Mali is a country cornered by two devils. In one corner are the Tuareg rebels who were armed by the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi because Mali’s large territory, sparse population and economic poverty made it a fertile spot for the germination of Tuareg insurrection.

On the other end is the new military junta led by Captain Amadou Sanogo, who recently returned from the war front with a company of dissidents to overthrow the elected regime of President Amadou Toumani Tuore. The rebels’ main grouse was that the fallen regime failed to provide the Malian armed forces with the wherewithal to carry out their constitutional responsibility of defending the territorial integrity of the country.

The overthrow of a civilian elected government in that country has drawn heavy fire of condemnations from across the world, West African being (understandably) the most acerbic about it.

That military rule is no longer accepted in the subregion is illustrated by a preponderance of democratic governments in a region that, in the 1970’s and 1980’s following the decade of independence from colonial rule was dominated by military governments.

To showcase their revulsion for the action taken by Sanogo and his clique, many of Mali’s neighbours have threatened to shut their borders while the countries through which landlocked Mali buys and sells her goods have threatened to cut her off their ports.

The sum total of these challenges is that the military authorities are faring worse in the task of defending Mali against the insurgents. Fresh from their recent capture of Gao in the north the rebels/Islamists have now encircled strategic Timbuktu, the historic capital of old Mali Empire. The significance of this should not be lost on us even here in Nigeria.

Gao and Timbuktu in the hands of these Salafist Islamic jihadists will be like a hyena or shark smelling blood. It will never stop until it devours its prey or it is destroyed. If Mali falls, the al Qaeda sponsors of these insurgents will have a foothold in a West African state. Their next natural target will be the seat of Sokoto Caliphate and Borno, where already the Boko Haram is holding the forte.

Nigeria and West Africa are faced with two options: continue to shun the junta, thereby weakening it and giving the rebels the room to take over Mali, or close ranks with the Sanogo junta to  vanquish the rebel threat and restore democracy in record time.

The second option is obviously the way to go. Happily the junta has given an undertaking it will not participate in the April elections nor postpone it. We must do everything in our power to avoid the rebel takeover of Mali. If we do, we will rue our negligence. The federal government should engage the junta and ease the bull out of the china shop while at the same time ensuring that the rebels are not allowed to get what they want.

It is against the interest of Nigeria for the jihadists to achieve their heart’s desire.