[Trapper John]

Originally Posted by DocIllinois

Mali's gold exports caught my eye.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2828.htm

Bingo! That's got to be the prime mover of the Tuaregs/NLMA! A ready source for financing al Qaeda operations. The Azawad state is just a political misdirection, IMO. Don't know if any of that fits into your FYSA paper, but it surely is the driving force here. As always it comes down to economic power.