The invasion of Mali by French troops on 11 January is the start of a new imperialist war. The invasion was supported by the British government, which is sending 330 troops. The European Union and the United Naations will send troops in the spring. This is going to be another long war.
David Cameron justified the intervention as a “war against terrorism”. This is the same excuse that the British used during the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is a imperialist war to destroy the independence movement. It is driven by the business interests of the West and has nothing to do with humanitarian concerns.
They say the invasion is against Islamist militants, but it is colonial war whose aim is to defeat the nationalist movement of the Tuareg people. France, like the US and Britain, since African independence has supported the most brutal dictators, massacres and wars. They are implicated in the Rwandan genocide. The millions who died in the Congo did so because of wars driven by Western interests.
For many years the West have opposed the demands for self-determination by the Tuaregs who inhabit the northern half of Mali, known as Azawad. They number about 1.5 million and speak Tamashek, one of the Berber languages and they spread over Algeria, Mali, Niger, Libya, Chad, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
Mali won independence from France in 1960, and the first Tuareg uprising broke out in 1962. A second rebellion in 1990 resulted in the 1991 Tamanrasset Accords promising the Tuaregs self-government, which was never implemented. After 2001 the United States stepped up its military aid to the Malian government in the name of the ‘war on terror’. This aid was used to crush independence movements and further control resources.
{module Propaganda 30 anos – MORAL}The third Tuareg rebellion was joined by anti-imperialist fighters who had participated in the struggle against Qaddafi. A new unified National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) was formed, and it started an allout war against the Malian government in January 2012. The MNLA expelled the Malian Army from northern Mali and Azawad independence was declared on 6 April 2012. The US then helped organise a coup in March to bring down the democratically elected president, Amadou Toumani Touré.
The reason for invasion is that an important source of uranium is in Niger which was within reach of the insurgency. BP, Total and other US oil and mining companies have important interests in Mali. (Mali is Africa’s third largest gold producer).
In February 2013 the French army retook three towns and the MNLA has retreated but not been defeated. The Coalition of Patriotic Organizations of Mali (COPAM) called demonstrations against the presence of foreign troops including those organised by the UN from the Economic Community of West African States. The Western backed Mali government has banned these demonstrations.
International protests have taken place in Algiers, Cairo, Istanbul and London. The demonstration in Algiers condemned Algeria’s decision to allow French warplanes to overfly the country in order to carry out attacks on Mali, which lies on Algeria’s southern border.
We call on students, anti-cuts activists, the trade unions and social movements to oppose the invasion. French and British, EU and UN troops out of Mali!
