Is Mali going to be the next Afghanistan, Iraq, et al?

French Force and Malians Advancing Into North






Jerome Delay/Associated Press
Malian soldiers at an observation post near Sévaré on Thursday.

By LYDIA POLGREEN


Published: January 25, 2013

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SÉVARÉ, Mali — French and Malian soldiers appeared to push farther north into militant-held territory on Friday, closing in on the eastern city of Gao, the stronghold of one of the several Islamist groups that have captured northern Mali.




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The New York Times


Mali joined a counterterrorism partnership with neighbors.


Residents of Hombori told news agencies that they had seen French and Malian soldiers in the town, which sits 155 miles southwest of Gao, one of the three large cities in northern Mali under militant control.

An Islamist group blew up a bridge in another small town, Ansongo, near the border with Niger, according to residents and aid workers in the area, in an apparent attempt to prevent soldiers from gaining ground in that area.

French officials have been wary of disclosing the precise movements of their 2,500 troops on the ground in Mali, and on Friday a French military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard, declined to confirm or deny that Malian or French forces had taken Hombori, where two Frenchmen were kidnapped in 2011. But he said that French aerial strikes were continuing against militants farther north.

The military maneuvers came as human rights investigators continued to uncover evidence of executions by the Malian Army, whose record of abandoning the field of battle and committing atrocities has raised serious questions about its fitness to fight alongside French and other international troops headed here to fight the rebels in the North.

Gaëtan Mootoo, an investigator with Amnesty International, said witnesses had given him credible testimony that the army had killed two men near the city of Niono on Jan. 18, well after the French intervention had begun.

According to Mr. Mootoo, the soldiers asked one of the men, Aboubakrim Ag Mohamed, if they could search his house. When he complied and they found nothing suspicious, they asked him to step outside. A few blocks from his house, he was shot and killed, the witness said.

Mr. Mohamed’s cousin, Samba Ag Ibrahim, was executed nearby, Mr. Mootoo said, when he encountered the same soldiers. The two bodies were abandoned, and villagers buried them the next day, he said.

More people have been killed here in Sévaré, said Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. At least 11 bodies were tossed into a well in a suburb. The city is a garrison town, home to a huge contingent of Malian soldiers, raising the question of how so many could have been killed under their noses.

“Sévaré is a heavily militarized place,” Ms. Dufka said. “It is highly likely the security forces were involved.”

The problem of reprisals of perceived supporters of the rebel groups is only likely to get worse as the military offensive moves northward, where Islamist groups have spent months occupying towns. Such reprisals could have an ethnic dimension, focusing on Tuaregs, Arabs and other groups seen as sympathetic to the Islamic rebels.

“There is a rule of law vacuum, which was created by the departure from northern Mali by the institutions mandated to protect the civilian population,” Ms. Dufka said. “Given the high level of ethnic tension, the risk for reprisals is extremely high, which is why nipping this in the bud is paramount.”


Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris.







A version of this article appeared in print on January 26, 2013, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: French Force And Malians Advancing Into North.

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Cameron should keep our troops well away from yet another unwinable religious conflict.

malena stool wrote:Cameron should keep our troops well away from yet another unwinable religious conflict.

I know malena, that's what worries me. The cheek of it is, Hollande said he would roll out the red carpet for Cameron to walk away from the EU, yet who does he turn to? America as you can see is also reluctant to get involved.

One of the main considerations of this EU is they have no Defense Force made up of every Member, no plans for what to do if one of the Countries was invaded.

I would doubt an agglomeration of countries such as the EU is becoming cannot, (certainly for the foreseeable future anyway) have a common defence policy as there are no common grounds, even a language and half of them have been at each others throats in living memory or the not too distant past.

War in Mali: Europe goes to war blindfold


28 January 2013La Repubblica Rome


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Peter Schrank

Remarkably for a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Europe has been at war for close to 15 years: in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, in Libya, and today in the Sahel. However, an Italian editorialist argues, European intervention has consistently been marked by an absence of long-term vision.

Barbara Spinelli
On the eve of elections in Italy [in February] and in Germany [in September] the lack of discussion over a subject as important as war is astonishing. Because a conflict is occurring elsewhere, it is not discussed. Yet, war permeates deep into our bones, and has done so for a long time.

Because it lacks a common political government, the European Union is not leading the war but it is, nonetheless, now part of its daily routine. If we add the never-ending fight against terrorism to the fighting that spread throughout the Balkans at the end of the 20th Century, Europeans have been sporadically participating in armed conflicts for the past 14 years. At first, these were the object of heated debates: are these wars really necessary? And if not, what are we fighting for? Are they truly for humanitarian reasons or are they destructive? And what assessment are we to make of the War on Terror at the global level: has it reduced or increased terrorism?

Political leaders are not answering these questions and no European country is raising the issue of a Union that has nothing to say on the question of war because it is too focused on its currency. Entering blindly into a new neo-colonial war, Europe is advancing into a fog-filled future.

What we read about wars is misleading


War – often bloody and rarely fruitful – is never called by its true name. It moves forward hidden behind a mask: an initiative that will stabilise countries that have collapsed and bring them democracy and, most of all, one that will be short and not costly. This is the case with the war that began on January 13 in Mali, which is led by the France of François Hollande with the feeble support of African troops and the – retroactive – support of France's European allies.

In violation of the Treaty of Lisbon (articles 32 and 347), there was no prior discussion. We are almost always thrown into war. We even have someone – pompously called "EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy" – to thank France, while immediately explaining that Paris will have to go it alone "in the absence of a European military force". This is certainly a faithful snapshot of the situation, but a difference discourse could be expected from someone occupying such an important function.

