French air strikes begin campaign to evict Islamists from Mali

Mali’s neighbors, alarmed by the emergence of Azawad as a safe haven for Islamic terrorists, have been authorized in December by the UN Security Council to organize a military coalition to dislodge the Islamists from north Mali and reunify the country, but that action was not expected for a few months yet.

The New York Times quotes a Mali military spokesman, Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, to say that some civilians and Malian soldiers had died in the fighting in recent days. “Zero deaths is not possible,” he said. He said the rebels, whom he called “terrorists,” suffered heavy casualties, and French officials said one French pilot had died from small-arms fire.

On Saturday, Adm. Édouard Guillaud, the chief of staff of the French armed forces, said that France had no plans to send ground troops to Mali, and said he would expect to help African troops do the job of dislodging the Islamists from the north part of Mali.

“The quicker the African mission is on the ground, the less we will need to help the Malian Army,” Admiral Guillaud said. He said that more military planes had been sent to Africa for possible use in Mali, and that Rafale fighter jets could strike from France. The French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, also said that special forces had been sent before the airstrikes to Mopti, a city near Konna that the Mali government says it cannot lose.

The French president, François Hollande, said that the operation, code-named “Serval,” would last “as long as necessary,” but stressed that it was limited to “preparing for the deployment of an African intervention force.”

The Guardian quotes a diplomatic source in Bamako who said France had considered the risks before deciding to intervene. “The French are being very careful, they are laying the ground properly; they are not pushing north too quickly,” he said.

France’s priority is to protect the military garrison in Severé, close to the strategic stronghold of Mopti, the last government-held city before Islamist control, the source said. “The point of the operation is not to rush north. This will be a continual attrition, while we wait for more forces to arrive here.”

France and the United States had said that if the African nations’ mission to evict the Islamists from north Mali received the blessing of the Security Council, they would provide intelligence and logistical assistance to the African troops in their mission to restore government authority in the north.

France on Saturday said it had asked the United States for surveillance drones which would help France keep an eye on the movement of Islamist forces.

It also appears that the fifteen nations of Ecowas, the Economic Community of West African States, would quicken the pace of getting their troops ready to be deployed to Mali.

With the menacing movement of the Islamist fighters south, the Ecowas commission president, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, said Saturday that the group had authorized an immediate deployment of troops “in light of the urgency of the situation.”

Most of the Ecowas troops are expected to come from Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

“By Monday by the latest, the troops will be there or will have started to arrive,” said Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s African integration minister.

French defense minister Le Drian said that France needed to act in Mali to forestall the collapse of the government. “The threat is the establishment of a terrorist state within range of Europe and of France,” he said. Hundreds of French troops have been moved to Bamako to protect French citizens there.

France has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday to discuss its action in Mali.

Fabius made it clear that France was now targeting Islamist bases in the north and said Algeria, which shares a long border with Mali, had given permission for its air space to be used for bombing raids “without limit.”

The BBC Africa correspondent reported that it seems clear that French air power is now preparing the ground for a much bigger offensive against the Islamists.

AFP reported on Sunday that French armed forces had been surprised by the fighting quality and the equipment of the militants they encountered. “At the start, we thought they would be just a load of guys with guns driving about in their pick-ups, but the reality is that they are well-trained, well-equipped, and well-armed,” the military official said.

“From Libya they have got hold of a lot of up-to-date, sophisticated equipment which is much more robust and effective than we could have imagined.”

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