Mali French air strikes begin campaign to evict Islamists from Mali
France sent its planes to bomb al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist groups in Mali after hundreds of members of these groups began to move from the north-east portion of Mali, which they have controlled since last April, down south, into the remaining part of Mali. French fighter jets have pounded insurgent training camps, arms and oil depots as the French defense ministry confirmed reports of dozens of Islamist deaths. Islamist militants were fleeing Timbuktu, Gao, and other towns in northern Mali. A coalition of Western African countries is sending the 1,000 troops to Mali today – soon to be followed by 2,300 more – to begin ground operations against the Islamists. France has asked the United States for surveillance drones to help track the fleeing Islamic militants.
Group of French Mirage fighters in formation // Source: tiexue.net
France sent its planes to bomb and strafe al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist groups in Mali after hundreds of members of these groups began to move from the north-east portion of Mali, which they have controlled since last April, down south, into the remaining part of Mali.
In doing so, the Islamists appeared to expand their ambition from creating a Tuareg-based Islamic state in north-east Mali (an area the size of France, which they call Azawad) to taking over the whole state of Mali.
The French air strikes, which begun on Friday and lasted through the weekend, appear to stop the advance south of the Islamist rebels.
The French attacks were not limited to the border areas. The Guardian reports that Islamist militants were fleeing major towns in northern Mali after three days of air strikes, which sources say have left scores of rebels dead.
French fighter jets have pounded insurgent training camps, arms and oil depots as the French defense ministry confirmed reports of Islamist deaths.
“Mali is now at the mercy of the French army,” said a well-connected Malian official in Bamako. “They are bombing the north, they have killed many terrorists. The Islamists have been running into the desert – they have deserted Gao and Timbuktu.”
The United Kingdom said late Saturday that it would help to transport foreign troops and equipment to Mali, but that it would take an active part in the fighting.
France, the former colonial power in the region, became alarmed when Islamist rebels crossed the unofficial border line between Azawad and Mali and begun to advance toward Konna, a village on the demarcation line between the two parts of Mali.
The French responded to an appeal by Mali’s president, who expressed the fear that the rebels planned to advance toward the Mali capital Bamako, about 300 miles away.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius agreed with the assessment by Mali’s president. “Stopping the terrorists, that’s done,” he told RTL radio. Had France not intervened, there was a risk that the Islamists could have advanced as far as the capital, Bamako, he said.
The Mali military disintegrated after a coup attempt against the civilian government back in March, and those units that still operate appear more interested in extracting protection money from merchants and harassing critics of the military in the media.