Much of what we read about the war is false: it does not call for reflection on the event but rather for us to, passively, take note and to consider the conflicts as isolated cases without any relation to each other. War also causes improvised experts and technicians to crawl out of the woodwork. Intervention is becoming a European habitus, copied from the United States, but we are never told the long version of this story of metamorphosis, which links the conflicts together and sheds light on the global situation. It is a narrative that requires a global view defining our role in Africa, in Afghanistan and in the Persian Gulf. One that compares our vision to that of other countries. One that scrutinises China's policy in Africa, which is so determined and so different to ours: theirs is based on investment while ours is focused soley on military considerations.

A long-term, global view would allow a clear-headed assessment of those conflicts that lack clear goals, geographical boundaries or defined timetables. These are interventions which, instead of containing them, have resulted in the rise of Jihadists, spreading conflict from Afghanistan to the Sahara region and the Sahel. In these recent conflicts, we have learned nothing from the errors of the past, because these were systematically not discussed. Giving interventions noble-sounding names is insufficient to hide their disastrous results: these interventions do not lead to order but to chaos, not to strong States but to ones that are even weaker than before. And when intervention comes to an end, countries are abandoned to their fate, leaving those who were assisted with a strong sense of disillusionment. And then we are off to new fronts, as if the history of war were a safari tour in search of exotic spoils.

Neccessary and humanitarian wars


Mali is a textbook case of a necessary and humanitarian war. Over the past decade, the adjective humanitarian has lost its innocence. It was necessary to intervene to stop the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and if we did not act, it was because the United Nations withdrew its troops just when the extermination began. It was, on the other hand, necessary to avoid the exodus – towards Europe – of the Kosovars chased by the Serbian Army. On-going conflicts, however, are not necessary because they clearly do not stop terrorists. Nor do they foster democracy. Otherwise, how can one explain the alliance made with Saudi Arabia or the amounts in aid accorded to Riyadh which are higher than those awarded to Israel? Not only is the Saudi kingdom not democratic, but it is one of the main suppliers of funds for terrorism.

The collapse of the situation in Mali would have been avoidable if Europeans had paid more attention to the country. Considered for years to be a beacon of democracy, Mali sank deeper into poverty, reviving the problems posed by its artificial colonial borders. The long-standing struggle for independence of the Tuaregs, which had been ignored for decades, reached its culmination on April 6, 2012 when the region of Azawad in northern Mali declared independence. In order to combat the initailly secular Tuareg independence movements, the formation of Islamic militias was tolerated — a repetition of the error previously made in Afghanistan. As a result, the Tuaregs received support from [former Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi. When he fell, they turned for help to the Islamic fighters who invaded North Mali in early 2012, and thereafter co-opted and distorted the Tuaregs' struggle.

Wars that arise from the ashes of other wars


Our the most serious error is our failure to consider the wars of recent decades from a global standpoint. An operation on a specific spot of the globe has repercussions elsewhere. Failures in Afghanistan engendered the Libyan conflict, while the half-failed Libyan effort is responsible for the situation in Mali. The problem is that each new conflict begins without any critical analysis of previous conflicts. In Libya, complacency continued until the assassination, in Benghazi, of the United States Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, on September 11, 2012. It took this event to demonstrate that many of Gaddafi's militia troops – Tuaregs or Jihadists – had moved into the Azawad region. And that the war was not over, but that it was about to rise from its ashes in Mali.

In the past seven years, the number of democracies in Africa has fallen from 24 to 19. This is a failure for Europe and for the West. Meanwhile, China is looking on and rubbing its hands, while consolidating its presence on the continent. Currently, its interventionist behaviour consists of building roads, a far cry from making war. This is also colonialism, but colonialism of a different kind. China's strengths are its resilience and patience. Perhaps Europe and the US are so bellicose because they wish to dispute Beijing's rising power in Africa and Asia. This is only a hypothesis, but if Europe started to talk, it could also talk about this issue, and that would be usef

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British troops to join Mali conflict


Britain is expected to confirm today that scores of troops will be sent to Mali to form part of a European Union training mission to support the Malian army, as French-led forces marched unopposed into Mali's ancient trading city of Timbuktu.






















By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi

9:56AM GMT 29 Jan 2013

316 Comments




David Cameron told MPs last week that Britain's contribution to the EU force, which could number 500 personnel, would be in the "tens not hundreds", with France providing most of the troops. However, speculation has grown that the UK contribution could be larger, because Britain would contribute troops to protect officers conducting the training. Last night No 10 refused to comment on numbers, saying "discussions are ongoing".


Britain has already contributed two transport planes and a high-altitude surveillance aircraft to assist the French mission in Mali, where François Hollande, the French president, has deployed close to 3,000 of his country's soldiers.


As Mr Cameron told Mr Hollande that Britain was "keen" to provide further military assistance to France, Islamists linked to al-Qaeda burned thousands of Timbuktu's rarest treasures and fled into the desert to evade the advancing French troops,


Armed convoys rolled into the city's streets with barely a shot fired as thousands cheered "Mali, Mali, Mali" and welcomed the French troops as liberators. Many waved the French flag.


Col Thierry Burkhard, the chief military spokesman in Paris, said there had been no combat with the Islamists, but that French forces did not yet have complete control of the city.



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The Islamists seized Timbuktu last April, imposing a strict interpretation of sharia on its people. Women were forced to wear veils, while music, dancing and smoking were banned. Some people were subjected to floggings.

The celebrations that greeted the arrival of the French troops were tempered by the discovery that the extremists had destroyed thousands of rare texts and manuscripts kept in the city, a Unesco world heritage site.

Timbuktu's mayor confirmed that the Islamists had set fire to a world-renowned research centre as they fled. The Ahmed Baba Institute, opened in 2009, housed more than 20,000 priceless letters, books, religious manuscripts and early scientific documents dating from the 14th century.

Some may have been saved by academics as the Islamists arrived, but there were fears that a significant portion of the collection had been lost.

