The document provides background information on the conflict in Mali between Islamist extremist groups and the Malian government beginning in 2012. It discusses how Islamist groups took control of northern Mali after a military coup overthrew the elected Malian government. The Malian government then requested assistance from France to help retake the north. France launched a military intervention in January 2013 under a theory of intervention by invitation, citing a request for assistance from the Malian government and UN Security Council Resolution 2085 authorizing international assistance. The document examines the legal basis and justifications for France's humanitarian military intervention in Mali at the request of the government.
The document provides background information on the conflict in Mali between Islamist extremist groups and the Malian government beginning in 2012. It discusses how Islamist groups took control of northern Mali after a military coup overthrew the elected Malian government. The Malian government then requested assistance from France to help retake the north. France launched a military intervention in January 2013 under a theory of intervention by invitation, citing a request for assistance from the Malian government and UN Security Council Resolution 2085 authorizing international assistance. The document examines the legal basis and justifications for France's humanitarian military intervention in Mali at the request of the government.
The document provides background information on the conflict in Mali between Islamist extremist groups and the Malian government beginning in 2012. It discusses how Islamist groups took control of northern Mali after a military coup overthrew the elected Malian government. The Malian government then requested assistance from France to help retake the north. France launched a military intervention in January 2013 under a theory of intervention by invitation, citing a request for assistance from the Malian government and UN Security Council Resolution 2085 authorizing international assistance. The document examines the legal basis and justifications for France's humanitarian military intervention in Mali at the request of the government.
AHMAD IBRAHIM KULIYYAH OF LAW | INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
PREPARED BY: ABDUL HADI BIN HAJI BAHAROM G1322905 SUPERVISOR: DR HANIFF AHAMAT
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Table of Indexes
1. Introduction...01 2. Definition: Humanitarian Intervention..04 3. The Legal Basis: Request for Assistance by Mali....05 4. Causes of Conflicts06 5. Timeline of French - Mali Intervention.10 6. French Intervention: Objectives and Missions..12 7. French Intervention: Military Strategy and Political Influences...13 8. French Intervention: War against Terrorism.15 9. UN: The legality of the purpose16 10. The Role of the Un Security Council: Blessing Or Authorising?.....17 11. The interpretation of UNSC Resolution 2085...18 12. Effects of the Conflict for Mali and France..22 13. Conclusion.25 14. References.26 2
1. Introduction
Mali is an African country where faced conflicts since several years ago and its conflicts are overlapping with security, political, and humanitarian crises. Islamist extremist groups expanded their existence in the countrys vast, Taureg from the north followed by a March 2012 coup that overthrew Malis elected government and led the military government. By this conflict, 350,000 people lived in chaotic life, plus with exacerbated regional food insecurity and poor humanitarian conditions. To respond to this complex crisis, Malis government asked the France to come and intervene in their domestic affairs by the name of humanitarian as the insurgency was no longer effective as the military command was no longer under the government control. In this assignment, we will discuss on how the crisis arose, what the causes of the conflicts were and how the France intervention helped the democratic recovery on the nation itself.
For the past year, Mali has been mired in overlapping security, political, and humanitarian crises. After Malis government was overthrown in a military coup in March 2012, insurgents, capitalizing on the ensuing power vacuum, seized much of the countrys vast and sparsely populated northern territory.
As of early January 2013, three loosely connected Islamist extremist groupsincluding Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization reportedly controlled all major towns in the north, an area roughly the size of Texas. While the number of Islamist insurgent combatants appears to be small, they have become increasingly entrenched, ousting an ethnic Tuareg separatist group with which they were initially allied and recruiting adherents among local populations.
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Meanwhile, the post-coup, nominally civilian-led government in Bamako has been weakened by internal divisions and military interference, while years of corruption and mismanagement appear to have hollowed out many state institutions. Malis leaders also face stark economic constraints amid a national recession and revenue crisis. A regional food security crisis, exacerbated by population displacements from northern Mali, also continues to cause suffering.
In March 2012, a small group of officers within the Malian army overthrew the government by a coup dtat and chased the democratically elected Malian President Amadou Toumani Tour into exile, the intervention of an international military mission to assist Mali in its recapture of the North was claimed by some media and state representatives from neighbouring countries .
