You need to be careful with your wording.The Cause of the rebels...

You need to be careful with your wording.

The Cause of the rebels has got nothing to do with Islam. The Bambara (southern) people are also followers of Islam,

The people doing the revolution in the north is the Touareg tribal group, and this has been ongoing ever since the ludicrous division of Africa in the Berlin Conference of 1884.

To read more about what they are trying to achieve, see the web site below

http://www.mnlamov.net/english.html

Note the boundaries of their interest. They are very specific and not trying to takeover southern Mali as some mischievous or ignorant writers say. The geographic focus is implied directly in the name of their movement....the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). Azawad it the name of their land. They have tried for decades to get representation and development of the northern region within the Mali government framework for a nil result.

The lawlessness in Mali South is a result of the Military coupe (spontaneous, poorly planned), which results from a lack of support for the military operation in the northern section (continued theme ...the Mali government does not seem to have been interested in the northern region).

So the activities needed are

1. Restoration of the civil law
2. Completion of the planned election
3. Political solution to the Azawad claims.

Hopefully the arms dealers and boys with toys (army, mercenearies) will go back to their respective offices and barracks and allow a civil set of events to occur quickly.

Also hopefully the journalists actually start to learn and report on the real issues properly.