Crisis in Mali

While there are several narratives about Mali, the one currently dominating the agenda concerns the capture of Mali’s north by radicals and the perceived ungovernability of that region as a result of the lack of governance, and state complicity with criminal groups which in turn was exploited by well-armed, equipped and trained international terrorist groups. However, counter-terrorism by external powers is not obviously consistent with peacebuilding – and, for Mali to recover from the current crisis, solutions must be rooted in peacebuilding, taking into account the historic, political, socioeconomic reality of the country. This angle is currently missing from many international narratives about intervening in Mali. In this paper we will discuss what a peacebuilding approach to the conflict in Mali could look like.