not stop at Menaka. They prolonged their armed conflict in the northern regions of Mali, such as Ageul-hoc, Tessalit, Léré, Andéramboukane and Nianfunké. Although the wins and losses are unclear, the Malian government announced their losing of the national territory by the rebellion forces.
A number of transnational organization which were made for the guarantee of human rights of people around the world such as ‘Amnesty International’, censured the Malian government on how they dealt with the situation through imprudent usage of military forces. In fact, the Malian government used military helicopters and ballistic weaponry against not only the anti-government activists but also innocent civilians inhabiting the region. Also, during this period the MNLA denied the fact that they had any form of alliance with the Salafist Muslim extremists.
In February of 2012, President Touré called upon equanimity and congruence on the national television. Also there was a meeting between the representatives of the Malian regime and the Tuareg rebellions called ADC in Algiers. Unfortunately, the meeting merely ended with the exchange of ideas upon keeping peace in the region after two days, but it failed to have the MNLA on the table. In the very month the rebellions assaulted the city of Hombori, Kidal, Tinzawaten and Tessalit, and there was an outflow of population from the latter city. The UN Refugee Agency also known as UNHCR, reported that approximately 44,000 citizens have migrated to Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Even worse, the Aguel-hoc started to engage in the violent rebellion and take actions against the Malian government. Although the MNLA denies the fact, the possibility of cooperation between the two forces came closer to a clear answer.
While the former president Touré announced that the presidential elections take place on the 10th of June, Collective of Nationals from the north of Mali (COREN) came together in Bamako in order to retrieve the conquered land of the rebels in the north and guarantee peace and safety for the denizens at stake. Despite the efforts, the MNLA took over the city of Tessalit and the Malian government interpreted as ‘strategic withdrawal’. On top of that, it turned out that the Aguel-hoc was not the only subject of suspicion on the issue of collaboration with the rebels. The Ansar Dine which played a significant role in the Malian conflict was blamed for complicity. However, it turned out that they could be fighting for the implementation of Shariah Law, not for the independence of Azawad.
Unfortunately, another chance of peaceful mitigation was lost when the rebellions rejected the offer for a dialogue with the Toure administration. The situation culminated in another coup of a group of national soldiers who called themselves the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and Rule of Law, or CNDRE. They were unsatisfied by the naïve approach of the government in dealing with such a crisis. They declared the constitution not in effect, and regulated social movement by setting curfews and deploying arms in the frontiers. President Toure was ousted and his location and situation is currently unclear although he is reported to be sound. Government officials were imprisoned as well.
The declaration of a new administration was criticized by the CNDRE was condemned by the United Nations and the African Union. The United Nations Security Council requested them to hold the election as originally planned, maintain order in the society by restoring the previous constitution, and return to where they were from. .
The rebels continued to spread their political influence as far as Kidal and Gao. On the other hand, religious leaders from Islam and Christianity leaders exhorted peace in Bamako in front of 25000 people, asking both Malian leaders and the rebels to negotiate.
Finally in the beginning of April, the leaders of ECOWAS decided to impose series of sanctions upon the military junta. They have corroborated that “All diplomatic, economic, financial measures and others are applicable from today and will not be lifted until the re-establishment of constitutional order.” Those nations which are not a member of ECOWAS, such as Algeria and Mauritania did not take part in this movement. Unfortunately, the request is rejected by the military regime and even emphasized their ultimate goal of governance over the population reestablishment of constitutional law.
Shortly after that, the United Nations Security Council urged for ceasefire in the region and democracy get back to place. The MNLA in response, declared that their objectives were achieved and had no more reason to militarily combat the Malian government. They have declared independence of Azawad.
2.    The Status Quo
Currently the conflict in Mali is stretching its detrimental influence to social, economic, and political fields. The uniqueness of the Mali Crisis really comes down to how the uproar of the rebellions in the North is overlapped with already existing problems of the area. Mali, a small country located near the Sahara desert which is suffering from desertification and famine has a dearth of voice heard by the International Community. Since it is not a nation of which owns reputation or special interest of the United Nations and due to the evident threats of the issue regarding North Korea, political factors left the nations to condone the crisis.