On January 11, 2013, France gave their support what we called as humanitarian intervention by launching military operations against insurgent targets in northern Mali, following a request from the Malian government for help in repelling insurgent advances toward the south. French operations marked a sudden and major shift in international responses to the situation in Mali. In its military humanitarian intervention, France argued that, they were acted as followed by Resolution 2085 adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) on 20 December 2012 (UN Security Council, 2012).
However, despite the political, institutional and security vacuum that followed the coup, the ad-hoc installed Malian interim government has been refusing the presence of foreign military troops on its territory for several months. It was only when the inferiority of the Malian army became obvious that the political leaders in Bamako signalled the willingness to accept external military assistance. 4
2. Definition : Humanitarian Intervention
Humanitarian intervention has been defined as a state's use of "military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed." 1
There is no one standard or legal definition of humanitarian intervention; the field of analysis (such as law, ethics, or politics) often influences the definition that is chosen. Differences in definition include variations in whether humanitarian intervention is limited to instances where there is an absence of consent from the host state; whether humanitarian intervention is limited to punishment actions; and whether humanitarian intervention is limited to cases where there has been explicit UN Security Council authorization for action. 2 There is, however, a general consensus on some of its essential characteristics: 3
Humanitarian intervention involves the threat and use of military forces as a central feature It is an intervention in the sense that it entails interfering in the internal affairs of a state by sending military forces into the territory or airspace of a sovereign state that has not committed an act of aggression against another state.
The intervention is in response to situations that do not necessarily pose direct threats to states strategic interests, but instead is motivated by humanitarian objectives. The subject of humanitarian intervention has remained a compelling foreign policy issue, especially since
1 Marjanovic, Marko (2011-04-04) Is Humanitarian War the Exception?, Mises Institute. 2 Jennifer M. Welsh. Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Ed. Jennifer M. Welsh. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 3 Alton Frye. 'Humanitarian Intervention: Crafting a Workable Doctrine.' New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2000. 5
NATOs intervention in Kosovo in 1999, as it highlights the tension between the principle of state sovereignty - a defining pillar of the UN system and international law - and evolving international norms related to human rights and the use of force. 4 Moreover, it has sparked normative and empirical debates over its legality, the ethics of using military force to respond to human rights violations, when it should occur, who should intervene, 5 and whether it is effective.
3. The Legal Basis: Request For Assistance By Mali And The Theory Of Intervention By Invitation
In its official letter sent to the UN Security Council on 11th January 2013 France states that:
France has responded today to a request for assistance from the Interim President of the Republic of Mali, Mr. Dioncounda Traor. Mali is facing terrorist elements from the north, which are currently threatening the territorial integrity and very existence of the State and the security of its population [T]he French armed forces, in response to that request and in coordination with our partners, particularly those in the region, are supporting Malian units in combating those terrorist elements. The operation, which is in conformity with international law, will last as long as necessary. 6
The international community and the UNSC itself accepted the validity of this argument. As Susan Rice, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, said just before the start of Operation Serval: there is clear-cut consensus about the gravity of the situation and the right of the Malian
4 Shashi Tharoor and Sam Daws. "Humanitarian Intervention: Getting Past the Reefs." World Policy Journal 2001. 5 James Pattison, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 6 S/1013/17, Identical letters dated 11th January 2013 from the Permanent Representative of France to the UN addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council. 6
authorities to seek what assistance they can receive and any State can support and encourage the Malian governments sovereign request for assistance from friends and partners in the region and beyond. 7
Even States, such as the UK, who offered logistical support only to the military effort in Mali, requested an official letter by the authorities in order to justify their operations. This means that, at any time, States operating in Mali were doing so either under the official request of the Malian authorities or under the UNSC authorisation given to African States by resolution 2085 (infra).
The consensus about the legality of foreign intervention by invitation in Mali should not lead to the conclusion that third States have an unlimited right to military intervention on the basis of the consent of the authorities of the State where the intervention takes place.
4. Causes of Conflicts
The depressing socioeconomic and development indicators are compounded by the fact that the country is highly dependent on gold mining and agricultural exports for revenue. Mali is constantly threatened by spill overs of violent conflicts from neighbouring countries, and with long, porous borders, the country has been affected by cross-border banditry, kidnapping and terrorism. From our study, we can examine that, there were several factors which led to the Mali conflicts internally and externally.
