VICE Ground Zero: Mali 戰爭前線: 馬利共和國

VICE 最新一期的戰爭前線特輯【VICE Ground Zero: Mali 戰爭前線: 馬利共和國】

2012年1月，圖阿雷格人在北方發動新的武裝叛亂，新一輪馬利北部衝突開始。2012年3月21日，一批士兵在首都巴馬科發動政變，推翻杜爾，宣布中止憲法、解散國家機構。
在國際社會壓力下，政變軍人4月6日與西非國家經濟共同體簽署協議，同意交權，由國民議會議長出任臨時總統。4月8日杜爾辭職。^[3]在南方局勢不明的時候，圖阿雷格分離主義者在伊斯蘭激進分子幫助下趁機控制了馬利北部地區。稍後強硬派伊斯蘭激進分子撃敗圖阿雷格分離主義者，控制了馬利北部。2013年1月，伊斯蘭反政府武裝向南方進軍，法國出兵協助馬利政府作戰，迅速收復北方所有主要城市。

The conflict in northern Mali has been raging since early 2012, with several insurgent groups fighting a campaign against the Malian government. The various groups want to establish an independent state in northern Mali, which they're calling Azawad, and the Malian government – unsurprisingly – don't really want them to do that.
French forces were brought in to help out the Malian government and, as is usually the case when French forces get involved, combat footage has been hard to come by as the French ban journalists from the front line and film a sanitised version of the fighting themselves to distribute to the media.  
However, when we flew out to Gao, northern Mali, earlier this year to film a group of Malian soldiers, the insurgents came straight to us. They had slipped into the city overnight on some small boats, used suicide bombers to blast their way into the principal government buildings and set themselves up for a day-long battle.
We spent the battle at extremely close quarters with the Malian army – left to fend for themselves by the French – as they struggled to fight less than a dozen jihadists, wildly spraying bursts of automatic fire everywhere and destroying the city centre. Here's a teaser trailer for that film.