<html><head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Some of us saw this coming, and during this time of crisis on many fronts its easy to dismiss, but it has the potential to turn very dangerous and very ugly, every bit as that which has been occurring since 9/11.</span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">It’s important to recognize the problems in Mali are a result of US intervention and destruction of Libya in 2011. </span><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">With US military bases occupying 54 nations across Africa, the US will now be taking over the Sahel region just as we did the Magreb. Our western allies are supporting us, as this posting indicates, but make no mistake as to who is behind it. </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">While China is purchasing many of the minerals required for manufacturing, western imperialists prefer theft by way of military intervention and occupation in the guise of "humanitarian aid."</span><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><header class="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="mw6-ns center pv3-ns _pt4-l pv4-l georgia _avenir mw7-l _pb4-l" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "PT serif", sans-serif; max-width: 32rem; padding-top: 1rem; padding-bottom: 1rem; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><h2 class="lh-title _balance-text f2-p f2-ns f1-l f3 ma0" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px; font-size: 2.25rem;">UK deploys troops to Mali</h2></div><div class="mw6-ns mw7-l center" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 32rem; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><h5 class="avenir lh-title bn-p b--black-10 mt3 bb pb3 ma0" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-top-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-right-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-left-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); font-family: "Source Sans Pro", sans-serif; line-height: 1.25; padding-bottom: 1rem; margin: 1rem 0px 0px;"><div class="f6-ns b f7 f5-l" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.875rem;"><a class="underline-hover no-underline" href="https://www.wsws.org/en/authors/Jean-Shaoul" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;">Jean Shaoul</a></div><div class="black-60 f7 normal mt1" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; margin-top: 0.25rem; font-size: 0.75rem;"><span class="relative" style="position: relative; top: 1px;"><svg class="relative dib mr1" version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="12 12 24 24" style="width:0.9em;fill:currentColor;enable-background:new 0 0 48 48" xml:space="preserve"><g id="clock"><path d="M24,12c-6.617,0-12,5.383-12,12s5.383,12,12,12c6.617,0,12-5.383,12-12S30.617,12,24,12z M24,33c-4.971,0-9-4.029-9-9 s4.029-9,9-9c4.971,0,9,4.029,9,9S28.971,33,24,33z M25,22.277v-4.762C25,17.24,24.758,17,24.483,17h-0.982 c-0.274,0-0.5,0.24-0.5,0.516L23,22.277C22.7,22.452,22.452,22.7,22.277,23H19.5c-0.275,0-0.5,0.273-0.5,0.548V24.5 c0,0.275,0.225,0.5,0.5,0.5h2.777c0.346,0.595,0.984,1,1.723,1c1.105,0,2-0.896,2-2C26,23.262,25.595,22.624,25,22.277z"></path></g></svg></span><time datetime="2020-12-08T03:26:12.000Z" class="">7 December 2020</time></div></h5></div></header><section class="mt3 _mt5-xl mt4-m mw-75rem-m relative center" itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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font-family: "PT serif", sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 1.25rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Around 300 British troops have arrived in the west African country of Mali. Presented as a contribution to the UN’s peacekeeping mission, it is part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s efforts to reassert British imperialism’s interests in Africa against the challenge from its major rivals as the UK prepares to leave the European Union (EU).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab sought to cover this blatant piece of imperialist militarism, declaring, “This new deployment of 300 British troops to the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali is part of our ongoing work in the Sahel region to build stability, improve the humanitarian response and help protect innocent civilians from violence.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">While this is partly bound up with efforts to reduce migration to Europe, vital geo-strategic issues are also involved. First announced in July 2019 shortly after Johnson became prime minister, the deployment of troops to West Africa began earlier this year when around 30 soldiers and Royal Marines took part in training special forces from West African nations in a US-led “counter-terrorism” exercise in Senegal involving more than 1,600 troops. Major John House, commander of the Senegal team, declared it was in Britain's interests to get more involved in the region, saying, “If we don't act, we may find the problems getting closer to our door. The more they have a presence in the region, the more we can feel the effect back in the UK.”</p><figure class="ma0 overflow-hidden relative dn-p" style="margin: 2rem 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="overflow-hidden relative" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><img class="db center relative" src="https://www.wsws.org/asset/079c65dd-d486-44de-8f05-d800957ec5e6?rendition=image1280" style="border-style: none; max-width: 100%; display: block; position: relative; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></div><figcaption class="avenir lh-title tc db pt3 f7 ph3 f6-m black-60" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif; line-height: 1.25; padding-top: 1rem; padding-left: 1rem; padding-right: 1rem; text-align: center; font-size: 0.875rem;">The warring parties in Mali in March 2020 (credit: House of Commons Library)</figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">That exercise included special forces troops from Cameroon, Morocco and Nigeria that conducted a raid on a village to “take out” an unspecified group of extremists. Troops in Cameroon and Nigeria have been involved in such operations for years. Cameroon is suppressing an anglophone separatist movement and Nigeria is conducting operations against Boko Haram in the country’s north east, as well as recurring conflicts in the country’s Middle Belt and the oil-producing Niger Delta.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">In July, small teams of Special Airforce Service, whose tasks include covert reconnaissance, counterterrorism, direct action, and hostage rescue, were reported to be in Mali preparing for the main force of Light Dragoons and Royal Anglian troops to arrive later in the year.