Malian President Returns to Bamako After Being Beaten Up by Mob

There's something so picturesque--a nice way to put it--about a 70-year-old man whose scars are apparently still visible from a severe beating he received at the hands of masked men in a putsch, though interim president Traore forgives his attackers and is all smiles.

Then the band played. Not so well, actually. But that only adds to the charm of the scene.

One hopes Mali can have peace and stability--at least in the South.  The Islamic "Blue Men of the Desert," or the Tuareg, have created a problem in the North that seems far more intractable.