Staying in Mali

A number of foreign embassies have asked their citizens to leave.  The US Embassy has advised to “consider” leaving.  After the unfortunate hostage situation in Algeria last week, some mission organizations here decided to immediately evacuate their people. 
So let me explain why I feel quite at ease staying in Mali at this time: 
Think of a town that is 6-8 hours of travel distance away from your house.  The fighting and bad guys have never been closer than that to us.  The capital of Mali where we now live (Bamako) is a sprawling city of 2 million or more residents.  For the moment all is calm and peaceful here, but when there have been problems (political takeovers or protests for example) it happens downtown across the river from us, not in a residential neighborhood like ours.  Security is tighter in the city than ever with increased police checkpoints and searches.  A lot of French flags have been put up to show support for the French military.  I’ve been asked if I’m French regularly in the past weeks, and when I say no the response is something like, “oh, too bad… well, Americans are good, too.”  Several taxi drivers who are clearly Muslim (as judged by their taxi’s décor) have commented to me about how awful they think the Islamists in the north are with enforcing Sharia law and cutting off people’s hands and banning music and all,  and how we need to get them out of Mali.  The attitude of the general public seems favorable to white people, and people seem grateful and even enthusiastic about the military intervention in the north.  I believe that the idea of being kidnapped now within the city is very improbable; not any more likely than the chance of being kidnapped here at any other time.  It is terrible what happened with the hostages in Algeria.  I think it is easily understandable though that it is not a good time to be in vast open desert areas in the north- known to be inhabited by kidnapping terrorists, and especially in large groups of white people.  I don’t have any illusions of importance to imagine that the bad guys would come to my neighborhood and hunt me down to kidnap me.  There is always some inherent risk in living in a place like Mali even under the best circumstances, and obviously since I do live here, I’ve chosen to accept that risk.  There is also a risk every time you step out your front door or get into your car.  Such is life.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating foolishness or unnecessary bravery.  It is a serious situation and we are praying daily for the military intervention, the government, and the Malian people, as well as for personal guidance.  And we feel at peace that for now we can stay and continue on with our life and work here, that there isn’t any threat great enough to us to warrant us leaving at this time.
Also, if we were to leave, where would we go and what would we do?  If needed we can flee to a neighboring country.  But is it really safer to be across the border in another country, likely a country that is sending some of its soldiers to help fight in northern Mali.  (the bad guys aren’t too happy with them, either)
If our organization asks me to leave I will.  But then what?  Wait until it is safe to return.  When might that be?  After the north is liberated?  How long might that take?  And even then won’t there still be angry al-Qaeda guys somewhere with an inclination to kidnapping? 
I know there are plenty of people who don’t agree with me on all this, but these are my thoughts anyway.  I’m open to comments and differing opinions if you should want to reply.