 Unfortunately, it became pretty clear to the world that the crisis cannot be processed within Mali. The flame of the MNLA is encroaching upon the area of international relations and humans rights in general. Not only a number of unions within the African Continent are vigilant upon the issue, but also international organizations are sticking their antennas towards Mali as well. Apart from the casualties of direct confrontation of the Malian military forces, MNLA, affiliated (or non-affilitaed as they argue) armed groups, and foreign military intervention such as France, civilian casualties are probably the most important subject of protection.
In fact, this is far from a revolution. There is a clear difference between a rebel and revolution. Revolution is an arousal or grand movement of the majority of citizens based on shared beliefs, such as general antagonism against the administration. However, a rebel comes in different size, where a small portion out of the entire population leads the tumult. Usually they both target social discontent or government ouster, but they are separated in how much generalization of the theory is available at hand for them.
In the case of Mali, we are currently examining a rebel, where not every single citizen, but a group of people are trying to construct a new regime in the Northern region of Mali. Hence, the tug of war is causing direct harms to the people inhabiting the major battlefields, and those cities include Kidal and Gao. The biggest concern for the United Nations and the Non-governmental organizations standing for human rights is the innocent people’s lives at stake. The rights of the people are a big concern as well.
First of all, children in Mali are being tortured and detained by both the Malian government and the rebel forces. Some of them are even as young as 13 and they are captured here and there, brainwashed and tortured to serve as soldiers to fight against the enemy. The 4 week investigation of Amnesty International revealed that adults were also victims of the same practice. What is even worse is the foreign military, including the French and the Chadian armed forces are unintentionally taking part in the practice as well. They lack the knowledge of how to guarantee safety and security of these children and perhaps the refugee to send these children. Above all, it is crystal clear that these children should be the subject of primary protection from any form of danger under international laws. They are currently sending those who had been victimized to human rights organizations such as UNICEF.
It seems like the traces of France is still having a huge influence on Mali even though the age of Imperialism has become an anachronism. They were on of the main actors to take action against the rebellion. Among the foreign forces, France was the most powerful nation in terms of reputation in the international community and genuine strength of national army. The French army and the Malian soldiers have been cooperating in a number of missions for driving the rebel forces out of the major battle sites. Their role was the most discernible in urban areas where they were able to remove the rebels out of there. However, some of them retreated to covert areas hard to access such as adjacent deserts and mountains. They attempt to execute guerilla missions against the forces that drive them out.
Also, the French army contributed in the arrest of the former president Lauren Gbagbo, who is currently residing in Hague. He was a president who refused to step down from power after the elections of 2011. He and his wife are both facing the consequences for what they done in the previous years. Lauren Gbagbo is waiting in Hague until he is going to be the defendant of the international trial. He is being accused of committing crime against humanity. His wife on the other hand, is kept in a detention center in the Ivory Coast.
The French army had their headquarters for the mission in conflict in the capital of Bamako, and they are starting to withdraw their soldiers via military vehicles. Reporter stated that they are heading south, to the location known as Ivory Coast. Currently it is unclear what the objective of the French army heading this way have. On the other hand anonymous sources provide that these forces will give advice for the Malian government on how to deal with the situation rather than direct engagement in the crisis.  
 France originally deployed 4000 troops in Mali to support the Malian government and compress the militants who took advantage of the chaos during the coup d’état in April. However, they are withdrawing some of their troops and shift the duty to the Malian soldiers and the United Nations peacekeeping forces that will shortly arrive. France announced that the number of soldiers will be descend to 2000 by September and reduce that by half again by the end of the year.  
