1. Historical
Background
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 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
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.
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.
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”.
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/
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