Mali conflict: French troops to face combat 'within hours'

A security source announced plans to “take back Diabaly with the French”.

French fighter jets have launched strikes on Diabaly, but a regional security
source said the insurgents were still there.

France’s deployment of ground forces came as defence sources said the country
would triple its force in Mali to 2,500.

Nigerian troops for the multinational African intervention force expected to
arrive later in the day.

Speaking in Dubai, President Francois Hollande said French troops were not in
Mali for good but would stay until security had been restored and the “terrorists”
eliminated.

West African army chiefs meanwhile met in Bamako to plan the roll-out of the
UN-mandated, 3,300-strong regional intervention force in the former French
colony.

Nigeria, which is leading the regional force, said its total commitment would
be 900 troops: 300 more than previously announced.

A first contingent would have been deployed by Wednesday, said Nigerian
defence spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yerima. Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal,
Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged troops.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defence minister, conceded that the Malian
forces around Diabaly were struggling.

But he added: “Our presence has strengthened them.”

Mr Le Drian also confirmed reports that the insurgents were still present in
the central town of Konna, despite claims from Malian officers late on
Saturday that they had recaptured it.

It was the fall of this town and a threat from Islamist fighters that they
would move on south to the capital that prompted France to intervene last
week.

The Islamists took over the vast desert territories of northern Mali last
April, exploiting the power vaccuum created by a military coup the previous
month.

Since France launched its air offensive, they have fled the key northern towns
that had become their strongholds and where they had imposed their brutal
version of Islamic law.

But analysts have warned that their withdrawal was likely a tactical move.

“The jihadists are in it for the long-haul. They are comfortable in this
situation: the vast desert, a difficult terrain, a precarious security
situation,” said Tunisian Islamist expert Alaya Allani.

One resident in the northern town of Gao reported that the Islamists had cut
telecommunication links late Tuesday, rendering land lines and mobile phones
useless.

“They accuse residents of giving information to the soldiers,” he
told AFP by satellite phone.

So far the unrest has sent 144,500 refugees fleeing to neighbouring
Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria, the UN humanitarian agency said
on Tuesday. Another 230,000 people were internally displaced, it added.

Source: AFP

Source:
http://www.ezonearticle.com/2013/01/16/mali-conflict-french-troops-to-face-combat-within-hours/