4.1 The internal factor: The Military Coup
7 Remarks at a Press Gaggle Following UNSC Consultations on Mali in <http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/202714.htm> 7
The internal factor was the Military coup organised by non-commissioned and mid-ranking officers of the Malian armed forces led by Captain Amadou Sanogo that led to the overthrow of the democratic government of President Amadou Toumani Tour and the suspension of constitutional rule. The 2012 Malian coup d'tat began on 21 March, when mutinying Malian soldiers, displeased with the management of the Tuareg rebellion, attacked several locations in the capital Bamako, including the presidential palace, state television, and military barracks. The soldiers, who said they had formed the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, 8 declared the following day that they had overthrown the government of Amadou Toumani Tour, forcing him into hiding.
4.2 The external factor: Tuareg Rebellion
The external factor came from the North of Tuareg rebellion, the National Movement for the Liberation on Azawad (MNLA), with Bila Ag Cherif as secretary-general of its political wing and Mohamed Ag Najim as head of its military wing: a secular Tuareg separatist movement fighting for an independent state of Azawad in northern Mali. Initially the ally of Ansar ed-Din and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), but now oppose Islamic jihadist groups. The current Tuareg rebellion against the government of Mali had its roots in the decades of fundamental grievances felt by the Tuareg minority group. Historically, the Tuaregs were nomadic Berber people who lived in the Sahel and Sahara regions of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Burkina faso and Libya. They call the Tuareg homeland Azawad. Their fundamental grievance is
8 Afua Hirsch (22 March 2012). "Mali rebels claim to have ousted regime in coup". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 24 March 2012. 8
their claim of decades of discrimination and exclusion from the political and economic processes by successive Bamako-based governments.
The Tuaregs therefore took up arms against the Malian government on several occasions, fighting for a separate state and the rights of the Tuareg minority. Between 1985 and 2009 the government signed several peace deals and ceasefire agreements after every violent Tuareg rebellion, without addressing on a long-term basis the fundamental problems of the marginalisation and exclusion of the Tuareg minority. The promises by successive governments of greater political autonomy and devolved rule for the Tuaregs in the north never materialised.
After the collapse of the Qaddafi regime in Libya in 2011 heavily armed Tuaregs and non- Tuaregs who had been part of Qaddafis army returned to northern Mali with sophisticated weaponry. Together with previous Tuareg rebel groups, they formed the MNLA in 2011 as the political- military platform to continue their fight for self-rule. It was these heavily armed and well-trained MNLA-led fighters that routed the government forces in March 2012 and declared northern Mali the independent state of Azawad.
4.3 The external factor: Jihadis Groups
The Tuareg rebellions in the north have always been complicated by the link with and involvement of Islamist jihadist groups and the threat they pose to Mali; its neighbours; and the wider regions of North Africa, the Sahel and West Africa. The security and terror threats that Mali faced led to it signing bilateral military and security agreements and forming a Joint Counter-Terrorism Command between 2009 and 2010 with Niger, Algeria and Mauritania to tackle Islamist extremism and terrorism in the region. As the crisis unfolded in Mali, Ansar ed- 9
Din and Mujahidin expanded the Islamist jihadist rebellion beyond the Tuaregs by incorporating other ethnic groups historically opposed to the Tuareg rebellion such as the Songhai and Bella groups. Northern Mali therefore saw the emergence of multi-ethnic militant and extremist forces motivated by Islamist jihadist fervour.
Even before the outbreak of the Malian crisis, northern Mali had become a breeding ground and safe haven for diverse groups of jihadists and militants led by AQIM. These groups not only exploited the fundamental grievances of the local population against the government of Mali and its repressive military and security forces, but also organised sophisticated criminal enterprises that involved drug and human trafficking, arms and cigarette smuggling, and the kidnapping of Western nationals for ransom.
These criminal enterprises became valuable sources of funding and were profitable for all stakeholders, including corrupt Malian government officials, state security agencies, local leaders, separatist rebels and Islamist extremists. These Sahelian criminal enterprises and their profitable economic and financial opportunities made jihadi insurgency a lucrative economic activity. As such, economic opportunism became a motivation for the growing number of jihadist groups in the region.
At the outbreak of the Malian crisis the country was already on the verge of implosion because of the collapsed nature of the state; the effect of decades of bad governance and the ineffective political and economic management of the state; and the role of the corrupt ruling and governing elites in subverting state institutions to serve their vested interests and regime survival, especially during the personalised rule of President Tour. Both the Tuaregs and the 10
diverse Islamist groups were united in their fight against their common enemy, the government of Mali.
