French jets bomb major Malian city in north

[fgarvb1]

Holy Shit!

What the hell did they do to get the French stired up?


BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — French fighter jets bombed rebel targets in a major city in Mali's north Sunday, pounding the airport as well as training camps, warehouses and buildings used by the al-Qaida-linked Islamists controlling the area, officials and residents said.

The three-day-old French-led effort to take back Mali's north from the extremists began with airstrikes by combat helicopters in the small town of Konna. It has grown to a coordinated attack by state-of-the-art fighter jets which have bombarded at least five towns, of which Gao, which was attacked Sunday afternoon, is the largest.

Click link for more.

http://news.yahoo.com/french-jets-bomb-major-malian-city-north-213523459.html

 

[Super-Surprise]

 

[unregistered]

 

[bra_man69]

Here's some background of what's going on
January 9, 2013: The army has moved hundreds of additional troops to the northern town of Mopti (450 kilometers northeast of the capital). Several hundred al Qaeda gunmen showed up on the outskirts of the town two days ago, halted when troops opened fire, and began establishing themselves within sight of soldiers. Mopti is a market town at the junction of the Niger and Bani rivers and has become the base for efforts to retake control of the north or keep the rebels from moving south (where most of the people, water, and national wealth are). In the last few days al Qaeda gunmen have taken control of a village of Bourei which is 40 kilometers north of Mopti. Before that the closest al Qaeda controlled territory was about a hundred kilometers north of Mopti, although al Qaeda gunmen would sometimes move south to look around and retreat at the sight of any army troops.

To the north of Mopti the terrain becomes drier and, after a hundred kilometers or so, desert. The city has also been the destination of many of the northerners who fled their homes to escape the violence. Over 300,000 have fled the north so far.

The army has been in a state of disorder since the first coup last March, when about half its 9,000 personnel deserted. For months many senior officers were uncertain of the loyalty of subordinate officers. The leader of the coup was a low ranking captain who was able to motivate a lot of dissatisfied (by corruption and mismanagement in the military) officers and troops to rebel. The army has recovered from the coup-related confusion nine months ago and enlisted two thousand new recruits to bring its strength up to 7,000. The army is still able to maintain control of the government as well as garrison Mopti with over a thousand troops who will fight, or at least not flee at the sight of the enemy. The army has replaced the government leadership twice in the last year, once in March and once in December. The army was forced to give up control in April but now has pro-army politicians in charge again.

In the north the Islamic radical groups are spread thin but have been able to terrorize the remaining population into submission. About a quarter of the two million people in the north (a year ago) have fled, most of them south to Mopti and beyond. Few of those still in the north support the Islamic radicals but are too terrified to fight back. The Islamic radicals hold public punishments of “thieves” (often just people who openly opposed them) and whip them or cut off an arm or leg. In some cases the civilians have resisted attending these public punishments but relented when threatened with mass violence against them. This Islamic radicals claim they are on a Mission From God and cannot be argued with. The Islamic radicals have also destroyed most of the tombs of honored ancient Moslem local holy men. Al Qaeda considers openly honoring these holy men in this way to be blasphemous. The locals are appalled by the destruction of their shrines and resentment is building up. To counter this, al Qaeda is offering local teenagers cash and a gun to join them. This recruiting program has worked. While the new recruits are somewhat unreliable and have little experience, they help maintain order. Each week more Islamic radicals get into northern Mali, slowly increasing the number of experienced Islamic terrorists in the area.

