Acknowledging Conflict across Mali’s Centre: Drivers and History

Abstract

As this paper is written (July 2018) the violence in the central regions of Mali is
increasing in intensity. The availability of modern small arms is destabilizing the
sub-region as local belligerents engage in inter-community and intra-community
violence. The conflict in the central regions since 2014 is not merely an extension
of the civil war in the northern regions, but rather the instigating factors are
based in historical events specific to the Centre: a history of conservative Islam,
water and land scarcity resulting from climate change events, and liberalization
of regional markets interact to drive conflict. We apply a multi-lens framework:
the ‘New Wars’, new types of war, and a plural security perspective to analyze
the threats and their drivers as they manifest in the central regions of Mali. We
conclude that the conflict in the centre is distinct from the larger conflict in the
northern regions. Additionally, further research on the conflict and eventual
peace process in the centre must centre on local historical and socio-political and
economic dynamics. It is necessary to understand drivers of the conflict to create
a lasting peace.