19/01/2013
By Russia Today (RT)*, 19 January 2013 – As French soldiers pour into Mali in the fight to push back the advancing Islamist militants, questions have been raised as to the motives behind the intervention. Author William Engdahl told RT the US was using France as a scapegoat to save face.
William Engdahl
RT: At a time when France and the rest of the Eurozone are trying to weather the economic crisis, what’s Paris seeking to gain by getting involved in another conflict overseas?
William Engdahl: Well, I think the intervention in Mali is another follow-up to the French role in other destabilizations that we’ve seen, especially in Libya last year with the toppling of the Gadhafi regime. In a sense this is French neocolonialism in action.
But, interestingly enough, I think behind the French intervention is the very strong hand of the US Pentagon which has been preparing this partitioning of Mali, which it is now looming to be, between northern Mali, where al-Qaeda and other terrorists are supposedly the cause for French military intervention, andsouthern Mali, which is a more agricultural region. […]
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19/01/2013
By Rene Wadlow*, TRANSCEND – Since March 2012, Mali has been effectively divided into two roughly equal halves. The northern half is under the control of two rival Tuareg groups with additional non-Turareg fighters coming from other Sahel countries and perhaps from beyond.
**Photo: A Bozo girl in Bamako | Credit: Ferdinand Reus from Arnhem, Holland | Wikimedia Commons
The larger Turareg faction is the Mouvement national de liberation de l’Azawand (MNLA). It is larger than its rivals but less well armed.
Its main aim is to create an independent State, Azawad, and the leaders of the MNLA have already declared the formal independence of the Tuareg cultural zone of northern Mali as the State of Azawad.
One Tuareg rival is the Ansar Dine “defenders of the faith” led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ansar Dine is an Islamist group which says that it wants to apply Islamic law to all of Mali.
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19/01/2013
Bamako/Dakar, 18 January 2013 (IRIN*) – French and Malian military forces have blocked the access of aid workers to Konna in Mopti Region, the scene of heavy fighting over the past week, causing increasing frustration for humanitarians.
**Photo: Anna Jefferys/IRIN. Displaced northern Malians in Mopti (file photo)
“Despite our repeated demands, access to Konna has been refused,” said Malik Allaouna, head of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)MSF Brussels, in an 18 January communiqué. “They must permit impartial medical aid to reach conflict-affected zones. We call on all parties to the conflict to not only respect the civil population but also humanitarian action.”
MSF has been negotiating access with the civil authorities and Malian armed forces, and the French government and its military all week. A further meeting was held today, said MSF spokesperson Gregory Vandendaelen, in Brussels, but the outcome is not yet known.
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19/01/2013
The ongoing crisis in Mali has led to serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, rape and torture, says a United Nations report*, which warns that increasing ethnic tensions could have alarming consequences on the North African nation.
Displaced children in the Mali capital, Bamako, eat a welcome meal. Photo: UNHCR/H. Caux
Mali is a former French colony. Its economic structure centers on agriculture and fishing. Some of Mali’s prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
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19/01/2013
London, January (IRIN*) – The World Economic Forum has released its eighth annual Global Risks Report, which lists top global threats identified by a survey of over 1,000 experts. As in last year’s report, 2013’s risks were topped by economic and financial concerns, particularly the risk of major systemic economic failure.
**Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN. A flooded poor riverside community in Manila – risks are interconnected
So far so predictable. But high in the rankings of nail-biting concerns were also risks related to climate change, both rising greenhouse gas emissions and the failure of governments and businesses to mitigate or adapt to these changes.
At the report’s launch, John Drzik, the CEO of the risk and insurance services group Oliver Wyman, said, “We see two big risks coming together, one is an environmental storm and the other is an economic storm, and we see them on a collision course.”
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19/01/2013
Perth, January 2013 (IRIN*) – Human rights groups have strongly condemned conditions at Australia’s two offshore processing centres for asylum seekers on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus.
Photo: Courtesy of Manus Island detainees
Children study in a container without doors
“Conditions are overwhelmingly inadequate, with intolerable physical conditions that seriously add to the mental health problems of detainees,” Ian Rintoul, a spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), told IRIN.
His comments come amid unconfirmed reports of unrest at the centres, and at least one attempted suicide on Manus Island over the weekend.
To date, 181 people have been transferred to Manus (maximum capacity 600), while 363 people have been taken to Nauru (maximum capacity 900).
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 