In the Thick of It

On the heels of an “eventful” weekend, I feel compelled to put my International Studies education to work and weigh in on some of the things that are going on in this at times bewildering world we live in.

I went out on Friday night to 2 different over-priced toubabu joints because my company had a case of the dreaded traveler's tummy and wanted to be near a trou of close-to-but-not-quite-developed-world standards. In addition to feeling like I am the only Western Canadian in Mali, I can't hide that tiny portion of  Viking lineage in my regard, so I'm usually also the fairest person around, despite the fact that I'm starting to sport a healthy glow. I finally went to the pizza place in Hippodrome that a lot of people have raved about, where a Norwegian missionary group also chose to dine. For the first time since I've been in Mali, I was surrounded by similarly fair-haired foreigners from the North. From there I went to another place equally saturated with foreigners.  I have received 2 warnings from the Embassy to exercise extreme caution in highly touristed areas and it could have just been the anti-malarials talking but I couldn’t help but think that if someone wanted to do harm to tourists, this would be the place to do it.

Further complicating these sentiments, is that while riding home in a taxi later that night my companion and I were officially initiated into the ex-pat professional club. We got pulled over by a policeman who wanted to take me downtown because the photocopy of my passport wasn't stamped by the mayor's office, something I was told pre-departure was not necessary. I knew that going downtown was exponentially more unsafe and likely more costly than paying off this corrupt "public servant", so I inquired as to whether there was "another way” to solve this problem. He said that I must pay a "fine" and arbitrarily advised me that I go get the photocopy stamped to save face. I paid up, obvs.

This isn't the first time I have traveled to a country with a Canadian Government Travel Advisory, and despite the emails I get from the Embassy warning me to avoid places that ex-pats are known to congregate in (including Pays Dogon), I still feel pretty safe here most days. The things that I’m most in danger of experiencing (i.e.: petty theft, car accident) could just as easily happen to me at home. However, relatively recent events, coupled with an unfortunate choice of lunch and dinner discussion topics with locals and fellow ex-pats alike over the weekend, have led me to at the very least reflect on the safety of my current surroundings. 

Although this desperately poor country is frequently overlooked by Francophone and Anglophone media alike, Mali really is in the thick of it. When I arrived here in November, elections were under dispute in neighbouring Guinea and International Crisis Group sent out a genocide warning stating that 1700 ethnic Peuls had been slaughtered, thousands more had been displaced and there was risk of further violence.

Next was a brazen AQIM kidnapping in neighbouring Niger, when armed bandits went into a restaurant where ex-pats were known to frequent and forced two French men out at gunpoint. They were killed during a botched rescue attempt as were a few of the bandits so AQIM vowed retaliation.  The French government will negotiate with hostage takers and pay ransoms, (something that the Canadian government won’t do) which could explain why French workers were targeted, but in a raid like that I doubt the terrorists would go to great lengths to figure out where a toubab came from. In short, looking like Sven is reason enough.

You'll do.

More recently has been the unfortunate violence underway in another one of Mali’s neighbours, Côte d’Ivoire. Another disputed election has led to over 200 000 people being displaced from Abidjan, 1000s of civilian deaths, including women protesters gunned down by Gbagbo’s goons. Now The ICG is warning of an impending civil war there. Mali’s southern border with Côte d’Ivoire is actually very close to one of the villages where I’ve been for work and where some other Canadians work and even live. If the violence were to spill over the border, it could become dangerous to do our work in Mali, but I think the chances of that happening are very, very slim.

I was watching the situation very closely, because I had considered taking my mid-mandate break in Abidjan since I know someone from there and I desperately wanted to see the Atlantic Coast, but when my Ambassador was kicked out of the country and the UN moved in, I said not a chance.

As for Mali, the North is becoming increasingly dangerous and there is an outright travel ban there. AQIM is running amok in the desert, and tourists have been kidnapped while traveling in the Sahara. Worse, a driver from another NGO that I worked on a diagnostic with told me that even he was carjacked at gunpoint in Kidal, so Malians aren’t even safe there. A tentative peace between the Tuaregs and the central government has been in place since 2009, but the situation is still so fragile and Colonel Gaddaffi, has in the past and still is stirring the pot there. Nevertheless, this country is massive, so I generally don’t feel threatened by what is going on in the North. Moreover, Mali is very multicultural and there are many ethnic groups who get along extremely well given that countries with similar populations are prone to civil conflicts. But some say that the Tuareg have always remained a people apart and that their home is the Sahara so they do not care about arbitrary lines drawn in the sand representing country borders, and this explains their history of rebellions.

