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Today, the Mali government is a shell of a regime that rules at the behest of the Mali military, the latter’s foreign trainers, and the foreign mining companies that provide much of its revenue.... The uranium mines in neighbouring Niger and the uranium deposits in Mali are of particular interest to France, which generates 78% of its electricity from nuclear energy. Niger’s uranium mines are highly polluting and deeply resented by the population, including the semi-nomadic Touareg people who reside in the mining regions.... At the political heart of the conflict in Mali is the decades-long struggle of the Touareg people, a semi-nomadic people numbering some 1.2 million. Their language is part of the Berber language group. Their historic homeland includes much of Niger and northern Mali and smaller parts of Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Libya.... The Touareg have fought a succession of rebellions in the 20th century against the borders imposed by colonialism and then defended by post-independence, neocolonial regimes.
