MALI : WEST AFRICA'S AFGHANISTAN

For over a decade Mali has been viewed as a poster child of good governance, secularism and tolerance and as a bulwark against radical Islam. Yet three inter-related sources of insecurity - Tuareg nationalism, the rise of Islamism and the nature of Mali's post-independence state - coalesced to bring about a takeover of northern Mali by Islamist forces. The rise of the Islamists, in turn, prompted Western - predominantly French - and regional intervention. Looking beyond the current intervention, Hussein Solomon argues that only a more holistic approach can prevent a repeat of this tragedy.