The multi-layered nature of the crisis in Mali complicates efforts to bring stability to that country, said Rudolph Atallah, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, to participants of the 2013 Next Generation of Security Sector Leaders Course(link to Opening article). Policymakers and military strategists will need to closely examine the varied but interrelated challenges posed by longstanding ethnic tensions, legitimate grievances of marginalized groups, radicalization, spillover effects from crises elsewhere in the region, narcotics trafficking, and weapons smuggling.
