The Fall of IBK

    Scenes of Deja Vu yesterday in Mali, as a new coup ends IBK's reign. The same message that was seen in 2012 on the Malian TV screens announces  'soon a message from the military' for several long nail biting hours, until finally a line- up of army officers read out a prepared message to the Malian people:  they have been 'liberated' from the mismanagement of  the government and a new dawn has broken.                                                                         

                

But first the resignation speech by IBK- with a mask muffling his farewell words to the people: 'I am stepping down- what choice do I have? I do not wish blood to be spilled in my name.'

And when the  military finally did appear on screen about midnight (the new CNSP - Comite National pour le Salut du Peuple) they were made up of higher grades than Captain Sanogo and his Comrades in Arms in 2012. They were also more coherent and their 'spokesman' Colonel Ismael Wague delivered a well prepared and stirring address to the Malian people about their intentions to wipe out corruption and restore confidence in the faltering Malian institutions- the schools, the military and its response to the continuing crisis in the North and Centre of the country etc.  Their goals would be reached through the staging of elections and the democratic process would be upheld. (Ahem?)

It has all be said before of course. IBK promised these things to the people at his landslide victory over Soumaila Cisse in August 2013.

It was indeed a bloodless coup so far, after months of demonstrations in the streets of Bamako. The city is calm now says my friend Karen. 

There are of course differences between 2012 and 2020 which could work in favour of peace: since 2012 the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA are already present in the country in the form of  a vast network of troops deployed in key areas of the county. There is also the Barkhane mission, the French Sahel force of over 5000 soldiers with offensive mandate which will be joined by British and Swedish troops this year in the fight against the growing anti terrorism threat in the area. 

And what about my trip to Mali, booked on the 1st of September and much longed for and necessary for the continuing of the projects in Timbuktu and Djenne, I selfishly wonder... Please, please! let it all remain calm.

 

Torekov

                                                                 

                                                        

 is the name of the little fishing village on the west coast of southern Sweden where I return whenever I can to spend time with my cousins and friends from my teenage years.

'Fishing Village' is of course rather a misnomer- there is not much fishing going on, the little harbour is full of pleasure boats and well-healed summer guests.

The walk by the beach is an  olfactory treat as roses mix with the seaweed and salt water to create a heady happy scent.

My cousins regaled me with a garden barbecue  on the night of my arrival:

                                                     and I finally handed over to Pelle, my oldest cousin, the leather briefcase which was a present from Dr. Faira and the cataract team that come to Djenne every year. It is Pelle and his wife Nanni who have sponsored these free operations in Djenne for many years now. 

The briefcase also contained an official letter from the Djenne Mayor, extravagantly stamped and conveyed in a ceremonial eighteenth century French with Islamic touches which expressed gratefulness and wished happiness and the eventual safe conduct for them both into Paradise and the bosom of Abraham.

                                                                     

There were boating trips and there were picnics and cycling trips- there were memories of endless childhood days spent on the jetty crab fishing:

 

And yesterday I crossed Skane- the southern tip of Sweden to reach the Baltic eastern coast  and my big pal Eva the former Swedish ambassador to Mali in her ravishing coastal village of Brantevik!

                                                                     

 Not a cloud in the sky today. Picnic by the sea tonight- picnics seems to have become the preferred means of having fun all this summer- even here, although the Swedes never shut down their restaurants..!