5. Timeline of French Mali Intervention
On January 11, 2013, France launched military air strikes and ground operations against insurgent targets in northern Mali after Islamist fightersfollowing months of stalemate suddenly advanced toward the south and defeated Malian military forces in the town of Konna. The United States is sharing information with French forces and is also considering providing logistics and surveillance. The United Kingdom and other European states are also providing support.
French President Franois Hollande has justified the intervention based on the Malian governments request for assistance, portraying the intervention as necessary to prevent the Malian capital from falling into terrorist hands, and additional French deployments in Bamako as helping to protect some 6,000 French citizens. French troop reinforcements in Bamako may also be aimed at deterring actors who might try to further destabilize or attack Malis interim government.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated on January 13 that the duration of French operations was a question of weeks. At the same time, news reports have indicated that the extremist insurgents are better trained and equipped than French forces anticipated. In addition, given that the Malian military is internally divided, lacks the capacity to effectively project force, has been implicated in human rights abuses, and is very small (totaling some 7,000 troops prior to the defections and military defeats of the past year), it is uncertain whether Malian forces will 11
be able to effectively follow up on French military strikes by securing and holding territory. In a radio interview, Oumar Ould Hamaha, a Malian insurgent commander who has been associated with all three main Islamist extremist groups in the north, threatened France with a trap which is much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan, or Somalia.
The French operations mark a major shift in the context of international responses to the situation in Mali. Previously, efforts had focused on a French-backed proposal for a regional military intervention to support Malian efforts to retake the north, on negotiations with some armed groups in the north, and on prospects for forging a more legitimate, effective government in Bamako. The proposed regional force, dubbed the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), was authorized to assist in training the Malian security forces and to support them in recovering and stabilizing northern territory, under U.N.
Security Council Resolution 2085 on December 20, 2012. However, a regional deployment was widely seen as requiring many months to prepare, pending anticipated internationally assisted training and restructuring of the Malian military, which was expected to lead operations to retake the north. Serious questions have also been raised concerning regional troops military capacity, commitment, and human rights records, as well as the potential cost and humanitarian consequences of such an operation. AFISMA deployments are now being accelerated in the context of French operations. News reports have estimated AFISMAs potential cost at $200 million-$500 million.
Prior to French intervention, regional and Western leaders had warned of a rising threat to international security associated with an expansion of AQIMs influence and scope of operations in Mali, a possible spread of violent extremist ideology, and state fragmentation. The main 12
armed Islamist groups in the northAQIM, Ansar al Deen (or, Ansar al Dine, Defenders of the Faith), and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA, a.k.a. MUJAO after its French acronym)appear to coordinate their actions and share personnel. Reports of foreign fighters from elsewhere in Africa and beyond have heightened concerns, as have reported links between the extremists and transnational smuggling networks, including drug traffickers.
A U.N. report estimated the total number of core combatants of the armed groups in northern Mali at around 3,000 adding that insurgents were actively recruiting and had relatively sophisticated equipment obtained from Libya and from Malian stocks. Other reports have estimated extremist forces at 4,000-6,000 or up to 15,000 combatants. Extremist groups have imposed harsh behavioural and dress codes on local residents in the north and have carried out amputations and executions, inspired by an extremely conservative interpretation of sharia (Islamic law). They have also targeted historic and cultural sites, including UNESCO World Heritage-designated ancient mosques and tombs; recruited child soldiers; and committed other abuses. Malis security forces, who reportedly suffer from internal divisions and lack of capacity, have also been implicated in serious abuses, including torture and disappearances.
6. French Intervention: Objectives and Missions
The French military intervention has been the most significant in bringing about a rapid and decisive military end to the conflict in northern Mali. In justifying the intervention, President Hollande stated that France had no alternative but to intervene and prevent the emergence of a terrorist state that would have serious security repercussions for France and the West. The collapse of the Malian state and the inability of the armed forces to defend the country and stop the military advances of the separatist rebels and their Islamist allies, coupled with the failure of 13
the deployment of troops from African countries, therefore forced France to act unilaterally, but with the approval of the international community, including Russia, China and African regional actors.
The legality of the French military invention was never in doubt, because France had a historical obligation to respond to a request from the interim president of Mali for French support and intervention to end the crisis, even though the interim president had no democratic mandate. In addition, UN Security Council resolution 2085, which was facilitated by France, had authorised the deployment of the ECOWAS-led AFISMA intervention force (UNSC, 2012b).By all indications, the French intervention was a pre-emptive military strike against Islamist rebels in Mali.
