Mali’s Tuareg insurgents stepped up fighting after the military coup last month and now have declared independence in the remote north for which they’ve fought for decades. They have thus announced a ceasefire after effectively partitioning the country in two.
Whether fighting will cease is not yet clear. The leaders of the military coup are holding onto power in the south – even declaring sharia law – and neighboring West African countries, having already imposed sanctions, are meeting to decide on a possible military intervention to restore civilian rule.
Despite the instability – caused essentially by the NATO intervention in Libya last year – the United States has continued portions of economic aid to Mali. If Washington doesn’t officially categorize the rebel power-grab a military coup, they’re legally allowed to continue sending money. In addition, small teams of U.S. troops remain in the country, reportedly “on stand-by.”
“Mali has never experienced such a situation,” Mali’s U.N. Ambassador Omar Daou told the Security Council. “Our people are divided. Our country is threatened with partition.”
What kind of law was there before Sharia? Napoleonic?
"Even declaring Sharia law" It is hard to find links to the legal system in Mali, but there appears to be one based on Napoleonic law.
From the New York Times.
"Many restrictive abortion laws in Africa date back to colonial codes, and the bigotry of the law has trickled through society. Mali’s law is based on the Napoleonic Code from 1810, which forbade abortion. "
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/afri…
But the BBC says Sharia permits abortion on fairly liberal terms depending on school.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/isl…
But in general, is Sharia law in a Muslim nation, replacing Napoleonic law, that shocking?
For monetary conspiracy theorists, the nations embargoing Mali due to the coup are all or mostly part of the West African CFA franc zone. The CFA is another colonial artifact.
Like much of Africa, Mali is the creation of a European cartographer and European administration. Tribalism, however, cuts across international boundaries. A lesson we, westerners, are re-learning at some expense.
The Tuareg are about 'partitioning' more than Mali – they lay claim to a large piece of western North Africa.
Africa needs to be left alone to sort out their own and the "West" needs to stop fooling themselves that they are not also tribal.