Nii Akuetteh
Policy Analyst
Nii Akuetteh is a Ghanaian-born independent policy analyst. The following is excerpted from December 5, 2012, testimony during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs hearing on “Addressing Developments in Mali: Restoring Democracy and Reclaiming the North.” For West Africans and hundreds of millions of others, admiring fascination with Mali goes back centuries to the ancient empire. After military dictatorship dampened the pride brought by 1960 independence, people again held their heads high when “the soldier for democracy,” Amadou Toumani Touré, in 1991 and 1992, stopped the massacre of protesting women and children, humanely but decisively…
