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| MALI |
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| AFRICA |
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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!
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| NIGER |
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| AFRICA |
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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.
NIGER
The Republic of Niger is yet another land-locked African country. It is bordered to the North by Algeria and Libya, to the East by Chad, to the South East by Lake Chad and to the South by Nigeria and Benin and to the South West by Burkina Faso and to the West by Mali.
Niger is the 22nd largest country in the World, being about 1/6th the size of Australia.It is the 60th most populous country in the World with 19.26 million people( Australia 52nd with 23.8 millions).
The great FACT about Niger is that 80% of its land area is part of the Sahara Desert. The population is therefore concentrated in the South.The people are predominantly Mohammedan.Niger ranks 187th in the United Nations " Human Development Index", it is thus shown to be an underdeveloped nation.
The country's history since it won independence from France in 1958 has been turbulent and it is now into its 7th Republic that history includes 4 Military Regimes.
The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture . However, there are limited exports to surrounding countries - such foreign exchange earnings as there are come from food and cattle - all unprocessed, save for some hides and skins and handicrafts.There are also mining and oil exports.The former have prominently featured uranium exports. A little more than one fifth of the roads in the country are paved. 574 Kilometres of railway are being built to connect the capital Niamey to Parakou in neighbouring Benin is due to be completed by 2016.
The history of Niger's territory is long and varied, with human habitation dating back to 5,000 B.C. But it was the period around 500 B.C. before substantial activity can be identified, and this seems related to the trans Saharan trade routes. This also led to the introduction of the Mohammedan religion. From A.D. 600 to 1591 the Songhai Empire ruled and this became Mohammedan after the Mohammedan wars of expansion began around A.D. 700. From the mid 14th Century the Songhai were displaced by the various Mohammedan Hausa Kingdoms which multiplied throughout the region.
In this period also there were intrusions by the Mali Empire and the Kanem - Bornu Empire.
Following the notorious 1885 Berlin Conference in which the European Powers decided on how Africa should be carved up for the purposes of colonisation, the French set-up what became known as the Voulet - Chanoine Mission to explore the possibilities in the Chad Basin and to unify all French territories in West Africa. It set out from Senegal in 1898. Nine Europeans led the Mission which was composed of an aggregation of some 1,300 men - 800 of whom were porters. The two leading men, Voulet and Chanoine were , to say the least of an unstable psychological make-up (the term psychopaths has been used by a British historian). In fact it seems that they were callous and even blood-thirsty. armed with artillery, machine guns , hundreds of rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition, and led by such characters the worst could be expected. They came to reject orders from Paris and proceeded in a scandalous manner. The expedition was adversely effected by scarcity of supplies in the region and an outbreak of dysentery which soon killed 148 of the porters. Voulet's troops proceeded pillaging, raping, looting and killing.On 8th January, 1899 they attacked a village and killed 101 people including 30 women and children - to set an example for the region, after a couple of his soldiers were wounded in a fray! In May the same year in a similar reprisal he led his men in the massacre of another village in which it seems thousands were killed - on account of the earlier killing of 4 of his soldiers.
Some months before one of Voulet's Officers had resigned - disgusted at the slaughtering , he returned to Franc and wrote a detailed account of the first massacre which via his fiancee got into the hands of the Government Minister responsible. He promptly ordered the Governor of Timbuktu , Governor Klobb, to take control and arrest Voulet. Klobb set out with 50 troops and a French Officer.
After travelling 2,000 Kms in pursuit of the villains, Klobb received reports he was very close to them and sent ahead A Sergeant and two soldiers demanding Voulet's immediate return to Paris, In his reply Voulet reminded Klobb that he had 600 guns against Klobb's 50 and declined to obey. He and Chanoine were careful to keep Klobb's letter from the other French Officers. He kept on raiding and on July 13 after a villager killed one of his men, he massacred 150 women and children at another village. He sent a second letter to Klobb warning him to come no closer.
Klobb came on. Voulet ordered his own men to fall back so that they would not know the true nature of Klobb's mission. Klobb proceeded boldly on his own , whilst wearing his Legion d'Honneur - Voulet insisted he stop, but Klobb ordered those with Voulet to be loyal to their duty. Voulet ordered them to fire a warning volley in the air , but as Klobb kept coming he ordered him to be shot. He fell dead after having ordered his troops not to return fire. They in fact fled.
Voulet and Chanoine tried to rally their men in the coming days , to help them set up their own "kingdom" abandoning French association altogether. Within a few days both were dead at the hands of the troops. In due course, under other officers, despite much strife, order was restored and the original mission was completed in a civilised manner( as much as that can be said for dispossessing people of their independence and property.)
Ultimately it was decided by the Ministry of Colonies in Paris that the outrages committed under the direction of Voulet and Chanoine were due to a "Sudanese sickness and the dreadful heat sending the two mad."