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">UK forces were sent to Gao, in eastern Mali, where they will form part of Minusma, the UN’s peacekeeping operation with 14,000 troops from 56 countries, in the vast desert and semi-arid region of the Sahel. According to the Ministry of Defence, their main task is to mount reconnaissance operations around Gao where several Islamist groups, including various al-Qaida affiliates under the banner of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and a rival Isis affiliate, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, are active.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">The Minusma mission has been described as the most dangerous in the world. Last year, at least 500 civilians were killed by these groups that also attacked French, European, and local armed forces, with one suicide attack killing more than 50 Malians in a military base in 2017.</p><aside data-track-content="true" data-content-name="33% of article" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2020/12/08/mali-d08.html" class=""></aside><aside class="_bb mv4 _bt dn-p relative" style="position: relative; margin: 2rem -50vw; width: 100vw; left: 320px; right: 320px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><a class="pointer no-underline" href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/05/book-o05.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;"><section class="ph4-m mt4 ph3 bg-black-05" data-track-content="true" data-content-name="Link to /en/articles/2020/10/05/book-o05.html" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2020/12/08/mali-d08.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0470588); padding-left: 2rem; padding-right: 2rem; margin-top: 2rem;"><div class="mw7-ns center avenir flex-ns mw6 pv3 mw7-l ph4-ns ph0-m pv4-m" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", sans-serif; max-width: 48rem; padding: 2rem 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><div class="w-100 w-40-l w-40-m" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 377.6px;"><div class="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><figure class="ma0 overflow-hidden relative" style="margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="overflow-hidden relative" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><img class="db center relative" src="https://www.wsws.org/asset/8b70e602-14f7-4ba9-aab4-48f70a0a7c6d?rendition=image1280" style="border-style: none; max-width: 100%; display: block; position: relative; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="w-50-l w-60-m w-60-l w-100 pl4-m pl5-l mt0-m mt2" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 566.4px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 2rem;"><div class="b avenir dib f4 f3-m lh-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.25; font-size: 1.5rem;"><span type="text-line" class="">Foreword to the German edition of David North’s <em class="">Quarter Century of War</em></span></div><div class="lh-copy f7 f6-m mt2" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 0.5rem; font-size: 0.875rem;"><span type="text-line" class="">Johannes Stern, 5 October 2020</span></div><div class="lh-copy f7 f6-m mt2" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 0.5rem; font-size: 0.875rem;"><div type="text-block" style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">After three decades of US-led wars, the outbreak of a third world war, which would be fought with nuclear weapons, is an imminent and concrete danger.</p></div></div><div class="tc tl-m" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></section></a></aside><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Earlier this year Mali witnessed months of protests against the French occupation, launched in 2013, and the ethnic massacres between rival militias that Paris tolerates, and uses to divide and rule the country. France intervened in Mali in January 2013 against separatist and Islamist forces who came from Libya in the aftermath of NATO’s regime-change war in 2011. It has maintained more than 4,000 troops in Mali, increased to more than 5,100 since the beginning of 2020, as part of an international coalition that includes Germany, Canada, the US and the so-called G5 force of troops from Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali.</p><figure class="ma0 overflow-hidden relative dn-p" style="margin: 2rem 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><div class="overflow-hidden relative" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative;"><img class="db center relative" src="https://www.wsws.org/asset/d1644ad8-7b68-4f43-86e9-bc8a8bf0ec96?rendition=image1280" style="border-style: none; max-width: 100%; display: block; position: relative; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></div><figcaption class="avenir lh-title tc db pt3 f7 ph3 f6-m black-60" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif; line-height: 1.25; padding-top: 1rem; padding-left: 1rem; padding-right: 1rem; text-align: center; font-size: 0.875rem;">British military personnel departing from a Hercules transport. [Picture: Corporal Andrew Morris RAF, Crown copyright]</figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Mali is Africa’s third-largest gold producer after Ghana, its southern neighbour, and South Africa. It also borders Niger, which hosts France’s military forces including drone bases and provides most of the uranium supplies required for nuclear power production in France.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Despite its gold, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 184 out of 188 on the United Nations Human Development Index, with 78 percent of the population living in poverty. The median age of its 19 million population is 16.3 years, many lacking access to education. Climate change is having a devastating impact on Mali and the entire Sahel, where droughts and floods have obliterated crops and livestock herds, creating tension between farmers and nomadic herders competing for land and shrinking resources.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">According to the United Nations, about 12.9 million people are affected by the crisis in Mali, with 6.8 million in need of humanitarian assistance. There are more than 250,000 internally displaced people as well as nearly 30,000 refugees from Burkina Faso and Niger. The insecurity in neighbouring Burkina Faso is forcing many Malian refugees to return home.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">On August 18, amid mounting protests, a junta of Malian army colonels launched a pre-emptive coup, toppling President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, and declaring loyalty to the French occupation force. France supported the coup because it was aimed against the anti-war protests of youth and workers. Like the 2012 coup that paved the way for the 2013 French invasion, the 2020 coup started in the Kita army base. General Ibrahim Dahirou Dembélé, who has been decorated for his services to French national security, was again one of its leaders.