Nearly five years since a Tuareg rebellion and coup d’état, normality has yet to return to Mali, notes Kamissa Camara, the Senior Program Officer for West & Central Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). A focus on regional security masks the root cause of the Malian crisis, she writes for the Africa Research Institute. Until Mali’s governance and leadership deficits are addressed, attempts to stabilize the country will prove futile.