This was "cultural vandalism", one researcher said, comparable to the destruction of the statues of Buddha at Bamiyam in Afghanistan, dynamited by the Taliban in 2001.

"This is a devastating loss," said Mauro Nobili of the Timbouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. "It is a huge fragment of the history not just of Timbuktu, but of all of north and west Africa, and its loss would be without precedent. There were more than 20,000 documents, most of them completely uncharted. Nobody had even begun to study their content."

Of the wider conflict, Mr Hollande said "we are winning the battle", but called on African countries to send reinforcements quickly to secure the gains already made and to help liberate northern Mali, which was "still under terrorist control".

Among the French forces in Mali are paratroopers from the Foreign Legion, who early yesterday parachuted behind the enemy north of Timbuktu to support ground troops arriving from the south.









By mid-morning, the French and the Malian army had captured Timbuktu's airport, and later yesterday were patrolling all major routes into the city. The mission to take full control of Timbuktu began three hours before sunset. Two other major towns in northern Mali that were until recently in the hands of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its allies, Gao and Kidal, were also now empty of Islamist fighters, residents and Malian security sources said. Tuareg rebels, who have indicated they are ready to negotiate with Mali's government, were reported to be in control of Kidal.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said that Western intervention in Mali should follow the model of the recent successful action in Somalia.

"Think of the progress which we have made in Somalia in the last year – not by deploying Western armies, but by ensuring there is legitimate government, by funding and winning UN approval for African forces to do military work on the ground," he said.

blob: The US military is planning to set up a base for drones in northwest Africa to bolster surveillance of al-Qaeda in the region, according to reports.

The base for the robotic, unmanned aircraft would likely be located in Niger, on the eastern border of Mali, where French forces are currently waging a campaign against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an official told the New York Times.

Such an airfield would allow for better intelligence gathering by unarmed drones on the movement of AQIM and other militants, which Washington considers a growing threat.

If the plan is approved, up to 300 US military service members and contractors could be using drones

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Cameron , you have made the worst decision possible, shame on you. !!!! Havn't our Troops fought in enough Wars , many lost their lives yet failed to secure peace in the Countries they invaded. Oh, it's O.K. to send troops to be killed but make them redundant when it suits. This is an EC Country,France, needing support, what about the other Countries sending troops, there are plenty to choose from . Do you think you have won Kudos in the EU for this, you havn't , and this will not win you votes in the U.K. either.

30 January 2013 Last updated at 09:21








Mali conflict: France says its troops now in Kidal


Kidal airport in August 2012, when it was under the control of Ansar Dine
Continue reading the main story

Mali: Divided nation

• 'Shadow war' looms
  
• Timbuktu vandalised
  
• In pictures
  
• Sahara terror
  

French forces say they have entered Kidal in the north of Mali, the last major town they have yet to secure in their drive against Islamist militants.

French forces now control Kidal airport after a number of aircraft, including helicopters, landed there overnight.

Islamist militants were reported to have already left the town and it was unclear who was in charge.

French and Malian forces have been sweeping north, earlier taking Gao and Timbuktu with almost no resistance.

France - the former colonial power in Mali - launched a military operation this month after Islamist militants appeared to be threatening the south.
'Eradicate terrorism'
French army spokesman Col Thierry Burkhard confirmed that "French elements were deployed overnight in Kidal".

Haminy Maiga, the interim president of the Kidal regional assembly, told the Associated Press news agency: "The French arrived at 9:30pm [Tuesday] aboard four planes. Afterwards they took the airport and then entered the town and there was no combat.

"The French are patrolling the town and two helicopters are patrolling overhead," he said.

Kidal, 1,500km (930 miles) north-east of the capital Bamako, was until recently under the control of the Ansar Dine Islamist group.

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The Islamist militants fled Timbuktu in haste, but they took the time to commit one last act of vengeance”

End Quote
Thomas Fessy BBC News, Timbuktu

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• Timbuktu's cultural heritage vandalised
  

However, the Islamic Movement of Azawad (IMA), which recently split from Ansar Dine, said it was now in charge in Kidal, although the Tuareg group - the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) - also claims control.

An MNLA spokesman told the BBC its fighters had entered the city on Saturday and there were no Islamist militants there.

Some reports say Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly and Abou Zeid, of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, have moved to the mountainous region north of Kidal.

A spokesman for the IMA confirmed the French arrival in the town and said that its leader was now in talks with them.

The IMA recently said it rejected "extremism and terrorism" and wanted a peaceful solution.

The MNLA has also said it is prepared to work with the French "to eradicate terrorist groups" in the north but that it would not allow the return of the Malian army, which it accused of "crimes against the civilian population".

The BBC's Thomas Fessy, in Timbuktu, says that taking Kidal will mark the end of the first phase of the French military intervention, but that there will remain the difficult task of chasing the fighters down across the vast desert.

Malian and French forces had to work to halt looting in Timbuktu
Islamist extremists took advantage of a military coup in March last year to control a number of cities in the north and impose Sharia law.

The French arrival at Kidal came only 24 hours after securing Timbuktu with Malian forces.

The troops had to secure the streets after hundreds of people looted shops they said had belonged to militant sympathisers.

France has been pushing for the swift deployment of an African Union-backed force, the International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma), to take control of Malian towns.

On Tuesday, international donors meeting in Ethiopia pledged $455.53 million (£289 million) for Afisma and for other projects.

African leaders say the overall budget could be around $950 million.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the meeting impressive progress had been made but that this did not mean the danger was over.

Mr Fabius also said credible elections in Mali would be vital to achieving sustainable peace in the country.

Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore said on Tuesday that he wanted to hold "transparent and credible" elections by 31 July.



Are you in the region? You can get in contact with the BBC using the form below.

