Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

We must regroup so that airplanes can tell us apart from the targeted ismalists fighters who will be on the move.

Tuareg refugees in Borj and Timeaouine in Northern Mali are hurrying to gather around their family members in order to avoid airstrikes by French planes against islamist groups, Tamoudre reports [fr]. Tamoudre adds that Tuaregs are in favor of the military intervention but that they should be part of the post-intervention stabilization.

Lawless and godless men — who hide behind Shariah and demands for Tuareg independence — are now beating and raping women and conscripting children to fight their “holy” war. And the greatest tragedy is that people are starting to get used to it [..] President Obama must not allow northern Mali to become a hotbed of terrorists and drug traffickers that poses a danger to the entire world. The United States has intervened in less dire situations. I call upon its conscience. Please help us get our families out of their wretched distress.

Oumou Sall Seck, mayor of Goundam, in northern Mali wrote about the need for the United States to intervene in Mali in an op/ed for the NY Times. Dr Akory Ag Ikhnane disagrees and suggests that a “military operation would quickly make all these movements forget their differences.”

This is not a coup. The president is still in place but the prime minister was no longer working in the interests of the country

Bakary Mariko, spokesperson for the former military junta, explains why [fr]the army has arrested the former prime minister of Mali Cheikh Modibo Diarra who resigned shortly after along with his government. A diplomat states that: “Sanogo is pulling at the strings. Until we have a real transitional government in place, we will keep having these problems”. Disagreement between the army and the government over international military intervention in Northern Mali was mentioned as part of the reason for the arrest.

young-volunteers-in-training-to-fight-in Northern Mali by Damonzon Mali copyright Demotix (13/11/12)

Young volunteers engage to liberate Northern Mali. Meanwhile, Jemal Oumar and Bakari Gueye report that extremists in Northern Mali target women with curfews and arrests.

Seven African nations of ECOWAS namely Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo have agreed with Malian government [fr] to send 3,300 soldiers a year to Northern Mali to take back control of northern Mali from Islamist fighters. Other nations outside the ECOWAS might also send in troops.

We are told that miners do everything to waterproof the soil and ensure that waste does not contaminate subterranean water. But it must be recognized that there is always a risk, as they can never be completely sure that they are not contaminating subterranean pools. Moreover, with the impact of climate change, people will increasingly rely on subterranean water to supply towns

Alain Tossounon, reporting comments [fr] from a meeting with Dam Mogbanté, Executive Secretary of the Global Water Patnership West Africa