Curfews, conspiracy theories … and a cancelled concert: Mali’s capital tries to shrug off violence on its doorstep

Since 2012, Mali has faced a security crisis fuelled by violence from groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State “The Grand Ball of Bamako,” as organisers tagged the Saturday evening soiree at the Hotel de l’Amitié in the Malian capital, was meant to provide one of the west African country’s biggest headlines last weekend. Many sponsors including Orange Mali, the local subsidiary of the French telecoms company, had bankrolled the show, which organisers hoped would demonstrate Mali’s capacity to