3. Reaction of the UN and NGOs
The United Nations and the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) has done a significant job in the crisis of Mali. The international community, although they were unable to take a comprehensive and unified approach from the beginning, they managed to pass on the baton hand to hand. When there was explicit conflict between the Malian solders and the rebels, or perhaps the militants that trumpeted the end of the old regime and dominance of themselves, foreign intervention was easily spotted especially those that happened in major urban areas.
It is quite clear the Malian conflict stretches over the issues of human rights and international affairs. It is soon to move towards the center of the table where it can receive special attention of the United Nations and the Non-governmental organizations. Since this is a crisis involving vast number of people, violence, and overthrow of the certain regime, the United Nations Security Council was seriously alerted by the protests happening in Mali. So far the Security Council have now reached to the point where United Nations Peacekeeping Forces are actually being deployed in Mali as a substitution of the French military forces.
However, this resolute decision of the Security Council seems to be a prudent choice since they have tried different methods without physical engagement of armed forces. Such methods include continuous request of the Security Council towards the rebels and the Malian government to come to a peaceful dialogue, and consecutive warnings of engagement of the United Nations. However, these ways failed to fulfill their duties, and therefore we must know what had preceded the latest announcement so as to why it was an obvious failure in the first place.  
Overall, the United Nations is undertaking diverse missions in Mali despite adverse conditions of the nation. The most basic job is reporting the status quo and figuring out the number of casualties and loses as accurate as possible. NGO are also dedicated to this process, and in fact, the number of children being abused because of the Mali conflict was found by Amnesty International.
On June 1st, the soldiers and police supported by the United Nations that summed up to 12640 were sent to Mali, although many critics argue that we were too late. This seems like an awful investment, when the Tuareg separatists are exacerbated as negotiation and dialogue is procrastinated, and Islamic extremists from Libya are moving southwards towards Mali. The 4000 thousand troops originally sent by the French government, equipped with cutting-edge technology and sensational methodology only reversed the situation, and it is a question whether the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces would do any better. Looking back in the history, the United Nation failed to prevent Yugoslavia wars of the 1990s and the disaster in Rwanda in 1994. Critics say that it is quite a shame of them who declared the 1945 Charter which states “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
To be more specific, it was April 25th, 2013 when the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed the resolution for sending 12600 peacekeeping troops to Mali. It was introduced by France, which were one of the first nations be cognizant of the crisis and take military action in January. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces will replace not only the French army but also 6000 collective soldiers from different parts of Africa. According to the resolution, 11,200 military soldiers and 1400 policemen compose the 12600 peacekeeping forces, and they will serve the Mali for a year, along with the leftover French and African soldiers within the country. 
Then, why was France the first nation to intervene? According to the United Nations Resolution 2100, the international community has authorized France to engage in the crisis of Mali “under imminent and serious threat and at the demand”. It also states that the new United Nations Peacekeeping Force must consider “all necessary measures” to retrieve the major cities from the rebels, protect innocent citizens, and enable the government to regain political influence in the western part of the country.
However, the Tuareg rebels are still unwilling to disarm, and the United Nations Peacekeeping forces had to go on a MINUSMA mission, which is UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.
Now, what are all these NGOs around the world doing? The nature of the Mali Conflict and the terrain of Mali itself is making hard for NGOs to take active stance or aid the civilians. They are hindered on various levels, and currently the best they used to be able to do was humanitarian aid. A lot of countries such as the United States of America aided the innocent civilians, but this was also agreed by the countries around the world to be postponed until the new Election Day is passed. However, NGOs are indeed helping out the children in Mali who are constantly abducted and tortured until they are grown into brainwashed soldiers. The NGOs have urged both sides of the conflict the rule out the children, but lack of physical power limits their assistance greatly. 
4. Stances of involved nations and NGOs
The stances of the nations related to the crisis in Mali, and the stances of Non-governmental organizations are somewhat vague, but it does take a relatively clear inclination. Also, it is also very difficult to make a list of nations involved in the Mali conflict. The international community in general, does acknowledge that the situation is urgent and extreme, but overall the intensity has been blurred due the outraging actions of North Korea.