Although Algeria has so far refused to join in an invasion of northern Mali, they are finding growing al Qaeda presence among refugee camps on their Morocco border. There, an al Qaeda splinter group, MOJWA (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa), kidnapped three European aid workers (a man and two women) in one of those refugee camps last October. MOJWA is unique because its leadership is black African. There has long been a lot of tension between Arabs and black Africans. The Arabs disdain the blacks and that causes a lot of tension and resentment. It appears that MOJWA is striving to show they can be more extreme and effective than the Arab dominated al Qaeda. MOJWA claims inspiration by 19th century West African Moslem leaders, who fought European colonial powers. The appearance of MOJWA presents the possibility of a war among Islamic radical groups. MOJWAs three captives were taken at a Polisario refugee camp near the Moroccan border. The three European aid workers may have been taken with the help of some Polisario officials. This may have something to do with the declining prospects of Polisario, which has been in bad shape since 1991. Back then Morocco finally won its war with Polisario Front rebels, who were seeking independence for the Western Sahara (a region south of Morocco). Polisario remained powerful in Mauritania, where the rebel group has official recognition and maintains several more refugee camps. Because Polisario was so well-subsidized by Algeria, back when Algeria was a radical state, Polisario still has enough diehards out there to keep a lot of people in Western Sahara unhappy. This was known to provide recruits and sanctuary for al Qaeda and other Islamic radicals. For two decades the UN has been trying to work out a final peace deal between Polasario and Morocco. In the 1990s, Algeria cut off all support for Polasario. But that, and UN efforts to mediate the differences, have just not worked. The contested area is largely desert with a population of less than 300,000. Logic would have it that the area is better off as a part of Morocco. But there are still thousands of locals who would rather fight for independence than submit to Morocco. Some resistance is tribal and cultural, with the Moroccans seen as another bunch of alien invaders (the area was administered, until 1976, as a Spanish colony). If the fighting breaks out again, possibly inspired by Islamic radicals, it could go on for years, just as it does in many other parts of Africa and the immediate neighborhood. Getting involved in the cocaine smuggling provides money, some of which goes towards guns and vehicles, making the Polisario fighters more formidable. Mali and Mauritanian police are increasingly arresting members of the Polisario Front who are involved with a major drug smuggling operation (moving cocaine from Guinea-Bissau, where it is flown in from South America, to the Mediterranean coast). Polisario Front members have long been involved in smuggling and other illegal activities but their involvement in moving cocaine is relatively recent. This implies cooperation with al Qaeda, which apparently has worked out deals with Polisario. There are over 160,000 Polasario controlled refugees living (many since the 1970s) in these Algerian refugee camps. Young men in these camps see opportunity in Islamic terrorism and recruiters are finding more volunteers.

The other two nations with long borders with northern Mali are Mauritania and Niger. Both these nations have sent more troops and police to their Mali borders and tried to keep Islamic terrorists from getting in or out. That is difficult because the borders with northern Mali are long (1,376 kilometers with Algeria, 1,200 kilometers with Mauritania, and 821 kilometers with Niger) and mostly desert or semi-desert and thinly populated. Anyone with a guide and transportation (four-wheel drive or four footed) can sneak across. The more daring can dispense with the guide and try it just using GPS, but that can be dangerous because of unknown natural or human hazards.

January 7, 2013: Troops in the central Mali town of Mopti fired warning shots with machine-guns and mortars at an approaching column of al Qaeda gunmen. The Islamic radicals turned around and moved back a bit.

January 3, 2013: Ansar Dine has cancelled its ceasefire with the government in response to UN approval of an invasion of northern Mali, to oust Islamic radicals (including Ansari Dine) occupying the area. For over a month the West African nation of Burkina Faso has been hosting talks with MNLA (Tuareg rebels) representatives and members of Ansar Dine, another al Qaeda-linked Islamist group (composed of Tuaregs) occupying parts of Mali's north. This has been an effort to negotiate an end to separatist rule in the north. Groups that agree to a negotiated deal would be spared from the planned African offensive against MUJWA and AQIM (al Qaeda's North African wing which it operates alongside). The Tuareg groups want al Qaeda out of northern Mali and don’t consider any of that negotiable. Ansari Dine also wants Islamic law applied in the north and would not consider any compromise on that.

