The military’s recent arrest of Mali’s interim president and prime minister is an outright infringement on the country’s nascent democracy. Events in Mali matter not only to ordinary Malians, but to the region and the world. This is because groups associated with both Al-Qaeda and ISIS have found a use for the country as a base from which to launch attacks across the region. This has destabilised neighbouring countries and threatened the interests of the US, the UK, France and the European Union.
