Third-World Country Facing Indigenous Insurgencies

The Republic of Mali since 1961 has been experiencing insurgency carried out by an ethnic group called Touareg in its northern regions, lying in the Sahara valley. That situation has significantly impaired the security, stability and development of the three northern regions. Mali as one of the world's poorest country faces a serious challenge how to maintain the balance of development and maintain its territorial integrity, especially when one of the Touareg goals is to fight and obtain their independence. Considering the strategic importance of the Sahara valley, which becomes more and more the terrain of insecurity, smuggling (drug, weapons and commercial products) and the area of operation of the Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) making the situation a very complex one to be solved. As response to those facts, the government of Mali in its ways to find a definite solution to the increasing insecurity and handle the Touareg insurgency forever has involved all of its instruments of National power trying to get to the strategic and operational goals. However, these recent years have seen a regional involvement to address the issue and threat in the Sahara. In addition to Mali, Niger also suffers from the Touareg instability, the AQIM comes as a common threat to Mali, Niger, Algeria and Mauritania. This thesis explores, how a poor country can use its instruments of national power to definitely solve an internal insurgency and while fighting a terrorist Organization all operating alongside in an uncontrolled area called the Sahara.