A string of events beginning four years ago brought terrorists to the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali's capital, on Friday, Nov. 20. In 2011 combatants in Libya's civil war channeled arms and fighters to bolster separatists in Mali's north. They were then joined by radical Islamists such as the Algeria-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine, a homegrown group that seeks to impose Islamic law. Their success prompted a March 2012 coup by soldiers frustrated with Mali's civilian government. With Bamako threatened by separatists and Islamists, France intervened; United Nations peacekeepers are now in place. While some separatists have signed a peace deal with a restored civilian government, this pact has been endangered by numerous violations, including the government's failure to keep its commitments and control militias. The Radisson assault, by gunmen claiming loyalty to al-Qaeda, is just the latest attack in the south, where most Malians live. The growing instability bodes ill for neighbors such as Niger, Algeria, and Mauritania.
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