From the Guardian today;
The conflict in Mali began in 2012 when an uprising by Tuareg rebels was hijacked by jihadist groups linked to al-Qaida and later Islamic State. Despite French-led interventions and a UN peace mission, violence spread southward as insurgents exploited local grievances, corruption and weak governance.
[1]
From the Guardian in 2013:
Reliable information about the source of arms being used by Islamist rebels in Mali is hard to come by, but much of it appears to come from Libya. In one striking case, Belgian-manufactured landmines originally supplied to Gaddafi’s army appear to have been used by the jihadi militants who attacked BP’s In Amenas gas facility in Algeria last week. [2]
and
Nato is reviewing the conduct of its military campaign in Libya after France admitted arming rebel fighters in apparent defiance of the UN mandate. [3]
(In fact some media reported spefiically on how the illegally supplied French arms ended up in Mali).
The dream they tell themselves: “Despite the wonderful and humanitarian intervention by a former colonial power modern rules-based order European state tragically Mali ended up awash with arms and turned into a mess”.
The reality: a horrible conflict was partly fuelled by the leakage of Western supplied arms dropped into Libya in contravention of a specific UN Embargo by France.
(Notice the use of the passive in the first 2013 quote. Typical propaganda device. Who supplied the Belgian mines?)
Notes