Back in London biting my nails. In daily contact of course and hear that the water is stabilising- still rising, but very slowly. But I read in the Independent this morning that more rain is promised for the whole Sahel region- many countries are in real trouble, not only Mali.
This year there will be grave difficulties with the harvests because of the rains. Last year the Malian government- as well as that of Burkina Faso- borrowed yet more money from the World Bank in order to pay a fortune to some American private companies to go in with airplanes and 'seed' the clouds: a fantastic new technology to get the rain started. It works very well.
In the West we often think that Africa just sits and waits to be rescued. It is not true. We don't know when such initiatives are taken. Mali averted disaster and famine last year, but at enormous cost. This year that possibility is not even open- there is no technology available to STOP the rain!