1. MALI AND IT’S PROBLEMS
By: Natalie Nichols

2. GEOGRAPHY
Mali has a lot of dry desert up
north and the south has many
lakes and rivers. The Niger River is
the main river in Mali. Rock
formations are common up north.
About only 10% of Mali is used for
crops. Mali is in a Desert or Semi-
Desert climate zone. The average
temperatures in Mali are October
– February 77 degrees Fahrenheit
and June – September is 81
degrees Fahrenheit.

3. MAJOR LANGUAGES
SPOKEN IN MALI
• French ( used by the government )
• Bambara
• And other Native languages

4. HISTORY
The first people in Mali were the
empire of Ghana. Then it was
invaded by the Muslim Almoravids
( who were the next rulers).
Mandinka empire replaced the
Muslim Almoravids. Mandika were
the most wealthy and powerful
empire in the 14th century. In the
15th century they fell to the Sonhai .
Late in the 19th century Mali
became a French colony it stayed
that way until 1960 when they
became independent.

5. PROBLEM
Mali is being attacked by Islamic
militants that are trying to take over
Gao, Mali. They want everyone in Mali
to be very strict Islamic people. The
militants are being very violent and
using dangerous weapons. Malian
military is failing to fix the problem so the
French came to help but they are going
to be withdrawn in April.

6. SOLUTIONS
•One solution for the problem of
Mali is to split the country in half. If I
split the country in half then the
Islamic Militants would get a say in
government in one of the
countries. Other countries could
promote their strict Muslim people
to join the Islamic Militants new
country.
•Another solution could be to ask
for help from other regional
countries to defend the
government and its people and to
help compromise with the Islamic
militants.

7. FINAL SOLUTION
I have decided to go with my first solution of
splitting the country in half. This will allow the
Islamic people to have a say in the
government of one of the countries.
Old Mali artwork