Finally, there’s this revolution going on in the Maghreb. How does it affect Mali? Well, it turns out Colonel Gaddafi has funnelled exorbitant amounts of cash into this country and s genuinely loved by some Malians. Naturally, I find this incredible and disturbing, but not unbelievable. In my travels, I have seen more evidence of Canadian, American, Dutch, German, French and even Kuwaiti involvement in development projects in this country than I have seen from Libya. Still, there was a Pro-Gaddafi rally in Bamako last Saturday and evidence of Mali’s support for him is plastered all over the city. Furthermore, while over at a local colleague’s house for lunch on Saturday, a news piece on Gaddafi passed on the TV. My fellow Canucks shook our heads at his desperate and violent attempts to hang on to his over 40 year reign, while my colleague professed her love and constant support for him and this made my guts turn.

Nevertheless, there is a diversity of opinions in this country from politics to how much kneecap one should expose, and while watching a documentary on Gaddafi with my 17 year old host sister, I heard a different story. She announced that she hates the guy because he never smiles when he comes to Mali, and he’s evil and racist because he hates the French and Americans. The documentary chronicled his Janus-faced political career and she kept remarking on how he was too smart, that 40 years in power is too long and finished by saying that between the hotels, the land that he allegedly owns and “rents out” to Malian farmers (how do you spell feudalism?), and the government buildings, Mali essentially belonged to him. I’ve heard other people say that if Gaddafi flees to anywhere, it will be to Mali. So I asked my sister what she thought of that and she reiterated that it would not be good and I agree considering the geo-political repercussions that would likely ensue. 

With this in mind and the fact that I’m a bit of a spitfire, when my colleague announced her unwavering support for him, I said to my Canadian counterparts, “You see, Mali belongs to Gaddafi.” To which she replied “No you’re wrong, he is so good. He has provided free healthcare and education for the Libyans. He’s done so much for them.” Health care and education are free in Canada and Stephen Harper doesn’t try to kill me if I disagree with him....Just sayin’.  

He does dress like this, which is also bad.

I can understand Malians being inspired by a more “local” leader who could be seen as providing for his citizens, which if Mali’s Human Development Indicators mean anything, is something that their government routinely fails to do.

This man is nonetheless, not good; rather, he is bad, bad, bad. Make no mistake. There are reports of him filling ambulances up with his heavily-armed henchman and then turning the sirens on to get into the middle of the protests crowds, and then opening fire on civilians using anti-aircraft missiles. That is one of the most sadistic and Machiavellian ways of terrorizing a population into submission that I have ever heard of. At any rate, his goons have killed innocent civilians which in my mind, transforms him from sovereign leader to murderer worthy of being forcibly removed and issued an ICC indictment for crimes against humanity.

More Machiavellian that Machiavelli.

So why does Mali love him? He knows how to work them. He’s played Mali the same way he played the Bush Administration. One the one hand, he invites the President and his wife to dine in his palace in Tripoli, while at the same time arms anti-government Tuareg rebellions. Moreover, his development “projects” are ostentatious hotels that 99% of Malians would never have the chance to spend a night in, and shiny, brand new government buildings that remain unused because the government is afraid that Gaddafi bugged all the rooms. I suspect that he likely brought in Libyans and relied very little on Malian workers to build these projects that will never directly benefit the general population.

Right, someone who makes less than $1 a day could stay here.

His popularity comes from his visibility. He parades around on ORTM telling Mali that he loves and cares about this oft overlooked place which subverts all other country’s real efforts to improve the poverty situation. So is development though, its pace is so slow, its effects in villages can be imperceptible to the untrained eye, and its “anti-politics” tendencies mean that Gaddafi’s flashy projects can overshadow the international community’s gains made against the truly devastating poverty that exists in this country. 

 

To conclude, a lot can be said about paying attention to a country. When I first arrived here, Malians kept bringing up Governor General Michaëlle Jean’s 2006 visit to Mali and how it meant that Canada cared a lot about Malians, but we all know that she has as much political clout as Justin Bieber, and Malians too understand the difference between a figurehead and a head of state.

Let's see him try to call an election though.

I believe that overlooking Mali not only contributes to regional insecurity, it represents a trespass against the common thread of humanity that binds us together. Poverty fuels insecurity, and neglect fuels poverty.