MUJWA and AQIM threaten “another Iraq” (in terms of terror attacks) if the planned international force invades northern Mali. That invasion is now scheduled for next September or even later. MNLA and Ansari Dine have offered to work with the Mali government to destroy al Qaeda control of the north in return for autonomy for the Tuareg tribes that predominate up there and the continued use of Sharia (Islamic) law. The southerners are willing to discuss the former but are hostile to the latter. Meanwhile, MNLA and Ansari Dine have discovered that they lack the firepower to defeat al Qaeda. Meanwhile the UN continues to believe it’s still possible to settle all the problems in northern Mali through negotiation and authorized the use of force, in part, to spur negotiations. That has not worked in the case of Ansari Dine.

 

[Weird Harold]

Was that the hostage rescue that went bad?

No.

I suspect that the hostage rescue was prompted by the decision to intervene in Mali, but that was in Somalia.

 

[bra_man69]

An AH-1W Super Cobra with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 sits on the Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, flightline, Dec. 15, 2012. The squadron’s corrosion control section hand painted a mural on the side of the Super Cobra to help remind the squadron’s Marines and all servicemembers who see the aircraft of why they are deployed. Photo by Sgt. John Jackson

 

[XdOu™]

interesting..

 

[unregistered]

 

[eyer]

Socialist French president, socia...I mean...Democrat American president...

...and no collective outcry this time from frogs or yankees about colonial/imperial/statist powers going to war again in 3rd world nations.

Mmmm...

...so perplexing.

 

[Lancecastor]

No oil in Mali, so Americans don't even know it exists.

 

[Sean]

The army of Mali are a bunch of ill trained, disorganised fuckwits. The French decided they didn't want to see the country overrun with nutjobs.

 

[Sean]

No oil in Mali, so Americans don't even know it exists.

There's hardly any food in Mali. People in the townships of South Africa make jokes about the poverty in Mali.

 

[Lancecastor]

There's hardly any food in Mali. People in the townships of South Africa make jokes about the poverty in Mali.

 

[Lancecastor]

Northern Mali has gold you can pit-mine with steam-shovels, so every few years another group of "rebels" take it over.

 

[Busybody]

France Surprised By Fighting Strength Of Islamist Rebels In Mali, Equipped With Sophisticated Weapons NATO Delivered To Libyan Rebels…




And France (along with the UK) was one of the driving forces behind the push to arm rebel forces in Libya.


PARIS (AFP) — French forces in Mali have been taken by surprise by the fighting strength of the Islamist radicals they are attempting to drive out of the centre of the country, it emerged on Sunday.

Aides to President Francois Hollande admitted the militants were better equipped, armed and trained than they had expected.

“What has struck us markedly is how modern their equipment is and their ability to use it,” one said in a reference to the rebels’ hit on a French Gazelle helicopter.

The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing and its pilot, Lieutenant Damien Boiteux, died of his injuries after being shot with a light arm.

The helicopter was brought down during an attack on an Islamist convoy travelling between the towns of Mopti and Sevare in central Mali.

“Initially, they appeared like a rag-tag bunch travelling in their Toyotas with a few weapons,” the official added. “But they’ve shown themselves to be well-equipped, well-armed and well-trained.”

The French officials believe the Islamists obtained many of their weapons during last year’s unrest, when arms were delivered to rebels fighting to overthrow Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

“In Libya they picked up modern, sophisticated kit that is a lot more robust and effective than could have been imagined,” the source added.

The strength of the Islamists appears to have bolstered France’s resolve to limit its intervention to pushing the Islamists back and softening them up for a West African force to re-establish government control over the north of Mali, which has been under the rule of Al-Qaeda-linked groups since April 2012.

“The important word now is ‘Africanisation’, which means the rapid deployment of an African force. The situation calls for that and it is up to the Africans to restore Mali’s integrity,” the official said.

 

[Lancecastor]

This company, for example, pulls $200,000,000+ per year out of Mali...and whoever is the "government" gets 40%.

And that's just one example...you can buy a lot of AK's with that kind of change.

http://www.iamgold.com

 

[Busybody]

^^mindless Turdball

 

[imalickin]

Surprised that the French haven't surrendered yet. After all that's what they always do. Where did they find a spine?

The north of Mali is nothing but desert. Sand, sand, sand, everywhere sand.