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">When they took power, the coup leaders made their loyalty to French imperialism clear. They called on the Malian army to continue working with French troops (Operation Barkhane), their European allies (Takuba), their UN auxiliaries (Minusma), and their auxiliaries from the Sahel countries (G5 Sahel). They declared, “The Minusma, the Barkhane force, the G5 Sahel, the Takuba force are still our partners for stability and the restoration of security. We call on you, our brothers in arms, to continue discharging your law-and-order and operational missions.”</p><aside data-track-content="true" data-content-name="66% of article" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2020/12/08/mali-d08.html" class=""></aside><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">The Sahel, which includes the francophone countries of Mali, Burkino Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, is not one of Britain’s traditional fields of operations. But Johnson is determined to recoup some of Britain’s lost influence in Africa, while embracing US imperialism and its militaristic agenda. This is centred on escalating aggression towards Russia and China, which has become Africa’s largest trading partner, as part of his efforts to salvage the UK’s global position, post-Brexit.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Operating under the UN mandate, British forces will not be involved in the EU operations in the Sahel, including the EU mission to train Mali’s police, although it does provide helicopter support for Operation Barkhane, France’s 5,000-strong anti-insurgency force, headquartered in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Africa is the arena for the largest number of Britain’s Armed Forces overseas on training or operational missions. According to the Ministry of Defence there many short-term military teams training security forces to respond “appropriately and proportionally” to security threats, terrorism, violations of human rights, wildlife preservation and emerging humanitarian crises.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">Britain has for some years had forces in Nigeria, its former colony where Shell Oil Company has major investments, supposedly training its military and security forces to deal with Islamist terrorist groups. It recently emerged—after initial denials—that Britain had in 2019 provided training and equipment for Nigeria’s police and security forces, funded via its so-called “aid” budget. The notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), widely recognized as one of the worst in the world, was the focus of October’s mass anti-police brutality protest movement, which government forces ruthlessly suppressed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">In addition to its forces in Nigeria, Djibouti and Somalia, Britain has 14 training missions on the continent operating out of its base in Kenya, including in Gabon, Malawi, and Zambia. This is in addition to its participation in UN peacekeeping missions, recently doubling its deployments to South Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">News of the anticipated deployment to Mali comes in the wake of the government’s announcement of increased funding for the military that will lift the UK’s defence budget by £21.5 billion by March 2025, to £63 billion. This is the largest real terms increase in 30 years, confirming that the ruling elite are stepping up their military preparations in pursuit of their geo-strategic aims.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;" class="">The Labour Party not only endorsed Johnson’s “long overdue” expansion of British militarism, but sought to outflank the Tory government on the right. Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey attacked the Tories for their decade in power, during which “the size of the armed forces has been cut by a quarter, defence spending was cut by over £7 billion.”</p><div class=""><a href="http://wsws.org" class="">WSWS.ORG</a></div><aside data-track-content="true" data-content-name="100% of article" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2020/12/08/mali-d08.html" class=""></aside><aside class="_bb mv4 _bt dn-p relative" style="position: relative; margin: 2rem -50vw; width: 100vw; left: 320px; right: 320px;"><div class="mw7-l mw6 ph3 ph0-m center" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 32rem; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><div class="cf pa3 pa4-m bg-black-05 br3" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-radius: 0.5rem; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); padding: 2rem;"><div class="center w-100" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 560px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><div class="_bg-black-05 _pa4-ns _pa3" data-track-content="true" data-content-name="Mautic form 133" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2020/12/08/mali-d08.html" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><div id="mauticform_wrapper_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign" class="mauticform_wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px auto; -webkit-user-modify: read-only; max-width: 600px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(103, 103, 103);"><form autocomplete="false" role="form" method="post" action="https://mautic.wsws.org/form/submit?formId=133" id="mauticform_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign" data-mautic-form="wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="mauticiframe_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2em;" class=""><div class="mauticform-error" id="mauticform_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign_error" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; color: red; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"></div><div class="mauticform-message" id="mauticform_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign_message" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; color: green; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"></div><div class="mauticform-innerform" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div class="mauticform-page-wrapper mauticform-page-1" data-mautic-form-page="1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="mauticform_wswsnewsletterembeddedinsidearticlesenglishcampaign_sign_up_for_the_wsws_emai" class="mauticform-row mauticform-freehtml mauticform-field-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div></div></div></form></div></div></div></div></div></div></aside></div></div></div></section></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>