France
launches air strikes on Mali
The US military holds a network of major air bases in Italy, Spain and other western European countries and could back the French military intervention by providing it with refueling tankers and other logistical assistance.
Paris-backed Malian government forces, the report says, began a military offensive against militants that have seized control of the north of the West African states with aerial support from French war planes.
French President Francois Hollande has confirmed his country’s military intervention against what he has described as ‘al-Qaeda-linked radicals’ in Mali.
The US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor is also cited in the report as vowing support for French objectives in the West African country.
"We have noted that the government of Mali has asked for support, and we share the French goal of denying terrorists a safe haven in the region,” he is quoted as saying in the report.
Hollande, meanwhile, has insisted that France’s military intervention in Mali would continue "for as long as is necessary."
President
François Hollande responds to advance south by Islamist rebels by
sending armed forces to aid Malian troops
11
January, 2013
French
troops have begun military operations including air strikes in Mali
to contain Islamist groups which are continuing to clash with the
army in a fight for control of the desert north of the west African
country.
François
Hollande announced on Friday night that French armed forces had gone
to the aid of Malian troops on the ground during the afternoon. The
French president said Mali was facing a "terrorist aggression"
of which "the whole world now knows its brutality and
fanaticism".
The
foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said France's air force carried out
an air strike in Mali on Friday as it supported government forces.
Al-Qaida-linked
groups seized the northern two-thirds of Mali last April, a month
after a military coup that followed the army's desertion of a
military campaign against Tuareg and Islamist rebels. Western powers
fear militants could use the vast desert in the former French colony
as a launchpad for international attacks.
France
said it was acting with the backing of west African states. It had
responded to an appeal for military assistance from Mali's embattled
interim president, Dioncounda Traoré, after Islamists seized the
town of Konna in the centre of the country, about 375 miles
north-east of the capital, Bamako, on Thursday.
On
Friday night a defence ministry official said the Malian army had
retaken control of Konna. "The Malian army has retaken Konna
with the help of our military partners. We are there now,"
Lieutenant Colonel Diaran Kone told Reuters, adding that the army was
mopping up Islamist fighters in the surrounding area.
Hollande
said recent UN security council resolutions provided the legal
framework for him to respond to the request.
The
very existence of the "friendly" state of Mali was under
threat as well as the security of its population and that of 6,000
French expatriates, Hollande warned.
The
military operation would last "as long as necessary", he
said. The French parliament will debate the move on Monday.
Hollande
added: "Terrorists must know that France will always be there
when it's a question, not of its fundamental interests, but of the
rights of the Malian population to live freely and in democracy."
Late
last year, the 15 countries in west Africa, including Mali, agreed on
a proposal for the military to take back the north, and sought
backing from the United Nations. The UN security council authorised
the intervention but imposed certain conditions. These include
training for Mali's military, which has been accused of serious human
rights abuses since the coup.
Traoré
used a live televised address on Friday night to announce a state of
emergency for the next 10 days, and called on mining companies and
non-governmental bodies to donate trucks to the military effort.
The
announcement fuelled doubts about the capacity of Mali's army, which
has been notoriously under-resourced for years. It received a boost
in recent weeks, however, by the arrival of equipment that was
impounded in nearby Guinea under the terms of an embargo imposed
after last year's military coup.
Konna
is less than 40 miles from the strategic city and army base of Mopti.
Boubakar Hamadoun, editor of the Bamako-based newspaper Mali Demain,
who has reporters based in the north, said there were Islamists
controlling Konna "but they are integrated into the population".
"It is very difficult for the army to fight them," he said.
"It is a very complicated situation."
Sources
in Mopti reported panic there , with evacuations of women and
children, as residents anticipated clashes between Malian and foreign
troops and Islamists could reach the town.
Hamadoun
cast doubt on reports that Douentza, one of the southernmost towns
under Islamist control, had been recaptured by the Malian army this
week. "There are some army personnel in Douentza in strategic
positions, but the rebels are still very much in control of the
town," he said.
The
renewed fighting follows the disintegration of a ceasefire between
one of the Islamist groups, Ansar Dine, and the government. It has
sparked panic in Mopti and other towns south of the de facto border
between government and Islamist control, and prompted concerns in the
international community that the Islamist groups – which operate a
drug trafficking and kidnap economy in northern Mali and other
Sahelian countries – could capture more ground.
The
security council condemned the capture of Konna and called on UN
member states to provide assistance to Mali "in order to reduce
the threat posed by terrorist organisations and associated groups."
A
regional military intervention approved by the UN had not been
expected to start before September. Hollande's announcement marked a
radical departure from recent agreements that limited the role of
French and other international forces to providing Mali's army with
training and logistical support.
France,
the former colonial power in Mali and other countries in the Sahel
region, has hundreds of troops stationed across west and central
Africa. This month it declined to provide military intervention in
another former colony, the Central African Republic, whose government
is also under threat from rebel groups.
The
European Union said it would speed up measures to send 200 trainers
to improve the effectiveness of the Malian army. EU foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton said on Friday that recent rebel advances
underlined the need for "enhanced and accelerated international
engagement" to help restore state authority throughout Mali.
"The
European Union … will accelerate preparations for the deployment of
a military mission to Mali to provide training and advice to the
Malian forces," Ashton said in a statement.
France
advised its expats on Friday to leave. The British Foreign Office
also advised all Britons to leave Mali by commercial flights as soon
as possible.
In
a revision of its travel advice because of this week's fighting, it
warned against any travel to the country. It is thought fewer than
100 Britons are currently in Mali.
The
UK has no troops in the country at the moment, but has committed
itself to help the EU military training mission.
The
foreign secretary, William Hague, said the UK supported the French
intervention.
"UK
supports [the] French decision to provide assistance to [the]
Government of Mali in the face of [the] rebel advance," Hague
said in a message on Twitter. A Foreign Office spokesman said Hague
was offering "political support".
US
vows to back French military intervention in former colony Mali
12 January, 2013
The US is looking into supporting French military intervention in its former African colony of Mali, by offering to provide “surveillance drones” as it has already declared its backing of moves against Malian militants.
US
commanders were further considering other options such as “providing
intelligence and aerial refueling tankers” as well as “logistical
backup and boosting intelligence sharing,” involving its
surveillance drones, AFP reported Friday, quoting an unnamed US
official that spoke on condition of anonymity.
The report also quotes its anonymous source as saying that senior American officials held talks with their French counterparts as well as authorities from other European allies in Paris on “an action plan” against militants controlling a northern portion of the Muslim country.
The US military holds a network of major air bases in Italy, Spain and other western European countries and could back the French military intervention by providing it with refueling tankers and other logistical assistance.
Paris-backed Malian government forces, the report says, began a military offensive against militants that have seized control of the north of the West African states with aerial support from French war planes.
French President Francois Hollande has confirmed his country’s military intervention against what he has described as ‘al-Qaeda-linked radicals’ in Mali.
Previously, the US had raised alarms about the militants in Mali, blaming them for involvement in an attack against the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya that led to the killing of its ambassador and three CIA operatives in the neighboring country.
The US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor is also cited in the report as vowing support for French objectives in the West African country.
"We have noted that the government of Mali has asked for support, and we share the French goal of denying terrorists a safe haven in the region,” he is quoted as saying in the report.
Hollande, meanwhile, has insisted that France’s military intervention in Mali would continue "for as long as is necessary."
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