This spring has brought escalating tension in the African state of Mali, with a coup on 21 March, the declaration of independence in the north by the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, the seizure of some of that territory by Ansar Dine, said to be linked to Al Qa'eda, and this week's destruction of historic mausoleums in Timbuktu by that group.
Al Jazeera English's Inside Story explains and evaluates the situation with a former Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, a former Algerian ambassador, and a London-based analyst.