New Left Review 87, May-June 2014
aminata traoré & boubacar boris diop
AFRICAN IMPOSTURES
Letters from a Proxy War
Bamako, 15 January 2013
My dear Boris,
The French military intervention against the Islamists, which many Malians had both hoped for and feared over recent months, has now been launched. [1] These are edited extracts from La Gloire des imposteurs: Lettres sur le Mali et l’Afrique, Paris 2014, reproduced with the permission of the publishers, Philippe Rey. All notes by nlr. It was the jihadist attack on the town of Konna on 9–10 January that sparked everything off. We were so afraid on hearing that news that the sound of a foreign army’s boots has aroused joy and relief among the population rather than anger. What is perhaps less apparent is a degree of embarrassment, even a sense of shame. Malians know that their army was facing a strong adversary, but they are also aware that there will be a high price to pay for the military debacle, which has put Paris in the position of liberator. I am among those who wanted at all costs to keep the hyena out of the sheepfold, but there it is; my friends and I have lost this battle for peace.
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