MALI

The former French colony of Mali is big (twice the size of France itself), sparsely populated, and poor. It is most well-known for the city of Timbuktu, which for centuries was a regional stronghold and Islamic centre of learning, but which is now just a provincial town. Since the country's Government was reasonably democratic and not too despotic, the rest of the world was inclined to leave it alone.

Until now. The world's powers have woken up in recent months to the possibility that the vast desert region of northern Mali, southern Algeria and Mauritania could become a breeding ground for terrorist training in the same way that Afghanistan has been. There have always been Tuareg rebels in the north of Mali; but they tended to be left alone to do their own thing. Now, however, the region has been infiltrated by Islamists with links to Al Quaeda, who have taken over about half of the country.

This was too much for France, who have now stepped in with troops and equipment. Officially, the French were responding to a request for help from the Malian Government to retake control of their territory; and they were careful to get both Security Council backing and the inclusion of troops from other West African countries. Yet it is hard not to draw the conclusion that France wanted to lance a boil in what it considers to be one of its prime spheres of influence, before that boil burst into something much nastier.

A decision which seems wise. In the last day or so, some of those Islamists have hopped over the (porous) border into Algeria, hijacked an oil installation in the desert, and taken a large number of people, including Western technicians, hostage. The Algerian authorities, ignoring Western advice, have now retaken the facility, though quite a lot of people have been killed in the process. The ramifications and fallout from these events will take time to emerge, but one thing is already certain: the world knows much more about the geography of northern Mali than it did a year ago.    

Walter Blotscher