DANU Strategic Forecasting Group

June 9th 2016

! ! ! ! ! ! ! Mali’s history and

other influencing factors

By Nikolas Christodoulides

Three empires are widely known for emerging in Sub-Saharan region in the past, the empire of
Ghana (11th century AD), the empire of Mali (14th century AD) and the empire of Songhai (15th
century AD). The emergence of all three empires though in the same region is an observation that
cannot pass unnoticed. Firstly, this is because the area which we today consider as Mali’s territory
and especially some of its ancient cities were in the past the most important trading crossroads of
their times. Some of them are the modern city of Djenne-Djenno which today is an UNESCO
World Heritage Site, the city of Bamako which today is Mali’s official capital city, the city of
Timbuktu and the city of Gao. All of these cities were interchangeably credited with the title of the
capital city depending on the trading interests of the empire they were conquered by. It is also
important to note that all of the cities were created by inhabitants of the areas because of the
regions abundance in natural amenities such as fertile land and existence of significant water
supplies. The city of Timbuktu is the only city from the ones that are mentioned above that was not
build on the banks of the Niger River, but it is in a range of 20 kilometres north from the river. The
Niger river can be also accounted as a crucial factor in the emergence of these cities in the
locations that they have emerged because it would provide to ancient inhabitants of the region,
not only food and water supplies but also what the Nile has provided to the Egyptians, means of
transportation.

History reveals that Mali has been one of the wealthiest states of West Africa solely because of
control of the trading routes from which salt, gold and other precious stones passed.
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It was also because the region which today constitutes Mali had enormous mineral deposits, many
of which were precious. Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to from ancient Mali to the holy city of Mecca in
1324 AD is a testament to Mali’s mineral wealth. During his pilgrimage, Mansa Musa made gener-
ous donations, all of them in gold to the rulers of the countries he passed from, the poor and other
charitable organizations. As a result of his donations, gold was devalued in most of the major cities
of North Africa and especially in Egypt’s Cairo in which the gold market ultimately took 10 years to
recover.

At this time, the country’s potential in gold mining is also understood only if we consider that up until
now only about six of the 133 potentially gold rich regions in the country have been mapped out so
far. Considerable deposits of bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper are known to exist in the
country but they have not been mined because of a lack of proper transportation infrastructure. It
should be mentioned that experts in the field of economics and the mining industry consider iron
ore’s existence in a country more important than oil because it is one of the main raw materials used
extensively in emerging manufacturing economies. Kimberlitic pipes have also been located, some
of them being diamondiferous, but further exploration which results in commercial production has
not occurred yet. Dating back from reconnaissance airborne surveys in the 1960's and several thou-
sand line kilometres of 2D seismic surveys in the 70's and 80's, oil companies’ suspicions that Mali
might hold significant oil resources were confirmed. Many factors though at that time such as politi-
cal instability, lack of infrastructure but mostly lack of improved technologies for making oil extraction
profitable, rendered oil companies from conducting operations in the country.

Nowadays Mali enjoys a significantly close relationship with France especially on matters such as
the fight against anti-terrorism. This is because Mali has been under French influence since the first
attempts of the French to conquer Mali in 1866 which lasted until 1898, the year that Mali was finally
a French colony, named French Sudan. Anti-colonial efforts and unrest were suppressed early by
the French in 1893 but had again intensified in 1930. This led to the Brazzaville Conference which
took place in the capital of the French Congo (now the Republic of Congo) and also the regional
capital of Afrique Équatoriale Française (French Equatorial Africa) in which the most significant politi-
cal figure was General Charles de Gaulle. The purpose of the conference was the future of France’s
African possessions after the expected liberation of France by the Allies in 1944-1945. The confer-
ence was a focal point for countries that were under French possession because it was clear evi-
dence of their imminent independence. The creation of the federation of Mali took place in 1959 and
in 1960 Mali was given full independence. ‘Experiments’ of complete insulation from French influ-
ence and interests were Mali’s introduction in 1962 of its own currency, the Malian franc which
proved unsuccessful thus leading the government of Mali to issue a request which was accepted to
re-enter the Franc zone in 1967.

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Since then, French interventions and influence have been reduced to the minimum in the financial
sector thus allowing Mali to develop its own economic development strategy. Nevertheless, this strat-
egy failed, allowing severe inflation which started in 1984 with combination with severe droughts to
lead Mali in issuing a request for international aid. French intervention in Mali has been since Mali’s
independence in the form of military assistance in which recently has evolved into direct assistance
in conducting antiterrorism operations against Islamist militants, known as operation Barkhane.

