Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Canada has been involved for over a decade in fighting an Islamist insurgency in Afghanistan.  As a member in good standing of NATO, as neighbour to the powerful and influential United States of American, we have an obligation to stand stalwart alongside our comrades-at-arms.  This is nothing new for Canada.  When Libyan rebels sought the support of NATO in their upheaval against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, Canada was front and centre, alongside France and Britain.

Much good came of all that, in retrospect.  In Afghanistan there is an endless supply of Afghans to join the Taliban, from among the border tribes.  After ten years and more of thrusting back the Taliban, grappling with the reality that its neighbour Pakistan, an avowed ally against terrorism with NATO and the United States surreptitiously funds, trains and arms the Afghan Taliban, the truth is a resurgent Taliban now in control of large swaths of the country.

And Libya, which has been liberated from the tyrannical thrall of Moammar Ghadafi, although still disunited, still overrun with tribal militias refusing to surrender their arms to a central authority, has declared itself an Islamist state and implemented full Sharia law.  Fundamentalist Libyan tribal militias now prey on other sects of whose view of Islam they do not approve.  Further, the vast arms depots that were ransacked during the uprising, have made their way to other parts of Africa.

The Tuareg mercenaries trained and armed to fight alongside other Libyan troops under Moammar Ghadafi also fled with their arms and armaments that they looted on their way out of the country and into their own.  The convergence of events which saw a military coup in Mali to unseat the democratically elected president of the country and the incursion of the Libyan-released Tuareg battling for a homeland of their own further exacerbated conditions.

Mali is now without a central government.  Its ill-equipped military is incapable of dealing with the double threat of the rebellious Tuareg and the incursion of foreign Islamist militias associated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb coming into Mali and other Sahel countries, from northern Africa to Sudan in the east and Senegal in the west.  Fanatical Islamism has emerged to take hold throughout.

"It's a serious situation because it is the first time terrorists have taken root in important cities and could be in a situation to implant themselves in an entire country.  You have this risk...and threat that what is happening in northern Mali can happen in other areas."  French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius

The UN Security Council is now speaking of the potential of deploying an international force to meet the threat of an Islamist take-over.  A force ostensibly that would be led by West African nations since it is they primarily and initially who will be affected when and if violent jihadists continue to spread across the region.  It is anticipated that countries like Canada would be invited to take part.

Canada is expected to be sympathetic to any such request "Once the needs for support have been defined", according to a spokesman for Foreign Affairs.  "Canada remains concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Mali, a country facing a political, security and humanitarian crisis."  Canadian special forces troops helped train Malian soldiers in recent years.

Moreover Canada has invested millions in international assistance over the past forty years in a country once believed to represent a model of stability and democracy.  "This was a country that went well, that was working well.  Mali has always been in the good graces of Canada", according to Lucien Bradet, president of the Canadian Council on Africa.

With the military coup that ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure, Canada's Mali involvement was distanced.  With further disastrously destabilizing news that the Tuareg-Islamist partnership has been sundered, the Tuareg and Mali-military arms being taken by the Islamists, the jihadists, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb now have complete control over a sizeable area of Mali.

"This situation has become worse so much faster than anyone thought it would.  Now we're starting to see an Islamic terrorist belt across the Sahel region.  This is a slightly scary situation."  Paul Hitschfeld, chair, Ottawa-based Africa Study Group.