France had maintained a consistent position on the crisis in Mali and used its political influence and leadership at the UN Security Council, the EU, the AU and ECOWAS to mobilise international support to resolve the conflict. Throughout the crisis France supported military intervention to prevent rebels and Islamists from taking over the whole of Mali, but preferred African forces to do the fighting. The failure to deploy African troops in the face of the imminent rebel and Islamist advance on Bamako forced France into action.
7. French Intervention: Military Strategy and Political Influences
France deployed a powerful military force in Mali, including a well-equipped ground force of 4,000 soldiers and air power that easily pounded the separatist rebels and Islamist extremists into hasty retreat. France was supported by hastily trained and heavily armed Malian soldiers, as well as 6,000 ECOWAS led AFISMA troops. In addition, other key Western nations Britain, 14
Belgium, Canada and the U.S. provided military, intelligence and logistical support. France has indicated that it will reduce its troop levels by the end of March 2013 and, supported by the AU, ECOWAS and the Malian government, has called on the UN to deploy a peacekeeping force to replace French forces. By the end of January 2013 the military objectives of operation Serval8 had been achieved. Although the separatists had been defeated, the Islamists were on the run and their terrorist infrastructure in the north had been destroyed, the military and security threats posed by Islamist jihadists have not been eliminated.
President Hollandes decision to decisively intervene in Mali has had a positive impact on his political fortunes and the image of France. For most of his first year in office Hollande has been criticised as being too soft, overly consensual and not capable of decisive actions. As one media analyst puts it, the president has suddenly become a new kind of leader (Schofield, 2013). Once again, foreign military intervention has helped to bolster the image of a president whose domestic political rating was in decline.
In addition, Frances international image has been enhanced by its leadership in militarily taking on and defeating the separatist and Islamist rebels in Mali. Mali is seen as a crucial test for the largely untested foreign policy approach of President Hollande, whose first year in office has been embroiled in domestic issues. The intervention in Mali shows that France is not about to end its long history of military interventions in Africa, often dictated by imperatives of national security and strategic vested interests.
By the end of February 2013 the war in Mali had cost France 100 million, according the French Defence Ministry. This no doubt will have serious domestic political repercussions if the war drags on, in particular for the recession-ridden and debt-laden government of France 15
domestically implementing austerity measures and public sector job cuts. The veracity of the claim that France has no intention to stay in Mali will to a very large extent be determined by the military and security situation on the ground, as this will potentially determine the scope, duration and extent of the French intervention.
8. French Intervention: War against Terrorism
President Hollandes claim that France has no interest other than the goal of fighting against terrorism is controversial because some analysts argue that the real motive for French intervention in Mali is to protect French economic interests in the country and especially in neighbouring Niger. The spill over of the conflict into Niger and the potential implosion of that country would have a devastating impact on French economic interests there. The pre-emptive military intervention in Mali is in effect a strategy to protect French economic and financial interests in Niger, where France has significant economic and mining interests.
In economic and financial terms France is the largest exporter of electricity in the world, with an estimated 3 billion annually in sales. The two main electricity generating companies, Areva and EDF (electricit de france) operate the 59 nuclear plants in France. The French nuclear power industry depend heavily on the uranium from its two uranium mines in Niger. These mines are owned by a French-led consortium and operated by French interests.
Therefore, the security and stability of Niger is a vital national security interest to France. It is reasonable to conjecture that the pre-emptive military intervention in Mali is in effect a foreign economic policy strategy to protect and secure the French nuclear industry and Frances energy 16
security, especially against the backdrop of the current economic recession and austerity in France.
9. UN: The legality of the purpose: permissibility of military assistance to Mali to fight terrorism
We have seen that external intervention by invitation is normally legal when the purpose of the intervening State is not to settle an internal political strife in favour of the established government, but to realize other objectives such as helping the requesting government in the fight against terrorism. Such a purpose could of course raise important questions of legal definition (what is terrorism?) and classification especially taking into consideration the risk of a unilateral labelling of a rebel group as terrorists by the requesting and the intervening States in order to legitimize intervention.
In the case of Mali nonetheless there was no doubt that at least two of the three Islamist groups against whom France was intervening were terrorist groups. Both AQIM and, more recently, the MUJAO have been placed by the UN Security Council and individual States 9 on the Al-Qaida sanctions list established and maintained by the Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011). Things were initially more complicated concerning the third Islamist group, Ansar Dine, which was not, at the time of the beginning of Operation Serval, on the UN terrorists lists. However, the terrible practices applied to the civilian population of Mali in the occupied northern territories during the months before the intervention (stoning, amputations, floggings and other forms of corporal punishment, etc.) had been common place for the three Islamist groups who claimed their will to strictly enforce Sharia Law in Mali.
