'Mali-volent' wars

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

1/21/2013

Daily Tribune

Not until OFWs were reported to be imperiled by another hostage situation did Filipinos here at home realize the existence of a country such as Mali. If current mainstream news accounts were to be the sole gauge, we would be led to believe that Western powers led by France are on a righteous crusade in stemming the rising tide of war in that North African country. A careful study, however, leads back to the recent war on its neighboring Libya.
The late Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi harbored a third of the Malian warrior tribesmen known as the Tuareg, who lived as citizens — and many as soldiers — of his erstwhile non-discriminatory Libyan state.

After Kadhafi's fall, the black Tuareg came under brutal attack by the victorious Western-backed Benghazi Libyans of Arab decent and were forced out of Libya — but not before carting off thousands of powerful and high tech weapons of Kadhafi, which enabled them to start a Tuareg nation liberation movement in Mali.
Two times the land area of France, Mali's population of up to 15 million consists of seven major ethnic groups, including the Tuareg. Mali was one of the few African electoral democracies until March 2012 when elected president Amadou Toumani Toure was ousted by the military, allegedly for failing to contain the Tuareg rebellion. Interim President Dioncounda Traore took office but was ousted two months later in another coup by the junta that seated him.

Despite its desperate maneuvers, the Mali government continued to lose territory to the Tuareg rebellion — this, as the rebels captured French intelligence agents.
France stepped in with a rescue mission in the second week of January 2013 that ended in a fiasco, leading to the deployment of up to 2,500 French troops in Mali and the expansion of the conflict into Algeria last week. With the US "leading from behind," the French claim they are there to stop the "Islamist terrorists." But this isn't France's first recent misadventure. Aside from its frontline role in the war against Kadhafi, France also intervened in Côte d'Ivoire, installing an IMF (International Monetary Fund) man, Alassanne Quattara, in place of elected President Laurent Gbabo in November 2011.

Is it all good intentions that bring the French, reminiscent of its Foreign Legion, back to action in Africa? R. Teichman writes in Center for Research on Globalization ("The War on Mali. What you should Know: An El Dorado of Uranium, Gold, Petroleum, Strategic Minerals"): "If we are to believe this (French) narrative, we are misled again about the real reasons. A look at Mali's natural resources reveals what this is really about:
"Gold: Mali: Africa's third largest gold producer with large scale exploration ongoing… Uranium … Exploration is currently being carried out by several companies with clear indications of deposits … thought to be 5000 tones… Diamonds … potential to develop its diamond exploration… Precious stones consist of the following… Garnets and rare magnetic minerals … Pegmatite minerals… corindons… pegmatite and metamorphosing minerals… quartz and carbonates… more than two million tons of potential iron ore reserves… Bauxite reserves are thought to be 1.2 million tons … Other mineral resources and potential … Calcarous rock deposits: 30 million tons estimated … Copper… 10.6 MT estimated reserves … Phosphate: Reserve located at Tamaguilelt, production of 18,000 t/per annum and an estimated potential of 12 million … Lead and zinc…

"1.7 MT of estimated reserves … Lithium … Bitumen schist: Potential estimated at 870 million tons… Petroleum potential has been documented since the 1970s where sporadic seismic and drilling revealed probable indications of oil… So here we have it. Whatever is reported by the mainstream media, the goal of this new war is no other than stripping yet another country of its natural resources by securing the access of international corporations to do it. What is being done now in Mali through bombs and bullets is being done to Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain by means of debt enslavement.
"And the people suffer and die…"

Teichman ends with a quote from an African: "God help any country and its people with natural resources to be exploited."

In "2013 and the New Scramble for Africa," Chris Marsden writes: "China has surpassed the US as Africa's largest trading partner with trade of $90 billion in 2009, compared with $86 billion for the US and foreign direct investments of over $50 billion. Bilateral trade topped $160 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach $200 billion this year. In addition, China has proposed or committed about $101 billion to commercial projects in Africa since 2010, of which construction and natural resource deals total approximately $90 billion. Unable to compete economically with Beijing, Washington is once again turning to militarism to secure its advantage."

What the US and the West cannot get by trade, they get by force. This is so typified in this "Mali-volent" African war and in all their malevolent wars across the world.

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