Publication

This paper argues that the geopolitical relationships between North Africa and the Sahel are in a state of flux. Political disparities between North African countries have encouraged the states of the Sahel to advance their own interests by exploiting the rivalries among their Northern neighbors. Algeria’s complex relationship in the Sahel in general, and with Mali in particular, is also rooted in the role that Algiers is thought to have played in supporting rebellions of Tuaregs, both in Mali and Niger, in apparent competition with the former Gaddafi government in Libya. With a deterioriating political situation unfolding in Mali, the author argues that these historical and geopolitical factors will have consequences for any domestic political outcome in Mali.