Mali’s Militiamen: A Country Split in Two Readies for War

TIME [13/11/12]
By Amy Pereira

Michaël Zumstein / Agence VU

A man does an arms drill in the bush in the Youth Camp of Soufouroulaye, near Mopti. The militia Ganda Izo (Sons of Land) boasts 1300 men. They are being trained to handle weapons and to fight in order to reconquer cities in North Mali.

In the districts abutting Mali’s vast north, war looms. Locals and others forced to flee the conquest of Mali’s north earlier this year by rebel factions and Islamist groups linked with al-Qaeda are now readying to be part of an offensive to take it back, supported in some form by the West as well as troops sent in by neighboring African states. But concerns abound over the readiness of Mali’s troops and irregular militiamen—seen here training in the district of Mopti—and their ability to battle the experienced, well-armed fighters waiting for their attack.