9 See: Terrorist Designations by the US Department of State, December 2012: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201660.htm. 17
The delicate question was to decide if it was possible to consider these acts as terror in order to assimilate the Ansar Dine movement with the two other Islamist groups, a question which could certainly lead to uncharted waters as these penalties and corporal punishments also apply in some States strictly enforcing Sharia Law. The UNSC helped avoid answering this question: on March 20 the UNSC 1267/1989 al-Qaida Sanctions Committee placed Ansar Dine in company with the two other terrorist groups operating in Mali providing thus full legitimacy to the French anti-terrorist campaign.
10. The Role of the UN Security Council: Blessing Or Authorising?
The UNSC followed the Malian crisis very closely from the beginning, dedicating several formal or informal meetings to it. It used the whole range of acts available in its toolbox adopting up until now 4 Resolutions, 5 Presidential Statements and 3 Press Statements.The UNSC was already very active during 2012, starting with a strong condemnation of the coup in Mali in March 201260 and ending the year with the adoption of resolution 2085 on 20th December 2012 which authorised the use of force by an African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) in order to carry out a series of tasks. It remained very active in 2013 culminating with the adoption of resolution 2100 on 25th April 2013, which transformed the AFISMA into a UN led stabilising force (MINUSMA), to be deployed on 1st July 2013 at earliest, authorising both MINUSMA and a parallel French intervention force to use all necessary means to accomplish their tasks.
What is very interesting from an international law point of view is that, despite all this presence and activity of the UNSC, the French military intervention in Mali took place from the 18
start and till now (pending the future implementation of S/RES 2100) without a clear authorisation by the Council. The UNSC was there, overseeing the events and welcoming the swift action by the French forces, but did not rush to replace the unilateral legal basis of the intervention (request of the Malian authorities) by a clear, multilateral use of force mandate. This led to an interesting and original combination of legal justifications for the use of force by foreign States in Mali, some of them acting on the basis of the consent of the Malian authorities (with the informal praise of the UNSC) and others on the basis of UNSC authorisation (with the applaud of the Malian government). From this point of view the foreign military intervention in Mali was a unique blend of UNSC blessing and authorising.
11. The interpretation of UNSC Resolution 2085
Without ever clearly claiming that Operation Serval had been authorised by the UNSC,France often stated that its intervention in Mali was in line with the Security Council resolutions and had a legitimacy drawn from the United Nations resolutions.
In Article 9 of Resolution 2085 it is indeed rather clear that the UNSC only authorised the use of force (all necessary measures) by the AFISMA in order to carry out several tasks including:
(b) To support the Malian authorities in recovering the areas in the north of its territory under the control of terrorist, extremist and armed groups and in reducing the threat posed by terrorist organizations, including AQIM, MUJWA and associated extremist groups, while taking appropriate measures to reduce the impact of military action upon the civilian population; []
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In several other paragraphs64 S/RES 2085 urges all UN member States, including interested bilateral partners to provide coordinated assistance, expertise, training to both the Malian forces and the AFISMA, to help the deployment of AFISMA and offer it any necessary assistance in efforts to reduce the threat posed by terrorist organizations. Resolution 2085 does not, nonetheless, authorise the use of force by others than the AFISMA. Indeed, France did not claim to act on the basis of an express UNSC authorisation and did not refer either tothe (controversial) theory of presumed or implicit authorisation. 10
This is interesting because France argued that its intervention was essential in order to accomplish the objectives of the UNSC fixed in S/RES 2085 and previous resolutions.
Hours before the start of French airstrikes in Mali, the members of the Security Council met urgently in order to deal with the reported military movements and attacks by terrorist and extremist groups in Mali. The UNSC published a Press Statement 11 immediately afterwards in which it observed that this serious deterioration of the situation threatens even more the stability and integrity of Mali and constitutes a direct threat to international peace and security.
The members of the UNSC recalled in this statement the urgent need to counter the increasing terrorist threat in Mali and, while asking for a rapid deployment of the AFISMA, they also called Member States to assist the settlement of the crisis in Mali and, in particular, to provide assistance to the Malian Defence and Security Forces in order to reduce the threat posed by terrorist organizations and associated groups.