It is legitimate to say that every nation taking part in the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly has been involved in the Mali Conflict since there has been resolution from respective committees that were implemented to Mali. The general consensus can be abridged into 3 perspectives.
First of all, the international society has a general tendency to share an antithesis upon the militants’ existence as the current regime of Mali. They used to be soldiers in the Malian military forces, and they fomented a coup because they were unhappy with how the original government dealt with the violent protests in the northeast. They have implemented a tense police system and announced the viability of a new constitution. Obviously, the previous leaders and government officials were kicked out the government. With those people as the powers-that-be, the international society agrees that they should go back to where they belong. That is why the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed the resolution to send thousands of troops into the country so that they could force the militants back to their fortresses and deal with the independence of Azawad.
Secondly, the members of the international society have to tendency to stay neutral on which side to take between the rebels and the Malian government. However it is a general consensus that these two sides should alleviate the violent attacks through dialogue and negotiation at least for the rebels. It seems that the rebel forces are considerably armed and have quite a willingness to reject any form of communication and rather make use of armed forces to confront the Malian military forces sent by the government. This is the reason why the United Nations Security Council is sending troops for the sake of the deterioration of the militants of the government, not for the sake of the compression against the rebels.
Thirdly, the international society agrees with the fact the no harm should be inflicted upon the innocent citizens. The current circumstances for the Malian citizens are very despondent. Mali used to be a center of famine, hunger, desertification, and dangers by the Mother Nature. The situation of these citizens was already in a plight and the crisis is even exacerbating the adverse situation for them. Of course, the military rivalry among of different armed forces is destroying houses, buildings, farmland, and daily lives of these people. On top of that, the rebels and Malian government somehow participated in the abduction of adults and children to use as soldiers who would fight for their side. Hence, in a political battle innocent citizens are used as a victim who somehow ended as a shield or perhaps a dummy for those who fight for their own good.  
Let’s dig deep into the stances of the international community. France seems to have a special correlation in the crisis of Mali due to the history that links the two nations and the international relations and interests between them.
France is taking different stances on different issues. It seems like a plausible approach, but they have to yield their duty to the United Nations Peacekeeping forces anyways.
First of all, they are willing to make use of any methods that contribute to the maintenance of the innocent citizens, and the preservation of human rights for the Malians. This is also mentioned in the resolution passed by the United Nation Security Council. It also relates how they have special duty pertinent to R2P, or responsibility to protect. The international society has the duty to save and secure the citizens if the nation itself cannot fulfill this duty. France was one of those nations to act upon this responsibility.
Second of all, although the French army is being outsourced to the Ivory Coast, France is still willing to have some kind of influence upon Mali. They are leaving 1000 soldiers out of 4000(which is approximately 25%) within the country, and even the military base in Ivory Coast is going to guide the Malian government how to deal with the situation.
5.  The future outlook
It is quite clear what the international society should do at this moment, but it is unclear what kind of reactions will ensue next. The reason is because there is no ultimate goal for sure. To be more specific, United Nations is sending the Peacekeeping forces first and foremost to get rid of the militant forces that succeeded in overthrowing the government and implementing a strict constitution. There has not been enough consideration to whether the rebels or the original regime should be the subject support. The police and the soldiers may be able to maintain order in the Malian society, but the next step is very vague.
There are multiple faucets to this problem, and whether the deployment of United Nations Peacekeeping forces bring success would come down to a few standards.
First of all, the United Nations has to stand at the 3rd person perspective and make sure that they are mitigating the problem via peaceful methods. The intervention of the Peacekeeping forces should not be of violent combats, but rather as a negotiator that would make use of force to have two sides sit on the same table.
