Merci pour la liberation
By John Jang
Malians rush out of their houses holding signs saying “ Merci pour la liberation.” Their signs translate to “Thank you for the release.” Malians were finally freed from the brutal Islamist rebel rule. Even though the holy city of Timbuktu’s library and many of the mosques were destroyed(Fletcher, P., & Elgood, G ,(The Telegraph. ). Malians sang with the joy and thanked their gods.
Since Ancient times, religion has always played a key role in binding a country together. 90% of Malians believe in Islam (Grim, B. (2013, January 14), and the government respects other religions. But Malians tend to discriminate against other religions. Muslims have their own teaching school, and it is hard for Malians who believes in other religion to get a job in a government.
Islam plays major role in Mali crisis. For the past seven years, Mali has been threatened by two big Islamic groups. The Islamic groups are Al-Qaeda and the Tuareg rebels. They have taken over the Northern part of Mali and declared secession of a new state, Azawad. Azawad is a state built on the idea of Islam. Even though those two groups have ideas based on religion, and 90% of the Malians are Muslims, Malians are not supportive of the Tuareg rebels, because the rebels were strictly ruling the city of Timbuktu by a severe version of Islamic law. Women were forced to go veiled and inflicted beatings and amputations When the French invaded Mali and helped free the city of Timbuktu, residents were celebrating the end of what they thought had been the darkest days of the city. Because they were living under strict law of Islam, rebels tried to destroy Malian culture by putting fire to the library with many historic manuscripts and destroyed many temples. One of spokesman said they were acting in the name of God and would "destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception"(The Telegraph.)
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