 

[Busybody]

Mali: Islamist Rebels Launch Counter-Offensive Against French-Led Forces, Drive Government Troops From Town…




Hollande last seen readying the white flag.


(Reuters) — Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counter-offensive Monday in central Mali after four days of air strikes by French warplanes on their strongholds in the desert north, promising to drag France into a long and brutal Afghanistan-style ground war.

France intensified its air raids Sunday using Rafale aircraft and Gazelle attack helicopters to pummel training camps at the heart of the vast area seized by rebels in April, while pouring hundreds of troops into the capital Bamako.

French planes were in action again Monday.

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

Launching a counter-attack far to the southwest of recent fighting, Islamists clashed with government forces on Monday inside the town of Diabaly, just 350 km (220 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako.

Residents said the rebels had entered the town from the north overnight, approaching from the porous border region with Mauritania where al Qaeda’s North African wing AQIM has camps.

“They have taken Diabaly … after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army,” French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM television, adding that French and Malian forces were fighting to dislodge the rebels.

Residents said Islamists, shouting ‘Allahu akbar’, were battling the army inside the town.

 

[Busybody]

Mali: Islamist Rebels Continue To Advance Towards Capital Despite French Military Intervention, Now 200 Miles Closer Than Before France Launched Campaign…




Do we laugh or cry here?

Via CBS News:


Despite intensive aerial bombardments by French warplanes, Islamist insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali Monday and moved closer to the capital, French and Malian authorities said.

In the latest setback, the al Qaeda-linked extremists overran the garrison village of Diabaly in central Mali, France’s defense minister said in Paris. Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday the rebels “took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army that couldn’t hold them back.”

The French government ordered the immediate evacuation of all French nationals living in the Malian town of Segou, located around 130 miles from the capital. The evacuation order was confirmed by a French citizen in Segou, who insisted upon anonymity because of the security situation. With the seizure of Diabaly the militants are within 50 miles of Segou.

French President Francois Hollande authorized the airstrikes last week after the Islamists began their push south.

The Malian military is in disarray and has let many towns fall with barely a shot fired since the insurgency began almost a year ago in the northwest African nation. The Islamist fighters control the north and had been blocked in Mali’s narrow waist in the central part of the country. But by seizing Diabaly, they appear to have now succeeded in a flanking move getting around the 200-mile-long belt, opening a second front in the broad southern section of the country, knifing in from the west on government forces.

The French military, which began battling in Mali on Friday, expanded its aerial bombing campaign of northern Mali, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But it failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who now are only 250 miles from the capital Bamako, in the far south. Before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 420 miles away near the central belt, though they might have infiltrated closer than that.

 

[unregistered]

 

[XdOu™]

An AH-1W Super Cobra with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 sits on the Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, flightline, Dec. 15, 2012. The squadron’s corrosion control section hand painted a mural on the side of the Super Cobra to help remind the squadron’s Marines and all servicemembers who see the aircraft of why they are deployed. Photo by Sgt. John Jackson

that's dope!

 

[Peregrinator]

It's my fault. Lady P and I have been talking about going to the Festival In The Desert for a few years, so naturally the place has to go to hell.

 

[Lancecastor]

It would be a close contest, but I think Busybody might be slightly more stupid than Vetteman when it comes to the story behind the story...is that possible?

 

[Busybody]

WELL, THAT’S COMFORTING: Walter Russell Mead: Mali — Dien Bien Phu All Over Again? “It’s too early to tell whether Mali will really become a quagmire; insurgents always make grand claims about their power, but only some are able to make good on it. Even so, France clearly underestimated the initial jihadist military strength in Mali, and the country is already turning to the US for logistical support.”

Remember when the press mocked Mitt Romney for bringing up Mali in a debate? Because, you know, they had no idea anything was brewing there. I keep saying that we have the worst political class in our history, and we do, but today’s press is the very worst part of the worst political class in our history.

Related: Belgians and Danes Join French-Led Mali Intervention With American Goodies.