Instead of sending Sentinel to Mali could we not just have photocopied a road map of the place and then put two way arrows up and down all the major routes? Scan it, put it on powerpoint, stick on a statement of the bleeding obvious such as 'most traffic following the main MSRs'. Call it the ISTAR slide for the day and show it at the daily 'CAOC ain't we ace brief'. Add a degree of authenticity by making sure that traffic stops in both directions somewhere in the vicinity of the frontline.
Voila. A product as useful as the daily Sentinel slide.
Alternatively just blow up a grainy x-ray of your right knee or eldest child's twelve week scan - and tell the big cheese that it clearly shows the baddies on the move.
Fly safely ISTAR chaps.
(For those a little slow - first few bits 'banter' - last four words 'serious'.)