Making Sense of Mali

Making Sense of Mali: pRecent reports have oversimplified the conflict in Mali, hinting that the country hosts one major Tuareg separatist bloc and a popular radical Islamist movement. In fact, mainstream Malians love neither. Most of them just want a return to democracy with broader participation and more freedoms -- the precise opposite of what they fear the separatists and Islamists would bring. As long as French assistance helps hold those groups off, it will be welcome./p