AFRICA THIRTEENTH STOP MALI

MALI

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


MALI


The Republic of Mali is yet another landlocked country. it is bordered to the North by a small part of Mauritania, to the North East by Algeria, to the East and South by Niger, and to the South by Burkina Faso and Cote d Ivoire and to the West by Guinea and Senegal and then to the North and West by Mauritania completing its encirclement.

Mali is the 24th largest country in the world and the 8th largest country in Africa . (It is interesting to note that Mali is almost twice the size of it former colonial power France which ranks 42nd in the world.) However, with a population of only 16 .2 millions , Mali is only the 66th most populous country in the world, and the 17th most populous country in Africa ( the former Colonial power France has a population of 66 millions and ranks 20th in the world.)  

The fact that Mali's Northern reaches extend deep into the Sahara Desert, goes along way toward explaining the disparity between the size of Mali and its population.

Mali is yet another country whose long history has been largely a product of the trans Saharan trade routes, and the interactions of the historic African powers that vied to influence that trade : the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire.Mali to-day is formed out of parts of those Empires. The zenith of the civilisation in the area was reached in the 1300s when there is evidence of flourishing mathematics, astronomy, art and literature.

The trans Saharan trade was in gold, salt, slaves and precious goods.

The slave trade was feeding North African Mohammedan Arab demand - which was at the same time preying on Christian sources in the Mediterranean area.

The trans Saharan trade remained significant until the European powers' sea borne trading efforts and their larger volumes and possibilities made it ineffective and redundant. Following a Mohammedan invasion of Moroccan origin, the Songhai Empire which originated in North Western present day Nigeria, collapsed and the region's trade crossroads role was at an end.

In the period from the late 1600s the whole of West Africa was afflicted by recurring drought and by devastating plague locusts. So bad was it, that in the period 1738-1756 half the population of fabled Timbuktu was killed by the effects of drought and plague locusts. Thus weakened, the region was ripe for invasion when , in the wake of the European " scramble for Africa" following the Berlin carve-up, the French took control in the late 1800s. By 1905 the area was integrated firmly into French Sudan. But in the post World War II period in 1959 French Sudan changed its name to the Sudanese Republic and joined with Senegal to form the Mali Federation which gained its independence from France in 1960. But in that same year, Senegal withdrew and the Sudanese Republic became the Republic of Mali. Its first President quickly turned it into a one party state and turned his back on the West. In 1968 he was overthrown in a military coup led by Moussa Traure. After prolonged and growing violent opposition, the coup Government was itself overthrown by part of the military forces alienated by Traure's harsh efforts to suppress opposition.

A new Constitution was created and democratic multi-party elections were held. This led to a period of stable government.

But there are sad facts recorded about Mali , for example there are said to be 200,000 slaves in the country owing obedience to a master. A significant factor in all the later violence in the country, has been a very large number of well-armed Tuaregs who had gone to Libya to fight in the Civil War there and returned to Mali with the idea of creating their own nation in the North of the country which they named Azawad.

In all of this violence and warfare it should be remembered that the parties involved are all Mohammedans fighting one another. As it happened the Malian forces held out against the Tuaregs who finally gave up on their demands.

In more recent times, Mali has become less hostile to Western connections and more pragmatic.Many Government enterprises have been privatised, and new private enterprise projects have been approved.
80 % of Malian workers are in agriculture - many only seasonally employed and 15% are in the services sector.

Mali has a very sorry record in infant mortality with 106 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007.In that same year 48% of Malians were less than 12 years old. 90 % of Malians are Mohammedans, 5% Christians (2/3rds Catholic) and 5% follow indigenous religious practices. The Mohammedans - except in the North in recent years have had no adverse effect on non-Mohammedans. But the return of the Tuaregs from Libya did introduce severe persecution of Christians in that region.

There we have it - Mali. It is interesting that in my childhood the name Timbuktu was proverbial - as a place unthinkably " lost" - if you were told " you might as well be in Timbuktu" you were going into very deep trouble!

AFRICA SECOND STOP LIBYA

Background:

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

LIBYA

We continue our study of Africa, moving from last week’s subject Egypt, to the West  and into Libya. Libya lies on the coast of the Mediterranean and is bounded by Egypt in the East, Tunisia and Algeria in the West and Niger, Chad and Sudan in the South. Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa in area, and seventeenth largest in the world.

Only 2% of the territory of Libya receives sufficient rainfall for stable agriculture. Much of the remaining 98% is part of the Sahara Desert.

The population of Libya is approx.. 6,240,000. Mohammedanism is the dominant religion of the country. The languages spoken are local Arabic, Berber and Italian. There are two large cities – Tripoli with over 1,000,000 people and Benghazi . Libya has the tenth largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. 

Since the beginning of recorded history, Libya has been occupied by the Berber people. But the country has had Phoenician Trading colonies, and later was variously ruled by the Greeks in city states, then by the Persians, the Egyptians and Greek Egyptians and then the Romans. It became a Christian nation in due course until , in the seventh Century the bloody invasion of the Mohammedans brought it under Arab Mohammedan domination. This was briefly interrupted by the actions of the Spanish and the Knights of Saint John occupying Tripoli until the Ottoman rule began in 1551. It lasted until the Italians invaded in 1911 and they were not removed until the Second World War.In 1951 Libya became an independent Kingdom, but a military coup in 1969 led eventually to the assumption of power by Muammar Gaddafi , more generally known as Colonel Gaddafi. He retained power until 2011 when a Revolution overthrew him and a democratic election led to a new Government and a rival Islamic “Government” of Tripoli.

The deposing of Gaddafi removed from the world stage one of its most colourful characters in his exotic gowns and splendid tents, but he had been a cunning survivor for a long time despite his numerous outrageous actions internationally.

   



 Colonel Gaddafi in military splendour, and entertaining none other than Vladimir Putin in a tent pitched in New York City.



In Roman times, there were extensive settlements across North Africa and the region of modern day  Libya was no exception. Modern day Tripoli gains its name for the region known as Tripolitania for the three great cities within it –Leptis Magna , Oea and Sabratha. The ruins of Leptis Magna are testimony to the greatness and modernity of that Roman city as the image shows. Much has been written about them and the sophistication of their drainage, water storage and other features. The Romans were attracted to the region because of its abundant production of grains- wheat and corn, and Olives and Olive oil and all of this readily accessible to them from Rome’s port of Ostia. The Roman settlements of North Africa became famous for not only produce , but for education and especially the education of lawyers.

                                 Leptis Magna  a small portion of the ruins


In due course it happened that Septimius Severus (ruled AD 193 – the year of the 5 Emperors -to AD 211) became Emperor and he was a native of Leptis Magna.

Reflecting on these ruins and those of a large number of other Roman cities in North Africa, one quickly realises that what seems so powerful and energetic “to-day” can swiftly descend into the rubbish bin of History under the assaults of barbarians.

It is sad to note that just as she has been in the past, Libya is surrounded by strife in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria , Niger, Chad and Sudan. Most of this strife , as within Libya itself, comes from Mohammedan zealots.