http://knewzfrommeroewest.blogspot.com/2011/12/al-qaida-in-mali-can-africa-get-break.html
Any student of African history knows the beautiful name Timbuktu, and the history of this remote city as post of Sahara trade and center of early African knowledge and Islamic scholarship. It's a place many have dreamed of visiting.
Hopefully you've followed France's decision to enter the war, and remain in Mali until the radical militant Islamists are routed, and the country is back in the hands of the people of Mali. January 21st, after facing resistance from Islamists, French and Malian troops entered and reclaimed the down of Diabaly.
French forces then extended their deployment northward, and Saturday Jan. 26th, French and Malian forces cleared radical Islamist fighters from Gao. Below are more key facts from two articles on the situation.
Kentke
Reported from France24, an online international news site:
Saturday's seizure of Gao, the most populated town in Mali's northern region, which is roughly the size of Texas, was announced by the French defence ministry and confirmed by Malian security sources.French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the troops were currently "around Gao and (will be) soon near Timbuktu," further west. A fabled caravan town on the edge of the Sahara desert, Timbuktu served as a centre of Islamic learning for centuries.
"The objective is that the African multinational force being put together be able to take over, and that Mali be able to begin a process of political stabilisation," Ayrault said.
A Malian security source in Gao told AFP by telephone that a first contingent of Malian, Chadian and Niger troops had arrived in Gao to help secure it, having been flown in from Niamey, capital of neighbouring Niger.
Other soldiers from Chad and Niger were moving by land toward the Malian border from the Niger town of Ouallam, which lies about 100 kilometres southeast of Gao.
Washington's decision to agree to France's request for air refuelling facilities came after two weeks of deliberation. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave the news to his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian in a telephone conversation Saturday, a Pentagon spokesman said. President Barack Obama made his support for the French operation clear in a phone conversation Friday with French President Francois Hollande.
The US military has an unparalleled fleet of more than 400 tankers equipped to refuel fighters and other warplanes in mid-air. France has about 14 such tankers. On Saturday, West African defence chiefs meeting in Ivory Coast agreed to boost the their troop pledges for the force to 5,700 from the previous 4,500. So far however, only a fraction of the African troops have arrived in Bamako, the Malian capital in the south of the country. French and Malian forces have done all the fighting to date. France has already deployed 2,500 troops to Mali and its defence ministry says 1,900 African soldiers are on the ground there and in Niger.
French and Malian forces encircle Timbuktu
By Matthieu Mabin , special correspondent in MaliUpdate January 27, 2013
French and Malian forces are preparing an offensive on the symbolic city of Timbuktu, captured by Islamist militants last year. FRANCE 24 special correspondent Matthieu Mabin reports from the outskirts of the ancient town.
After recapturing the city of Gao on Saturday, French and Malian forced have switched their focus to Timbuktu. Early on Sunday morning, masses of heavily-armored troops arrived at the outskirts of the city, stationing themselves some 100 kilometres away from the city centre.
The French air force has laid the groundwork for an all-out offensive, using Dassault Mirage 2000s and Rafle fighter jets to destroy rebel points in the vast desert around the city. So far, the troops have experienced no form of counter-attack on the ground. Attacking Timbuktu is a symbolic operation for Mali – overrun by Ansar Dine jihadist militants almost a year ago, the ancient city has been ravaged by its captors: its mausoleums destroyed, its people forced to obey Sharia law. The rare accounts we’ve heard depict scenes of social desecration.
Liberated villagers ‘hysterical’
When we travel through liberated villages, the residents become almost hysterical at the sight of the French and Malian tanks. They rush out of their homes with the national flag shouting “Mali!” These people are literally being liberated after experiencing the terror of Sharia law. The accounts we’ve heard are terrible: suspected thieves having their hands cut off; women forced to wear the veil; men banned from wearing long trousers.Residents tell us that the rebels flee very quickly [when the French and Malian forces arrive], leaving behind weapons and vehicles. They dress like civilians so as not to stand out and then try to head for the border with Mauritania.
Previous blog Posts on Mali
http://knewzfrommeroewest.blogspot.com/search?q=Islam+in+Africahttp://knewzfrommeroewest.blogspot.com/2012/07/mali-islamists-to-continue-destroying.html
http://knewzfrommeroewest.blogspot.com/2012/07/mali-again-government-unraveling.html
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