Young Writers Society

As you may have heard, Mali, a country in West Africa has been having problems: an overthrow of the government by the army took place; Tuareg rebels declared independence in the North of the country before organisations with links to Al Qaeda took over.

A profile of the country.

Since then, the French army has intervened and then reprisal attacks took place in neighbouring Algeria where many hostages were taken of varying nationalities.

What should be done about Mali? Was military intervention the right thing to do?

IMO military intervention, especially unsolicited military intervention is a bad thing, especially when the country that is intervening may have ulterior motives. It's like a whole party of people invade your house just because you and your sibling are fighting.

Keep in mind Noni that Mali is an ex-French protectorate, so France sort of does have a mandate to intervene.

I don't think France has ulterior motives. As Karzkin has highlighted, Mali used to be a French protectorate. I think it's due to these reasons France feels more of a responsibility to intervene.

Saying that, these rebellions are happening in Africa a lot over the past couple of years and they are often inspired by the West's favour toward rebels due to the tyrannical style of leadership of some African countries. Therefore I think the image of intervention is an extremely powerful one. Whether or not it is a good or bad thing can't really be decided until we've seen the effectiveness of new governmental powers. Having said that, I think most Western papers will look on successful intervention in the same way - with a sense of pride.

Well Mali has two main ethnic groups. The North should just become independent and the South should become it's own in my opinion. The only reason France intervened is due to minerals ( no surprise ). This will cause nothing but a war broken country filled with insurgents fighting for power

I need to read more on this issue, but I always worry about the uprisings in Africa. I know people in Kenya, which thankfully has been somewhat stable. As it is, I just normally feel a sense of guilt. I know my homeland did horrible things during the Cold War to African countries. :/ I feel like a lot of the dictatorships and rebel uprisings (that normally lead to anarchy and then more dictatorships) are the ripples of the Cold War, and the horrific colonialism and all else that came before it. Thoughts?

Cspr wrote:I need to read more on this issue, but I always worry about the uprisings in Africa. I know people in Kenya, which thankfully has been somewhat stable. As it is, I just normally feel a sense of guilt. I know my homeland did horrible things during the Cold War to African countries. :/ I feel like a lot of the dictatorships and rebel uprisings (that normally lead to anarchy and then more dictatorships) are the ripples of the Cold War, and the horrific colonialism and all else that came before it. Thoughts?

Dont look at the past and the faults of your 'people'. Learn and look to the future.

But the past results in the future, and looking to it can give you insights into how the present may evolve.