Mali’s most known problem excepting political instability and a weak economy are the rebellions of
the Tuaregs. What should interest us in understanding the problem in depth is how these rebellions
have evolved throughout the course of history. Searching through sources the following dates
popped up that signified when the Tuareg’s rebellions had occurred: 1916, 1964, 1990 and 2006.
The first was a rebellion against French oppression while the rest of them were against the Malian
state. The basic demand of the Tuaregs was to be given full independence. What is important
though is understanding why the Tuaregs demand their self-independence. The answer to this ques-
tion lies in the nomadic lifestyle and the closeness that the Tuareg feel with their deep-rooted his-
tory. According to Herodotus Tuareg lived in the region of northern Mali as early as the 5th century
BC. The introduction of the horse and shortly afterwards of camel by Mediterranean kingdoms to
their colonies at the shores of North Africa a means of fast transportation for countering Berber
(early Tuareg tribes) raids was of immense importance for these tribes. The ‘ship of the desert’ as
they liked to call desert camels was a catalyst for the geographic expansion and the sustention of
continuous economic development for the Tuaregs because not being able to live off the earth due
to the unforgiving climate circumstances of the Saharan desert, they endorsed trading as a means
for living. Trading in salt, gold and later on also in slaves they managed to accumulate economic
power and thus become a kind of a self-independent state in the region that covers today northern
Mali. Their autonomy and independence was for the first time taken away since 5th century BC by
force by the French when they had defeated the Tuareg at Timbuktu in 1894. Twenty-five centuries
of autonomy and self-independent were very difficult to be erased by a foreign force despite the im-
mense military power that the French could use. Herein, the Tuareg problem’s roots lie deep in the
culture, the history and the economic prosperity or not of the Tuareg while a viable, long-term solu-
tion will only be achieved when both three factors are taken seriously into consideration.

The economic decline which worsened even more because of the desertification and the droughts in
the 80’s led the Malian government to issue a request for foreign aid. Despite this, negligence from
the Malian government for sending financial aid or portions of it to the tribes that were living in the
north region of the country ignited tensions that led to a rebellion of the Tuareg against the govern-
ment. Malian government’s response to this rebellion was a coup d’état that toppled at the time the
narrow-minded Traore regime that had tried to suppress the rebellion through force despite the
peace agreement that had been signed few months earlier.

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The next government which had a better understanding of the situation proceeded more than just
keeping the peace agreement.

Among the new measures that they agreed on were the creation of a new administrative region of
Kidal, the incorporation of Tuareg fighters into the armed forces, the demilitarization of the north, the
implementation of programs designed to promote greater economic and political integration of the
Tuareg. The agreement provided also a “particular status” for the north including local, regional and
interregional assemblies responsible for agriculture, livestock, water, urbanism, housing, environ-
ment, industry, transport, communication, health, education, culture, and tourism.

The last Tuareg rebellion that took place in early 2006 though remains a significant exception from
the rule. The types and the means of the attacks could be described more as an insurgency rather
than as the ones that terrorist organizations often use. This phenomenon is based on the evolution
of the tactical thinking of the Tuareg rebels. Also this phenomenon has its roots to Muammar Qad-
dafi’s Islamic Legions. After the rebellion of the 90’s and their economic difficulties, the Tuareg fled
to neighbouring countries where they searched for ways to improve their economic dishevelment in
which their own country had looked the other way instead of helping them. It was this feeling of
deep disappointment that lead them to join the Islamic Legions and fight as mercenaries Gaddafi’s
wars.

The combat experience gained by these ex-Islamic legionnaires led to the use of more unconven-
tional methods and tactics in the last rebellion of the Tuareg against the Malian government in which
in many ways they were more efficient and difficult to be countered. Peace agreements were signed
by both parts but full autonomy was never accepted as a term in the peacemaking process. Despite
the French intervention that ‘saved’ at the last minute the Malian government from being extorted in
agreeing to Tuareg terms, kidnapping, smuggling and other nefarious activities suggest that the Tu-
areg and militias that cooperate with them will remain active and try to strengthen their military posi-
tion in order to achieve their end goal. This is unlikely to happen in the near future nevertheless be-
cause of significant underground oil deposits in the north of Mali. On the other hand, the Malian gov-
ernment and foreign countries that support it against their fight with the terrorists should try to recon-
sider how the situation evolved so far so that at the end they do not end up letting an independence
war transform into a war on terrorism.

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