HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

Bamako/Dakar, (IRIN*) – Many more northern Malians are likely to face severe food shortages in the coming days and weeks if markets remain blocked by border and road closures, and humanitarian access remains limited, warn food security agencies.

Photo: Katarina Hoije/IRIN. Diabaly residents return home

The border with Algeria is officially closed as a result of the conflict that broke out on 11 January between Malian and French forces and Islamist groups that were occupying the north. As a result, the amount of food coming through has halved, according to the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Vulnerability and Analysis Mapping Unit.

Algeria supplies almost all markets in Kidal Region in northeastern Mali with rice, couscous, oil and milk – the staple diet of northern Malians. While some trucks can get through, traders are reluctant to travel because of strict border controls and fear of further aerial bombardment, says the WFP analysis.

“French military and Malian government forces are restricting access to conflict areas for members of the media, making covering the situation a major challenge”

Northern Mali conflict | Author: Orionist | Wikimedia Commons

By Peter Townson*, 23/01/2013 – As violence continues in Mali, the national and international media are finding it increasingly difficult to provide quality coverage of the situation.

The primary reason behind the challenges is the fact that journalists are being forced to stay in the capital city of Bamako, and are not being allowed to travel freely throughout the country.

Human Wrongs Watch

By Bill Van Auken, WSWS*, 23 January 2013 – The French intervention in Mali, followed by the bloody siege in Algeria, represents a turning point in what has emerged as a new imperialist scramble for Africa. With these events, following on the heels of the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya and the Washington-backed sectarian civil war in Syria, mankind is witnessing a convulsive drive by the major powers to re-divide the world, its territories, markets and resources.

Map of Africa | Author: Martin23230 | Wikimedia Commons

There is every reason to believe that this campaign to re-colonize much of the planet will be even bloodier and more oppressive than the original colonization of Africa.

As in the Libyan war, France has taken the lead in unleashing fighter bombers and deploying its dogs of war, the French Foreign Legion, in Mali.

However, the other major imperialist powers have made it clear that they will not remain on the sidelines.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that the UK will “work with others to close down the ungoverned space” in northwest Africa “with all the means that we have.” Terming the developments in Mali and neighboring countries a “global threat,” Cameron declared they would “require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months.”