Mali: Footage Shows Militants' Brutal Tactics


Sky News is in Timbuktu, where Alex Crawford uncovers a clearer picture of the Islamic militants who terrorised the city.


5:24am UK, Wednesday 30 January 2013



Video: Sky's Alex Crawford With Timbuktu Residents
Enlarge
The radicals smashed 800-year-old tombs

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Footage showing the scale of the jihadist reign of terror in Timbuktu has been obtained by Sky News as residents of the ancient city come to terms with their ordeal.

The images show heavily armed al Qaeda-linked radicals travelling round the city in trucks and carrying out public floggings of those deemed to have broken strict Islamic laws.

The militants' disdain for Mali's history and culture is also displayed as they are seen demolishing tombs that have been part of Timbuktu's landscape for 800 years.

Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in the city, said: "Some of the pictures show just how heavily-armed the al Qaeda militants were as they took over Timbuktu's streets.

"The piles of weapons stored in houses across the town indicate the militants had plenty of access to them."
Ammunition left by fleeing militants shows they were heavily-armed
Grainy mobile phone footage showing the harsh street justice meted out to those who got on the wrong side of the law during the extremists' 10 months in charge is also emerging.

Noam Sissi was twice subjected to a public lashing for stealing and warned that his right hand would be cut off if he was caught again.

He fled to the relative safety of southern Mali soon after his brutal punishment was captured on film.

Some residents of the city were prepared to take huge risks to preserve what they could of their heritage.
This man fled Timbuktu after he was flogged twice for breaking Islamic law
Abdullah Sissi smuggled books out of a library, saving them from the same fate as manuscripts housed at the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Islamic Studies and Research, which was burned by the Islamists as they fled.

He spelled out the repercussions for anyone caught trying to save books or valuable papers.

"They imprisoned people for this and amputated limbs. This was their punishment," he told Sky News.

French troops continue to airlift vehicles and supplies into Timbuktu as the hunt begins for any militants still hiding there and an international operation gets underway to embolden the Malian army against their possible return.
Some 500-year-old manuscripts were saved, others are lost forever
David Cameron travels to Algeria later as he further outlines how Britain will play its part in tackling the growing terrorist threat in northern Africa.

The visit comes after Britain announced that up to 330 British troops would help out in the battle against rebels in neighbouring Mali.

The Prime Minister is to hold talks with counterpart Abdelmalek Sellal and pay his respects to victims of the hostage crisis that left six Britons dead.

Some 37 foreigners, at least 10 Algerians and dozens of terrorists died in the attack on the In Amenas gas plant, which is jointly operated by BP, earlier this month.
David Cameron will hold talks in Algeria after the gas plant terror attack
The Algerian government took the controversial decision to storm the site in the Sahara desert, with Mr Cameron and other world leaders protesting about not being notified in advance.

During talks with Mr Sellal and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, the premier is expected to stress the need for a "tough, patient and intelligent response" to extremism in the region.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was forced on Tuesday to deny "mission creep" in the intervention to bolster the government in Mali as he boosted the UK's role.
It is feared the region could become a new base for Islamic terrorists
Up to 240 troops could be deployed to train the Malian military and prepare soldiers from other African countries, while another 90 personnel could provide air support.

A roll-on-roll-off ferry has also been offered to transport French equipment to Africa.

In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Cameron said: "I believe we are in the midst of a long struggle against murderous terrorists and a poisonous ideology that supports them.

"We need to close down the ungoverned space in which they thrive and, yes, we need to deal with the grievances that they use to garner support."

Mr Cameron will also be attending an international development conference in the Liberian capital Monrovia.

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THESE ISLAMISTS SEEMS TO BE CULTURAL DESTROYERS,POSSIBLY CAUSING MORE DAMAGE AND POVERTY WHEREEVER THEY GO.

Badboy wrote:THESE ISLAMISTS SEEMS TO BE CULTURAL DESTROYERS,POSSIBLY CAUSING MORE DAMAGE AND POVERTY WHEREEVER THEY GO.

It seems all the Middle East is in turmoil now and spreading to Africa

EU-Mali: ‘EU sends training mission to Mali’

19 February 2013
Presseurop La Voix du Luxembourg


La Voix du Luxembourg, 19 February 2013European foreign ministers have approved plans to dispatch a force of 500 troops with a view to training Malian soldiers for a period of 15 months.
The Commission has announced the organisation of a donors' conference to be held in mid-May in Brussels.
Europe’s 27 member states have also decided to extend sanctions against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria for an additional three months and to provide the country’s opposition with greater support to help it protect civilians.

23 February 2013 Last updated at 07:51












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Mali conflict: 'Many die' in Ifoghas mountain battle


Thousands of soldiers from
African nations - including Chad - are deployed in Mali
Continue
reading the main story

Mali: Divided nation

• Scarred and scared
  
• Guerrilla mountains
  
• Not 'new Afghanistan'
  
• Timbuktu celebrates
  

Thirteen Chadian soldiers and 65
Islamist insurgents have been killed in heavy fighting in a remote part of
northern Mali, Chad's military says.

It says Friday's clashes occurred in the Ifoghas mountains, where many
militants are believed to be hiding.

Last month France led an operation to help oust Islamists who seized the vast
northern region of Mali in 2012.

The US military says it has deployed surveillance drones in Niger to gather
information on the Islamist militants.

The intelligence collected by a 100-strong contingent of US personnel from
across the border is being shared with French troops in Mali, who are assisting
thousands of troops from African states.
US
drones
Islamist rebels are believed to have retreated to the Ifoghas mountains - a
desert area in the Kidal region near the border with Algeria - after being
forced from northern population centres in recent weeks.

In a statement issued late on Friday, the Chadian army said it had "destroyed
five vehicles and killed 65 jihadists", adding that 13 of its soldiers had been
killed and another five wounded.

Earlier this month, some 1,800 Chadian soldiers began patrolling the city of
Kidal.

