French troops head to Mali as air attacks intensify

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French troops head to Mali as air attacks intensify

By Bate Felix and Chine Labb? Bamako, Mali

Monday, January 14, 2013

French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds deep in northern Mali yesterday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country?s north.

The attacks on Islamist positions near the ancient desert trading town of Timbuktu and Gao, the largest city in the north, marked a decisive intensification on the third day of the French mission, striking at the heart of the vast area seized by rebels in April.

France is determined to end Islamist domination of northern Mali, which many fear could act as a base for attacks on the West and for links with al-Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Defence minister Jean- Yves Le Drian said France?s sudden intervention on Friday had prevented the advancing rebels from seizing Bamako. He vowed that air strikes would continue.

"The president is totally determined that we must eradicate these terrorists who threaten the security of Mali, our own country and Europe," he told French television.

Residents and rebel leaders had reported air raids early yesterday in the towns of Lere and Douentza in central Mali, forcing Islamists to withdraw. As the day progressed, French jets struck targets further to the north, including near the town of Kidal, the epicentre of the rebellion.

In Gao, a dusty town on the banks of the Niger river where Islamists have imposed an extreme form of sharia law, residents said French jets pounded the airport and rebel positions. A huge cloud of black smoke rose from the militants? camp in the city?s north, and pick-up trucks ferried dead and wounded to hospital.

"The planes are so fast you can only hear their sound in the sky," resident Soumaila Maiga said by telephone. "We are happy, even though it is frightening. Soon we will be delivered."

Paris said four Rafale jets flew from France to strike rebel training camps, logistics depots and infrastructure around Gao with the aim of weakening the rebels and preventing them from returning southward.

"We blocked the terrorists? advance and from today what we?ve started to do is to destroy the terrorists? bases behind the front line," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

France has deployed about 550 soldiers to Mali under "Operation Serval" in Bamako and the town of Mopti, 500km north.

In Bamako, a Reuters cameraman saw more than 100 French troops disembark from a military cargo plane at the international airport on the outskirts of the capital. Many cars in the city flew French flags to celebrate Paris?s intervention.

"We thank France for coming to our aid," said resident Mariam Sidibe. "We hope it continues till the north is free."

More than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a reputation as a bulwark of democracy, but that image unravelled after a military coup in March which left a power vacuum for the Islamist rebellion.

France convened a UN Security Council meeting for today to discuss Mali.

French president Fran?ois Hollande?s intervention has won plaudits from leaders in Europe, Africa and the US but it is not without risks.

It raised the threat level for eight French hostages held by al-Qaeda allies in the Sahara and for 30,000 French expatriates living in neighbouring states.

France has tightened security at public buildings and on public transport. It advised its 6,000 citizens to leave Mali as spokesmen for Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda?s north Africa wing AQIM promised to exact revenge.

Reuters

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? This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, January 14, 2013

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Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/ieworld/~3/QmWnFoBbZlI/

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