NEW DELHI: India gathered with European and African nations in Brussels on Tuesday to commit itself to stabilizing Mali which is reeling under al-Qaida attacks. It's the first time India will be involving itself in the political process as well as reconstruction of a country so far from its immediate sphere of influence. The move displays a growing confidence within the Indian foreign policy system.
India had promised to be part of the Support and Follow-Up Group (SFG) for Mali at last week's conference in Addis Ababa, headquarters for the African Union (AU). India has committed to giving $1 million for the upgrade of the Malian army with a pledge to ramp up contributions for reconstruction to $100 million after the situation stabilizes. The Malian army, which will remain in the frontlines after the French intervention is over, is poorly equipped and trained, and markedly different from the fighters of al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
India's involvement in Mali is interesting given New Delhi's aversion to external intervention in foreign conflicts, like Syria or Libya, where it abstained on a crucial UN Security Council resolution authorizing the "no-fly" zone. The conflict in Mali evokes a very different reaction from India.
There appear to be three broad reasons. First, India's commitment to a continued fight against extremist terrorism would ring hollow if New Delhi shied away from taking responsibility in emerging conflicts. In Mali, the al-Qaida fighters teamed up with the Tuaregs to carve out a territory that could be under the control of Islamist extremists. From the Indian point of view this would be profoundly dangerous.
Second, the lead role in the Mali intervention has been played by France. Indian officials said they have been "kept in the loop" by Paris from the beginning. In December 2012, during its last month at the UN Security Council, India co-sponsored a French resolution UNSCR 2085 that supported an African Union-ECOWAS military force in Mali. The French military intervention in Mali has not prompted the expected negative reaction from New Delhi. And, the target this time around is al Qaeda and its affiliated groups in that region, where India, like others, is developing economic interests. India's reaction to the France-led operation in Libya in 2011 was much more negative. In fact, many in the Indian government believe that the Mali crisis was a natural blowback of the Libya conflict.
Indian support to the French operation in Mali is predicated on it being a primarily counter-terror operation. Syed Akbaruddin, MEA's spokesperson, said, "We unequivocally condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Wherever and by whosoever committed, regardless of their motivation, we consider it criminal and unjustifiable. We also believe that the fight against the scourge of terrorism must be unrelenting."
Third, India's impetus to rush to the aid of Mali was also influenced by reports from the UN that some of the al Qaeda fighters may be from the Af-Pak region. In the Algerian hostage crisis at In Amenas recently a number of fighters were found to be from different countries, including Canada.
Off the record, Indian officials express fears that al Qaeda-fuelled unrest could spread in those difficult regions, because of what they believe is a deadly cocktail of Islamist extremist ideology, widespread poverty, lack of governance and vast amounts of arms and weapons. Most of these weapons were taken out of Libya after the fall of the Gaddafi regime. The Libyan operation gave humanitarian intervention, or R2P in UN parlance, a bad name in the Indian mind.
On Monday, French president Francois Hollande paid a surprise visit to Timbuktu, Mali, while the French operation is concentrating its energies on targeting the Al Qaeda fighters who have melted into the desert, mountains and caves outside the cities. The situation in northern Mali is yet to stabilize with several Tuareg fighters still holed up there. The French forces are trying to keep control of the cities and clear them of the Islamists and Tuaregs, but with the fighters at large, there is always the possibility of the repeat of Afghanistan, and resurgence after the foreign forces have left.
This reinforces the support group's importance. India is expected to support a political process in Mali with elections in July, a goal already adopted by its national assembly, but questions have to be answered whether the country would be ready for elections by that time.
India pledges $100m for Mali reconstruction
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India pledges $100m for Mali reconstruction