Chad has pledged to send 2,000 troops to Mali as part of the African-led
mission.

Fighting between Islamist insurgents and Malian troops - backed by French
soldiers - also continued in the central city of Gao.

On Thursday, the coalition said it had recaptured the city hall, which had
been seized by militants a day earlier.

France intervened in January in its former colony, fearing that
al-Qaeda-linked militants who had controlled Mali's north since April 2012 were
about to advance on the capital Bamako.

The French have said they are planning to start withdrawing their 4,000
soldiers next month, and would like the African-led contingent to become a UN
peacekeeping operation.

24 February 2013 Last updated at 00:02

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President Hollande has said the fighting in Mali is entering
its final phase, as Denise Hammick reports

Continue
reading the main story

Mali: Divided nation

• Scarred and scared
  
• Guerrilla mountains
  
• Not 'new Afghanistan'
  
• Timbuktu celebrates
  

French President Francois Hollande
has said his country's forces are engaged in the "final phase" of the fight
against militants in northern Mali.

He said there had been heavy fighting in the Ifoghas mountains, where members
of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were thought to be hiding.

Mr Hollande also praised Chadian troops for their efforts in the same
area.

Thirteen Chadian soldiers and some 65 militants were killed in clashes on
Friday, according to the Chadian army.

Chad's government has promised to deploy 2,000 troops as part of the
African-led International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma).
US drones
Speaking in Paris on Saturday, President Hollande said "heavy fighting" was
taking place in the far north of Mali, near the Algerian border.

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Our Chadian friends launched an attack yesterday which was
very harsh with significant loss of life”

End Quote Francois
Hollande President of France
"This is the final phase of the process since it is in
that massif [the Ifoghas mountains] that AQIM forces have probably regrouped,"
he said.

"Our Chadian friends launched an attack yesterday which was very harsh with
significant loss of life," Mr Hollande added. "I want to praise what the
Chadians are doing."

The latest fighting was between Islamists militants and ethnic Tuareg in the
In-Khalil area, near the border town of Tessalit.

The MNLA - a secular Tuareg group which seeks an independent homeland in the
Sahara and Sahel regions of Mali, Libya, Algeria, Niger and Burkina Faso - was
at one time allied to the Islamists but now supports the French-led offensive.


France has deployed 4,000 troops since 11 January to help the Malian
government eject Islamist militants who seized control of the north of the
country last year.

The French-led forces faced little resistance during the initial offensive,
when they recaptured major towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

Meanwhile, more help for the French and African forces is being offered by
the United States, which is sending Predator drones to Niger.

The unarmed drones would be used to overfly the zone of combat in Mali and
provide information about deployments, US officials said.

2 March 2013 Last updated at 07:29

• 
  

l

Mali: Divided nation

• Scarred and scared
  
• Guerrilla mountains
  
• Not 'new Afghanistan'
  
• Timbuktu celebrates
  

A senior al-Qaeda militant has been
killed in northern Mali, Chadian President Idriss Deby has said.

He said the country's forces killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid during clashes in
the remote region.

He is said to be second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which
is fighting foreign forces in Mali.

The Algerian national is accused of killing two Western hostages - Briton
Edwin Dyer in 2009 and Frenchman Michel Germaneau the following year.

BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says that, if confirmed, his death
will immediately raise questions over the state of several French hostages who
are widely believed to have been in Abou Zeid's custody.

A US official - speaking on condition of anonymity - said Washington found
reports that Abou Zeid was killed "very credible", according to the AFP news
agency.

However, France reacted with caution to the reports, with government
spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem stressing that his death was so far
unconfirmed.

Earlier unverified reports in the French media said that the militant was
killed during fighting against French army units.

In January France sent some 3,500 troops to northern Mali to oust various
Islamist militant groups who had seized a vast area of the Sahara desert.

Chad is one of several African countries to have supported the French
operation.
'Most violent commander'
After recapturing the region's main towns, French and Chadian troops have
been battling Islamist fighters in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains north of
Kidal, where the militants had regrouped, in recent weeks.

Algeria's Ennahar TV reported earlier this week that Abou Zeid was among 40
militants killed in the area near the Algerian border.

"Chadian forces killed two jihadi leaders, including Abou Zeid," President
Deby said on Friday.

He was speaking after the funerals of Chadian soldiers killed in the
fighting.

"On February 22, we lost several soldiers in the Ifoghas mountains after
destroying the jihadists' base. This was the first time there was a direct
confrontation with the jihadists, " the president was reported as saying.

Algerian media have reported that security operatives have taken DNA samples
from two of Abou Zeid's relatives to compare with the body which is reportedly
his.

Abou Zeid - believed to be in his 40s - was known as the most violent
al-Qaeda commander in the region.

He was last seen in public in the Malian cities of Timbuktu and Gao seized by
Islamist groups last year.

Francoise Larribe whose husband, Daniel, was abducted while working in Niger
in 2010, told French media she feared "reprisals if he really has lost his life
in a military operation".

'There will be no ground troops here': Hague takes softly-softly approach to
stifle spread of terrorism


The days of expensive military invasions are over, the Foreign Secretary
prefers to use his forces quietly, behind the scenes.


















>















By Con Coughlin, Defence
Editor

11:31PM GMT 08 Mar 2013




With the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war looming, William Hague is
determined that, when it comes to dealing with conflicts such as Mali and Syria,
there will be no repeat of the costly, large-scale military invasions that have
caused so much political turmoil during the past decade.


We have just arrived in Bamako, the capital of the African state of Mali, to
meet up with the small British military team that is assisting with the daunting
task of stabilising the country after its recent trauma at the hands of al-Qaeda
militants.


