Tagged: Mali

It's hard to keep track of who is fighting who in the west African nation of Mali, but it appears that Islamist rebels have pushed secular Tuareg rebels out of a small town about 50 miles east of the border with Mauritania. As the Associated Press notes, the action comes about a week after militants captured the town of Ménaka, in eastern Mali, about 65 miles from the border with Niger.

Sidi Touré is a Songhai singer-songwriter from the city of Gao in northern Mali. Though he grew up in a royal family, he sings the blues elegantly and in his own native language; interestingly, Touré has said he'd never heard American blues music until after his first album was released.

A rebellion in northern Mali, followed by a military coup in the south, has shattered the veneer of stability in a country that was hailed for 20 years as a model democracy in turbulent West Africa.

Now Mali is facing twin crises, prompting regional and international fears that the north — currently controlled by jihadists — is a terrorist safe haven. And the politicians who are meant to be fixing the problems are bickering.