10 O. Corten, The Law Against War, supra note 19, at 348-400. 11 SC/10878, 10/01/2013. 20
Could this Press Statement give the impression that, confronted with the urgent need to counter the increasing terrorist threat in Mali, the UNSC changed its tune? The AFISMA should be deployed more rapidly but, while waiting, and in order to avoid an irreversible situation which could completely jeopardize the realization of Resolution 2085, Member States should provide assistance to the Malian Defence and Security Forces in order to reduce the threat posed by terrorist organizations and associated groups.
This interpretation of Resolution 2085 in a way that authorizes not only AFISMA but also all other member States to provide military assistance to the Malian Forces in order to counter the terrorists, has apparently been adopted by the African regional body the most directly concerned, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). On 12th January 2013 the ECOWAS published a Statement in which it welcomes UN Security Council Press Release of 10th January 2013 authorising immediate intervention in Mali to stabilise the situation and thanks the French Government for its initiatives to support Mali.
It is nonetheless impossible, from a legal point of view, to claim that a Press Statement by the UNSC can amend a Chapter VII resolution, especially on such an important issue as the delegation of the power to use force. It would certainly be better to interpret this UNSC Press Statement as indicating that the Security Council accepts both the legitimacy of the imminent French intervention and the soundness of the legal basis of military assistance on request. The UNSC gives France its blessing for an intervention that is not authorised, but still legal (on the basis of valid consent) and perfectly in line with the spirit of the existent UNSC resolutions on Mali.
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Indeed, the context of the French intervention in Mali was not comparable to other situations where the attitude of the UNSC clearly indicated that a military intervention by invitation could not be accepted. For example, when the UNSC imposes an arms embargo on all sides (including the government) in an internal strife, it would be absurd to pretend that while it is prohibited to arm the government it could be possible to intervene militarily upon its invitation.
The case of Mali could also be used as a first precedent for the emergence of a customary obligation binding upon States intervening on the basis of a valid invitation, to report their actions to the Council. We do know that according to art.51 of the UN Charter: Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council. Although the ICJ considered in 1986 that this requirement was not part of customary law, the universal ratification of the UN Charter since then and the tendency to over- reporting observed since the ICJs warning on the legal consequences of a failure to report, could indicate that today this requirement is also part of custom.
If States using force on the unilateral legal basis of self-defense thus have a requirement to report to the Council, we could consider mutatis mutandis that States undertaking a military intervention abroad on the legal basis of consent should also have such a requirement. In its official letter to the UNSC of 11th January 2013 France promised that it will of course continue to keep [the Council] informed, as appropriate and, indeed, acted in accordance with this pledge throughout the crisis.
Last but not least, we could also make a parallel between self-defence and intervention by invitation in relation with the last sentence of article 51 stating that unilateral measures shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present 22
Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security. This is easier to establish as the UNSC has indeed, under Chapter VII, the prerogative to intervene at any time taking necessary measures capable of limiting not only the exercise of self-defence but also, a fortiori, the scale and conditions of intervention by invitation. In the case of Mali the UNSC decided to intervene on 25th April 2013 with the adoption of resolution 2100.
12. Effects of the Conflict for Mali and France
As a result of the conflict, about 370,000 people fled their homes to the safer south of Mali and another 140,000 have crossed the borders into Burkinafaso, Mauritania, and Niger during the extremists' 10-month reign over Mali. Local media reported that most of those who stayed inside Mali's borders ended up with family members in the capital or other major towns such as Segou and Mopti. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, so the pressures of accommodating displaced communities can stretch already fragile socio-economic conditions to the breaking point. In some areas, public services have been shut down, schools are closed, there is no drinking water and there is no electricity for the filtration system, and people have to fetch unclean water from natural basins in the desert.
The conflict is threatening the country's food security because many farmers are among the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced, and it seems that the next planting season is in jeopardy. Many of the displaced farmers are reported to be in refugee camps or with host families in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, or Niger.
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Many farmers lost everything because they are away from their places. They dont have agricultural tools. They dont have basic seeds. And their animals are also at risk because there is no availability of veterinary drugs and so on. This is also a major challenge for the displaced households because animals represent years of savings.