But no sooner have we arrived than Mr Hague is announcing with characteristic
Yorkshire bluntness the mantra that will repeated on several occasions during
our brief visit to Mali. “There will be no British ground troops in Mali.”



It is 42C in the shade but Mr Hague, the first foreign secretary to visit
Mali, is determined to view Britain’s contribution to the international effort
to prevent the country being overrun by al-Qaeda.


Unlike “Blair’s Wars” of the previous decade, when Britain took a leading
role in the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, our involvement in
the Mali crisis has been deliberately low key. Only 300 or so members of the
Armed Forces have been sent to Mali and Mr Hague is adamant that no British
troops will be involved in fighting al-Qaeda militants.



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“We have learnt the lessons of the Iraq war,” he said. “We are not committing
combat troops in this situation.”

To date most of the British effort has centred on the RAF’s two gigantic C-17
transport planes, initially used to fly French combat forces to Mali and now
being used to deliver troops from West Africa.

When we arrive at the desert air strip on the outskirts of Bamako, the RAF
has just helped to deliver units from the Ghanaian military. In addition, the
RAF is flying Sentinel intelligence-gathering aircraft from Senegal to help
French troops track down al-Qaeda militants.

But Mr Hague insists that this will be the limit of Britain’s military
involvement in Mali. There will be no repeat of the mission creep that has
affected the recent involvement in Libya and Afghanistan.

“We are here to help with training and transportation and that is all,” he
said. And as soon as the current loan period for the RAF’s C-17 transport
aircraft ends in April, Britain’s contribution would be limited to supporting
the EU’s training mission for Mali’s military. Mr Hague insisted that on no
account would Britain be sending ground forces to Mali.

“We are not going to commit our troops,” he said. “We are here to help others
to do the job that is necessary. The military campaign in Mali has been quite
successful and has dealt some serious blows to the terrorists so that they have
had to flee back to the mountains.”

Only a few weeks ago the country was on the point of being overrun. The
traumatised population still bears the scars of the brief reign of terror that
al-Qaeda fanatics imposed after their takeover of large tracts of the country.


Scores of prisoners were subjected to summary executions while others had
limbs cut off with knives after Islamic law was imposed. Scores of Malian women
were subjected to mass rape. The nightmare ended only when France sent its
troops to prevent the jihadists seizing control of Bamako and drove them back
into the mountains to the north of the country.

“Britain’s role here in Mali is important. If you train and assist the Malian
people in their own region then you are less likely to have to bring in British
forces to do the fighting. This is a good way to go about it,” Mr Hague said.
“They need our help, undoubtedly, but not with combat forces. We can help them
with aid and by supporting the political process. We have supported the French
and they have been deeply grateful. But there is not a military-only solution to
the problems of Mali.”

Unlike Britain’s recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Hague
believes Britain needs to act with patience and intelligence when dealing with
global security challenges. “Good intelligence gathering is at the heart of
dealing with terrorism,” said Mr Hague who, as Foreign Secretary, oversees the
work of MI6, Britain’s overseas intelligence service.

In 2003 Mr Hague supported Tony Blair’s decision to overthrow Saddam
Hussein’s regime, but now prefers to keep silent on the subject until the
findings of the Chilcot Inquiry are published later this year.

Indeed, Mr Hague’s reluctance to discuss the conflict in public prompted him
to write to Cabinet colleagues reminding them that it was Coalition policy to
avoid discussing the issue until the report’s conclusions were known. His letter
was promptly leaked by Liberal Democrat members of the Coalition who are keen to
make as much political capital as possible out of their opposition to the war.


Having been closely involved in the Government’s decision to order the
withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, Mr Hague is determined to
establish a new framework for dealing with al-Qaeda and failed states – one in
which committing British combat troops is seen as the last resort.

His approach to handling the Mali crisis was reflected in the recent speech
he made on the new counter-terrorism policy.

Mr Hague’s softly-softly approach is also evident in British policy regarding
the deepening crisis in Syria. Earlier this week the Foreign Secretary announced
that Britain was increasing its support for the rebels while ruling out any
possibility of military involvement in the conflict.

His renewed interest in the Syrian conflict follows the recent visit to
London by John Kerry, the new US Secretary of State, who has made resolving the
crisis one of his top priorities.

“The scale of the slaughter is so great that we simply cannot ignore it,”
said Mr Hague. The number of Syrian refugees that have fled to surrounding
countries was equivalent to Britain having six million refugees. And he warned
that if the conflict was allowed to continue indefinitely, it would play into
the hands of Islamist extremists who have already made inroads into the
opposition movement.

But he was dismissive of the suggestion by Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad
that he was prepared to enter into negotiations.

“This is a classic exercise in stalling for time. No one should be fooled by
a regime which tries to sound reasonable in the international media but
continues to commit acts of torture.”

There could be no future for Syria so long as President Assad remained in
power, he said. “I cannot see how Assad can remain in power after presiding over
so much death and destruction.”

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Mali

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  Africa and Indian Ocean »
  
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  Con Coughlin »
  

In Mali




Mali conflict portraits






Mali solution 'has to come from within,' says
expert





Mali crisis: timeline





Timbuktu retaken





On the frontline in Mali

Excerpt from Le Monde article 14th March

The EU should have shown a strong presence in this part of the world, without leaving it to China, the United States or others to become the privileged partners of the Africans in the 21st century.
Unfortunately, Europe has displayed only pathological disunity and blind stinginess. Only five out of the 27 member states are really involved in the mission to train the Malian army. Beyond sententious declarations on the need for a “plan for the political and economic stabilisation of the Sahel”, the thinly veiled response of most of the 27 member states to events in Mali can be summed up in one sentence: “Let France handle it." So much for the contradiction between suspecting the French of postcolonial tendencies and letting them man the front line in Francophone Africa...
Europe is fleeing from history. It will pay for it one day.

