Christopher Wise and Fallou Ngom co-wrote this editorial as a response to the Arab and Tuareg led invasion of Northern Mali and the establishment of the racist and failed state of Azawad. The Ansar Dine, which led the Wahhabi influenced "jihad" in Northern Mali sought to impose shari'a law in Timbuktu, Gao, and elsewhere, or a neo-apartheid state that discriminated against black Malians.