12.1 Reprisal attacks against French citizens and targets
Despite domestic support for the French military intervention, there have been fears of possible security risks and terrorist reprisals against French nationals, cities, and forces in Mali, as well as targeted kidnappings of French citizens. Since the intervention attacks against French citizens have increased, with 15 hostages being taken by Islamist extremists in the region, who described the hostage-taking as retaliatory attacks prompted by the intervention. Between 2010 and 2012, even before the outbreak of the Malian crisis, there had been increasing targeted kidnappings of French citizens by Islamist extremists in the region for ransom. The French intervention has therefore heightened the security threats against the 30,000 French citizens in West Africa.
The kidnapping of French tourists in Cameroon by the Ansaru Islamist group has further raised fears about the targeted kidnapping of French citizen in West Africa. Ansaru paraded the hostages on the Internet, threatening to cut their throats if the French and Nigerian governments did not release imprisoned Islamist jihadists. By all indications there has been an increase in the spate of attacks against French citizens since the start of the French intervention.
12.2 Increase domestic terrorist and Islamist extremist attacks
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Since the start of the French intervention there is increasing concern that some militant extremists among Frances five million Muslim population, the majority of whom are from North and West Africa, may be motivated by the intervention to seek revenge on French soil. These fears are based on Frances long battle in the 1990s with Islamist extremists in France. The recent terrorist attacks in the country only reinforced these concerns. These attacks include the killing of three off-duty French soldiers and three Jewish children and a rabbi in Toulouse by Mohamed Merah, a French citizen and terrorist trained in Pakistan with links to AQIM; the firebombing of the Paris officers of Charlie Hebdo, a newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad; and a grenade attack in September 2012 on a Jewish supermarket in a Paris suburb.
In addition, four men were arrested for suspected links with Islamist extremists in West Africa and detained for possible association with a terrorist enterprise. Furthermore, a french national was arrested in Niger while trying to join Islamist rebel groups in Mali. The police also uncovered bomb-making materials in a Paris suburb and alleged that the Islamist terror cell involved was planning the biggest bomb attack on French soil since the mid-1990s. The French government therefore warned of possible terrorist attacks in France due to its military intervention in Mali.
12.3 Mission creep and domestic political reaction
The French intervention faces the risk of mission creep and the possibility of France being drawn into a violent and protracted insurgency war with terrorists and Islamist jihadists. The killing of French soldiers and French casualties or the body-bag syndrome will almost inevitably provoke negative domestic political reaction that will force the withdrawal of French 25
forces before they have completed the objective of defeating terrorists and Islamist jihadists in the region. The concern is that the French intervention may potentially embroil France in the wider volatile conflict and security threats in the Sahel and Sahara, making it difficult for France to achieve a quick exit.
12.4 Neighbouring states drawn into the conflict
The Algerian gas complex hostage crisis and the kidnapping of a French family in Cameroon have inevitably drawn neighbouring countries into the conflict because of the French intervention in Mali, thus directly embroiling neighbouring states in the Malian crisis. The attempt by the Algerian government to militarily free the hostages and the ensuing bloodbath illustrate the complexity of the security threat to neighbouring states, which may negatively affect France.
The spill over of the conflict in Mali and the French intervention have thus led to the regionalisation of the crisis in Mali. Neighbouring countries are being reluctantly drawn into the conflict in Mali in an attempt to prevent the spread of terrorism and global jihad in the region.
13. Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, the conflict in Mali and the French intervention have short- and long-term implications for the maintenance of international peace and security in the years to come. Military action alone will not end the crisis in Mali and the associated terrorist and Islamist extremist problems in the Sahel region and West Africa, nor will it immediately lead to 26
post-war peacebuilding and state reconstruction, especially when the French have indicated that the intervention is not about post-war nation-building.
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14. References
Marjanovic, Marko (2011-04-04) Is Humanitarian War the Exception?, Mises Institute.
Jennifer M. Welsh. Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Ed. Jennifer M. Welsh. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Alton Frye. 'Humanitarian Intervention: Crafting a Workable Doctrine.' New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2000.
Marjanovic, Marko (2011-04-04) Is Humanitarian War the Exception?, Mises Institute.
Jennifer M. Welsh. Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Ed. Jennifer M. Welsh. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Alton Frye. 'Humanitarian Intervention: Crafting a Workable Doctrine.' New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2000.
Afua Hirsch (22 March 2012). "Mali rebels claim to have ousted regime in coup". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 24 March 2012.
Terrorist Designations by the US Department of State, December 2012: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201660.htm.
O. Corten, The Law Against War, supra note 19, 348-400.