Al Qaeda executes French hostage in retaliation for Mali offensive


Al Qaeda fighters in North Africa claim they have killed a French
businessman in retaliation for France's offensive in Mali.








An ethnic Tuareg Malian soldier
stands guard at a checkpoint in Gao. Photo:
REUTERS





By Bonnie Malkin and AFP

12:52AM GMT 20 Mar 2013




Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) told ANI, Mauritania's news agency,
that they had executed Philippe Verdon, who was taken hostage in 2011.


Officials in France were trying to verfiy the report.


A man calling himself Al-Qairawani and claiming to be a spokesman for AQIM
told ANI told that the "spy" Verdon had been executed "on March 10 in response
to France's intervention in Northern Mali."


"The French President (Francois) Hollande is responsible for the lives of the
other French hostages," he warned.


Mr Verdon was seized on the night of November 24, 2011 along with Serge
Lazarevic. According to their families the two men had been on a business trip
and were kidnapped from their hotel in Hombori, northeast Mali.



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France deployed troops into Mali on Jan 11 to help stop Al Qaeda linked
fighters who had controlled the north of the country since April 2012 from
moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.

France now has more than 4,000 troops on the ground in the country, of whom
about 1,200 are currently deployed in the northeast, carrying out clean-up
operations after driving out most of the Islamist rebels from the area.

There are still pockets of resistance in areas such as Gao, which have
witnessed stray attacks and suicide bombings since the Islamists fled.

The French troops in the region are backed up by African forces. Soldiers
from Chad, whose experience and training has made them key in the French-led
offensive, have also suffered casualties with at least 26 deaths.

24 March 2013 Last updated at 02:09

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Islamist rebels attack Mali town


Gao was controlled by an
Islamist group for several months before it was liberated in January

Continue
reading the main story

Mali conflict

• Amputation horror
  
• Guerrilla mountains
  
• Not 'new Afghanistan'
  
• Key players
  

Islamist rebels have attacked Gao in
northern Mali, officials say.

The rebels were repelled after two hours of fierce fighting, a Malian army
official said.

He said the insurgents had slipped past army checkpoints to enter the town.
Gao residents had raised the alarm, saying rebels had entered their
neighbourhood.

Gao was controlled by an Islamist group for several months before it was
liberated in a French-led offensive in January.

The MUJWA Islamist group had attempted to impose an extreme form of sharia on
the town.

Gao Mayor Sadou Diallo said the Islamist fighters had launched Saturday's
attack inside the city's Quatrieme Quartier, or Fourth District, and retreated
when they were engaged by Malian forces.

"There was heavy gunfire. The situation is under control now. The Islamists
entered via Quatrieme Quartier, and the army went to meet them and was able to
push them back," Mr Diallo told the Associated Press news agency.

"There is another group that entered via the river, but they too were pushed
back. It's under control."

No death toll was immediately available after Saturday's firefight.
French intervention
Islamist rebels seized vast swathes of northern Mali a year ago after a
military coup in the capital Bamako.

France intervened militarily in January amid fears that the militants were
preparing to advance on Bamako. It currently has about 4,000 troops in Mali.


Mali's army and troops from several African countries, including 2,000 from
Chad, have also been involved in the fighting.

Since the intervention began, major cities including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu
have been recaptured but fighting is still continuing in desert mountains.

France plans to withdraw its troops from Mali next month, with West African
countries expected to take over in the run-up to elections due in July.

Mali: UN to vote on new UN peacekeeping force,
Minusma


Afisma soldiers would swap
their caps for blue helmets if the UN force is agreed
Continue
reading the main story

Mali conflict

• Timbuktu tensions
  
• On the frontline
  
• Amputation horror
  
• Key players
  

The UN Security Council is expected
to vote on a resolution to create a UN peacekeeping force for Mali.

The 12,600-strong force is intended incorporate some 6,000 West African
soldiers already in the country.

The resolution has been proposed by France, which intervened militarily in
January to drive out Islamist militants from Mali's northern desert region.

The UN force would deploy at the beginning of July before planned nationwide
elections.

The BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Mali's capital, Bamako, says the UN force will
stretch the definition of peacekeeping to new limits, as there is no peace
agreement for it to enforce in Mali.

On a visit to Bamako, Jeffrey Feltman, a UN under-secretary-general in the
department of political affairs, said the draft resolution has been hotly
debated.

Islamist groups took advantage of a coup in March 2012 to extend their
control across northern Mali, where they imposed a strict form of Islamic
law.

Northern towns have been recaptured in the French-led operation but some
fighters remain in desert hideouts.

France began withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops earlier this month - but
has been pushing for a UN force to take over from the West African force,
Afisma.

Chad, whose desert-trained troops are seen as the most effective of the
African forces, has also started to pull its troops out of Mali, saying its
mission has been accomplished, although they may join the UN force.
'Completely incapable'
France will leave a
1,000-strong force Mali to help with anti-terrorism operations
The proposed UN force - known by its French acronym Minusma - would be made
up of 11,200 military personnel and 1,440 police officers.

Its mission would be to stabilise "the key population centres, especially in
the north of Mali.... to deter threats, initiate and actively... take active
effective... steps to prevent the return of armed elements to those areas".

The draft resolution does not say it will be engaged in fighting the al-Qaeda
linked groups, but a French force of 1,000 soldiers will remain in the
country.

These troops will be able "to intervene in support of elements of Minusma
when under imminent and serious threat", the draft resolution says.

Our reporter says there are fears that many insurgents have simply gone to
ground since the start of the French intervention and they could resurface and
target the UN mission.

The UN mission will be an expansion of a joint West African force already in
Mali, which has come in for criticism and there are concerns over its
capabilities, our reporter says.

Earlier this month US Pentagon official Michael Sheehan described Afisma as a
"completely incapable force".

