While the world looks on, France’s political class has come to an agreement on the principle of military intervention in northern Mali against a coalition of “Islamists,” “jihadists” and extremists. Those critical of the French government for going it alone concede that the decision to take action is ‘just.” French President Francois Hollande, who appeared lost at the head of a rudderless government, has gained new prestige and refurbished his image as a statesmanand as a military leader dedicated to “destroying the enemy,” to “putting him out of action.” Thus northern Mali seems fated to become the mirror in which France admires the image of its strong and determined president.
First things first, though: the ideology and methods of the Salafist and jihadist armed groups merit only condemnation. Their interpretation of Islam, and their exploitation of religion by imposing the most degrading corporal punishment are utterly unacceptable. Once more, the contemporary international conscience of the Muslims must make itself heard loud and clear: such an interpretation and such an application of Islam is a betrayal, a horror, and a disgrace. The first to raise their voices must be the Muslims themselves, and the Muslim-majority countries. Politically, intellectually, and with all the strength their conscience and their heart can muster: a position that can brook no compromise.
To this principled position must be added a powerful dose of geopolitical analysis, all the while avoiding confusion between an imperative moral stance on the one hand, and a simple-minded binary political position on the other. To oppose the jihadist extremists does not mean accepting French policy in the region. George W. Bush’s “you are with us or with the terrorists” is as fundamentally false as it is perilous, both in terms of substance and consequences. Behind France’s “noble” commitment to the endangered peoples of Africa several very explicit questions remain unaddressed. The West in general, and France in particular, had for decades forgotten the peoples suffering under dictatorship in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya before changing their tune and singing the praises of “revolution” and the “Arab spring,” of liberty regained. In Libya, humanitarian intervention revealed its ugly face beneath a crude disguise or as open affirmation of interest in oil and economic advantage.
Several months later, France has intervened in Mali ostensibly for the good of its people, its only intention being to protect a “friendly” country the danger of extremists now allied with Tuareg rebels. The accuracy of this version remains to be seen. The total absence of economics and geopolitics the political and media presentation of the French intervention raises serious doubts. Even less is said about the lengthy history of France’s connections with a succession of Malian governments. Events are unfolding as though France were suddenly expressing its solidarity with grace, generosity and selflessness. But the raw truth is that behind the recent political upheavals in Mali, France has never stopped meddling, pressuring, removing Malian political or military leaders seen as uncooperative, and creating alliances at the highest levels of government and among the country’s tribal, military and civilian figures. weakened and isolated after the fall of Colonel Khadafi, President Amadou Toumani Toure was overthrown by a military coup d’Etat on March 22, 2012. Toure paid for his policies toward the northern part of the country, and for his preferences in the future distribution of oil exploration permits. France’s ties—often strained—with the secessionist Azawad National Liberation Movement (Mouvement national de liberation d’Azawad—MNLA) are an open secret, the aim being to split the country into two zones to facilitate future exploration of promising mineral resources. The presence of al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (al-Qaeda au Maghreb Islamique-AQMI) and its alliance with the Tuareg tribes of the north has been for no less than three years another factor justifying France’s military presence in the region. It finally became official with the recent opening of hostilities.
The French government and the utives of the gas and oil multinationals have attempted to downplay recent discoveries in the Sahel, a region including Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria (there has even been talk of a “Malian mirage”). However, the data is much better known and established than most people are willing to admit; Jean-Francois Arrighi de Casanova, Total’s director for North African operations was more forthcoming when he described it as “a new Eldorado,” with its vast oil and gas potential. The region possesses no fewer than five promising deposits. The resource potential of the Touadenni basin, on the Mauritanian border has already been confirmed; to it must be added the Tamesna and Lullemeden basins along the border with Niger, the Nara basin close to Mopti, and the Gao Graben. France’s Autorite pour la recherche pétrolière (AUREP) has confirmed the potential of Mali’s subterranean resources (primarily oil and gas). Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Niger now find themselves directly involved and, following the fall of Colonel Khadafi, the way is now open for the oil companies of France (with Total in the lead), Italy (ENI) and Algeria (Sipex, a subsidiary of Sonatrach), which have invested more than an estimated $100 million in surveying and prospecting despite the prevailing insecurity and arid climate. The blood, the liberty and the dignity of the friendly people of Mali are certainly all the more worth defending when, at the same time, enormous gas and oil deposits lie hidden beneath its sands. Northern Mali’s mineral riches are far a mirage; the only mirage is the reality of decolonization.