Furthermore, they should be able to prevent the crisis from spilling over to other nations. The rebels, although they strongly deny the fact, are subjected to doubt that they might be gathering outside forces such as Muslim Extremists and the Ansar Dine to fight against the Malian government. The adjacent nations, such as Chad, Niger, and Algeria are concerning that the soldiers can leak into their nations and mess with the borders. It should be the responsibility of the United Nations Peacekeeping forces to prevent this from happening.
Thirdly, the United Nations Peacekeeping forces should be able to cut this crisis short, and resolve the conflict within a year. According to the resolution 2100 of the United Nations Security Council, the 12600 Peacekeeping soldiers and police officers are only going to say in the country for a year. Ironically, the French soldiers that had technology and money on their back failed to resolve the situation of their own, and finally stepped back to the Ivory Coast. Although a little doubtful, the United Nations Peacekeeping forces should somehow take a different approach in order to bring peace in Mali.
In conclusion, we cannot say conclusively that the future of the Malian Crisis is bright or dark. Depending on how the United Nations Peacekeeping forces execute the mission in an effective and efficient way, the results will be peaceful, or bloody. However, above all tasks, they should focus on the militants that took over the government first, because innocent citizens are losing rights due to the abuse of the regime.
6.  Conclusion
The Mali crisis, compared to the intensity of the threats of North Korea, may look subtle. However, it is a time bomb for another violent explosion. The United Nations Peacekeeping forces are the heroes of this case, who have the burden to resolve the crisis in Mali. Unfortunately, so far the tallies of the Peacekeeping forces don’t seem to be so prospective. Not only it is a question of whether the soldiers will effectively and efficiently deal with the crisis with the lease casualties possible, but also whether such methodology will work in the first place are serious doubts to be casted. Therefore, it is the duty of the delegates to have a fruitful debate on these issues and come up with a practical resolution. Here the delegates must keep in mind that the deployment of troops has already been passed with a unanimous decision.
What makes the Mali crisis so peculiar is that the international relations surrounding the issue are esoteric. It doesn’t seem like the conflict has been advertised to nations around the world, and especially in the East Asia the issue of North Korea is covering this up. It is the role of the United Nations to inform this crisis to countries around the world so that it would receive both attention and engagement from diverse countries.
It is a matter of time, since the United Nations Peacekeeping forces are only going to stay in Mali for a year. If it failed to be resolved, and just in case it does not, the Security Council must create a plan B for the sake of Mali.
The United Nations should also make sure that the crisis does not spill over to other countries. However before that the fundamental issue that hinders all the other approaches is that the United Nations and the international community is unsure of which side to help. The government forces, because the control over Mali is under their jurisdiction and under their sovereignty, they must be protected of their rights. On the other hand, the rebels might be fighting for a legitimate reason, and therefore we must not ignore that part of the story either. Thus, the United Nations Security Council must be very careful in staying neutral and looking at this case from a third person’s perspective in order to disregard private interests of the developed nations and made discreet choices while making the resolutions.
In conclusion, the crisis of Mali is simple superficially, but it gets deeper and deeper until it reaches the formation of the very government after the French conquest. Mali was never a literally democratic nation and therefore it is similar yet slightly different from the Arab Spring. It is the responsibility of the United Nations to actively participate and come up with a viable and practical solution that would ultimately bring peace to Mali and their citizens.  
 
 



7.  Bibliography
 






 


http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mali-child-soldiers-2013-06-13
http://www.nationalturk.com/en/mali-conflict-french-forces-begin-mali-withdrawal-completely-africa-news-38100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Northern_Mali_conflict_(2012%E2%80%93present)
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2012/04/201242103543735302.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/04/25/UN-Security-Council-approves-resolution-for-peacekeepers-in-Mali/UPI-14111366894017/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iONXf0vLfOq8krKcQdlEjuo0HSVw?docId=CNG.f413b181c6393845ece785e312d62e78.271
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseknutsen/2012/12/13/for-ngos-in-mali-life-goes-on-with-new-difficulties/