Mali: West Africa's Afghanistan

For over a decade Mali has been viewed as a poster child of good governance, secularism and tolerance and as a bulwark against radical Islam. Yet three inter-related sources of insecurity – Tuareg nationalism, the rise of Islamism and the nature of Mali's postindependence state – coalesced to bring about a takeover of northern Mali by Islamist forces. The rise of the Islamists, in turn, prompted Western – predominantly French – and regional intervention. Looking beyond the current intervention, Hussein Solomon argues that only a more holistic approach can prevent a repeat of this tragedy.