Tuareg – Ian Birrell

Why Mali was attacked

Published by CapX (20th November, 2015) & The Independent (21st November, 2015) So here we go again. First the tragic slaughter of innocents in Paris, followed by that […]

Africa / Europe / France / Mali

How the West misread Mali

Published in The Guardian (January 25th, 2013) For 10 months the collapse was largely ignored by the west. A country seen as a model democracy imploded, with an army […]

Africa / Mali

Africa’s Afghanistan

Published in The Spectator (July 13th, 2012) For centuries, the people of Timbuktu have sought guidance from their Sufi saints. They took pride in the mausoleums of these […]

Africa / Mali

Accidental coup has undone decades of steady progress

Published in The Independent (April 7th, 2012) Arriving in Timbuktu after a long, hot journey across the Sahara, you come to a striking monument to peace, with guns […]

Africa / Arts / Mali / Music

Songs of freedom

Published in The Independent (January 18th, 2004) The full moon was bathing the Saharan dunes in light as a middle -aged blind woman with two-tone braided hair and […]