Mansa Musa’s recent visit to Cairo dazzled many people. Few of our people, however, have considered how dangerous this man might be. Mansa Musa is a man of great power as well as great wealth. He has an army of 100,000 men at home, including 10,000 horsemen. It is fine to say that the desert separates us from this army, but Mansa Musa crossed that desert with at least 8,000 people, only a few of whom were trained and hardened troops.

To be sure, Mansa Musa’s people suffered some hardships on their trip. However, they undoubtedly learned much about how to bring troops across the desert. There are already some ill feelings between our peoples because of the way the bazaar shopkeepers cheated the Malians during their visit. It would be wise to avoid creating any more mistrust from such strong people and to build friendship, not enmity.