Mali is where we should be focusing our activism

OH DEAR, the press and in particular the letters pages have plenty to say about the alleged and mainly imagined horrors in Israel, but very little about Africa, where South African interests should lie, especially after the government made such a fuss of foisting Ms Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on the AU.

Take Mali, and I quote from an article in the International Herald Tribune of December 30, 2012, translated from French, written by Oumou Sall Seck, the first elected woman mayor of Goundam in Northern Mali.

“Life in Mali before the Islamic rebels came was calm and harmonious.

“We built a community centre and development projects were giving a sense of hope. Jihadist criminal groups like Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad, working with drug traffickers and armed separatists destroyed democratic institutions, national unity and secularism in Mali.

“In 2011 with heavy weapons they routed the Malian army. I was forced to flee from the total chaos. There was no government, no electricity and no freedom. The health centre was looted by godless men hiding behind Shariah, beating and raping women and conscripting children for their ‘holy’ war.

“Reclaiming Northern Mali is a priority before it is lost as a hotbed of terrorists and drug dealers which cannot be done without International help.”

Now there is a genuine cause célèbre for frustrated activists, and what should be a priority for our government and the AU since Mali is in Africa, it is within the remit of the AU which is headed by a senior ANC politician and the US, Europe and Nato are standing back waiting for the AU to come up with the African solution that the ANC (we were told) had up its sleeve for Libya. However, the last we heard was on November 13, 2012 (eight weeks ago) when the BBC reported: “The African Union has backed a plan to send troops into Mali to clear the north of Islamist extremists.”

Unlike Israel, Mali was unable to defend itself against an Islamic onslaught and has to suffer, waiting for the AU to give its conferences and lunches a rest and actually do something to save a whole African country. Write to: The Editor, Cape Times, Box 11, Cape Town 8000. Fax: (021) 488 4744, or e-mail: ctletters@inl.co.za. Please restrict letters to fewer than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit and only letters providing a physical address and telephone contact number (neither for publication) will be considered. As a rule, letters which have been published elsewhere, either in print or electronically, will not be considered. Pseudonyms are not accepted.