This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.
CapacityPlus has been working in Mali through activities strengthening health workforce leadership, human resources information systems, and preservice education; activities have been temporarily suspended since April 2012 due to a coup d’état and the ongoing crisis in Mali’s northern regions.
Mali is currently experiencing the most severe crisis of its existence. When heavily armed Tuareg rebels and Islamist rebel groups poured in from Libya on January 17, 2012, they quickly defeated the underequipped, disorganized Malian army. Now they have seized the country’s vast northern regions and are working to force sharia—or Islamic law—on the people there.
The most visible rebel chief is not Malian—he is from Pakistan—and he often appears on TV to say that sharia is good for Mali. That if Mali accepts Islamic law, the rebels will help the country to get funds from other Islamic countries. Read more »
Many Americans are unaware of the disaster that’s been unfolding in Mali for the past eight months. The northern region—a tract of the Sahara Desert that’s vaster than the state of California—became a warzone when radical Islamist rebel groups invaded in March 2012. The rebels are now enforcing sharia, or Islamic law, and their so-called justice is brutal and shocking. (It would be hard to believe it was real, if the rebels didn’t make a habit of posting photographic and video evidence of the atrocities—such as stonings and dismemberments—to Facebook and YouTube on a regular basis.)
