Even on a slow news day, stories about Africa rarely attract much attention in the United States. With an upcoming election, the economy, and the coronavirus to worry about, the continent is not even a blip on most Americans’ radar screen. That is unfortunate, in part because events there often reveal important truths about the world at large. Such is the case of the recent military coup in the West African nation of Mali, which demonstrates why United Nations peacekeeping today is destined to fail and why much of the policy of the United States toward Africa will fare no better.
Prior to the August coup, tens of thousands of Malians had been protesting for months against their government over poverty, a lack of jobs and education, and a long-running conflict with violent extremists. They wanted the president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, to step down, but he refused and instead employed maneuvers such as using the country’s Constitutional Court to keep more members of his political party in parliament in an attempt to maintain his grip on power.