But West African force commander Major General Shehu Adbulkadir is confident
that his soldiers will be up to the job.

"The success of this operation is hinged on: One, communication; two,
intelligence; three, mobility; four, firepower," he said.

"So once the mandate and the rules of engagement will allow for these four, I
don't think the challenge is insurmountable."

France decided to intervene in Mali after saying the al-Qaeda-linked
militants threatened to march on Bamako.

Mali: French Hostage 'Beheaded By Al Qaeda'


The group claims the brutal murder of Philippe Verdon, who
was kidnapped from his hotel room in northern Mali in November 2011.


9:18am UK,
Wednesday 20 March 2013

The terrorist group claims to have beheaded Philippe
Verdon (right)

• 
  
• 
  
• ;
  
  
  
  Al Qaeda says it has beheaded a French hostage in reprisal for
  France's military intervention in Mali, according to reports.
  
  Its North African arm claimed responsibility, Mauritania's ANI news agency
  reported, citing a commander for the group.
  
  A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report
  of the killing of Philippe Verdon, adding that "we don't know at the moment"
  whether it is reliable.
  
  In a telephone call to the news agency, the group spokesman said Mr Verdon
  had been beheaded on March 10 "in response to the French military intervention
  in the north of Mali", ANI reported.
  
  The AQIM commander described Mr Verdon as a French spy and said France's
  President Francois Hollande "bore the responsibility for the remaining
  hostages".
  
  Mr Verdon and another Frenchman, Serge Lazarevic, were kidnapped from their
  hotel room on November 24, 2011, in the northern Mali town of Hombori.
  
  Their families denied that the two men were mercenaries or secret service
  agents.
  It is not known whether Mokhtar Belmokhtar is
  dead or alive
  The killing, if proved true, would be a worrying development for Mr
  Hollande.
  
  Another 14 French hostages are detained in Western Africa, including seven
  believed to be held in the Sahel region by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
  (AQIM) and its affiliates.
  
  In August last year a video showing Mr Verdon describing the "difficult
  living conditions" was released on a Mauritanian website.
  
  The hostages' families have in recent weeks expressed growing fears for their
  loved ones in the light of France's military actions in Mali.
  
  Earlier Tuesday, Mr Verdon's father Jean-Pierre, complained that the families
  were hearing nothing from the French authorities.
  
  "We are in a total fog and it is impossible to live this way," he told RTL
  radio. "We have no information."
  French soldiers on the ground in
  Timbuktu
  Asked about France's refusal to pay ransoms to kidnappers, he replied that
  the families had no say in such "decisions of state".
  
  Terror chief Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an AQIM leader and one of the world's most
  wanted men, had pledged revenge and vowed to attack western targets in Africa
  after France launched a campaign to help the country's embattled government
  drive Islamist militants out of northern Mali.
  
  France now has more than 4,000 troops on the ground in Mali.
  
  It launched a nine-week assault in January to dislodge the group and other
  Islamist militants who had hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in Sahel and seized the
  northern half of the country.
  
  They were driven out from the main cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, after
  which some 1,600 French and Chadian troops began searching for Islamist rebels
  in their pocket hideouts in the mountainous region of northern Mali.
  
  When asked by the ANI news agency whether Belmokhtar had been killed, the
  AQIM commander neither denied nor confirmed it.
  
  There have been conflicting reports on whether he was killed in the French
  military campaign against the rebels.
  
  Soldiers from Chad fighting Islamists in Mali had claimed to have killed
  Belmokhtar, who is said to have been the mastermind behind the recent Algerian
  hostage crisis at a remote gas facility in the Algerian desert.
  
  The one-eyed gangster, nicknamed Mr Marlboro because of his involvement in
  cigarette smuggling, had also been dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French
  intelligence after being linked to a series of kidnappings of foreigners in
  north Africa over the past decade.
  
  France has been carrying out DNA tests to determine whether militant leaders
  Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abou Zaid are among those killed in recent fighting in
  Mali.
  
• Related Stories
  
• William
  Hague Vows To Continue Mali Support
  
• Al
  Qaeda Casts Doubt On Mr Marlboro's 'Death'
  
• Mokhtar
  Belmokhtar: Gas Terror Chief 'Killed'
  
• In
  Amenas 'Mastermind' Was Hiding In Mali
  

==========================

Why does William Hague say he will continue to help France, what about the other European Countries ??? Britishaa solderies have been engaged in most of the trouble spots with much loss of life and not helped the situation one iota, even Obama is not comitting any troops or arms to Syria, there is an Arab League but they do nothing, neither does Russia or China.

Development aid: €3bn earmarked to rebuild Mali

16 May 2013
Presseurop Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung



More than €3bn in reconstruction aid for the 2013-2014 period was pledged to part of the Sahel region at a Mali Donors' Conference held in Brussels on May 15, reports Germany daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. This is "significantly more than the €2bn initially expected," the daily adds.
Principal donors include Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the United States, the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
The money will be used to reconstruct the economic and social framework damaged during the war currently underway against Islamic militias in Northern Mali, providing funds to the agriculture and infrastructure sectors, FAZ says.
Another German daily, Süddeutsche Zeitung, however, notes that what Mali needs, first and foremost, is a government formed after democratic elections, currently scheduled for July, and that in Brussels –

very few people have illusions that the Malian State is capable of pulling itself up by its bootstraps any time soon. It will be many years before its fragmented and poorly-qualified army will be able to replace the [United Nations'] Blue Helmets or the French special forces.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THESE ISLAMIC MILITANTS.

I SEE THERE HAS BEEN AN ATTACK ON UN BASE IN MALI,EVERAL CHILDREN WOUNDED.

THERE HAS BEEN AN ATTACK ON A HOTEL KILLING 3 PEOPLE.

Terrible badboy, all these people want to do is fight, rape and murder people. All in the most brutal way possible. They are monsters.