Mali: France increases number of troops.
President Francois Hollande, on a visit to Abu Dhabi in the UAE said more French troops will be deployed in Mali to support the 750 already in Mali. New air strikes overnight had "achieved their goal", he remarked, adding that assembling the Ecowas African military force to work with France could take at least a week.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Mali-France-inc...
The French contingent is expected to rise to 2,500 in the coming weeks.Some 30 French tanks and armoured troop transport vehicles crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast on Monday, with a helicopter escort, witnesses told the BBC.
Islamists are reported to have made what they say is a tactical withdrawal from the major towns of Timbuktu and Gao.One resident of Timbuktu told Agence France-Presse: "The mujahideen have left. They are really scared."
However islamist forces coming from the Mauritanian border area took the garrison town of Diabaly in Malian government territory on Monday.
The UN Security Council meeting on Monday evening a gave the French intervention ts support. United States UN Ambassador said that the United States was very confident in France, saying that the French intervention had a "firm basis". She welcomed the fact that he French have dealt with the Islamist threat in a professional manner , Le Figaro reports.
But she stressed that the United States remained sceptical about the ability of Malian forces and their allies in West Africa to reconquer the North. "The United States have always wondered about the viability of the concept" of Misma, she said, noting that the Malian army had been "turned upside down" by the latest offensive by Islamists. She says the UN hadtothoroughly review the International Mission to aid Mali (Misma "given the circumstances on the ground have changed."
The French intervention may continue for weeks and France is looking for support from its allies. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says there will be a donor meeting towards the end of January to discuss the funding of the anti-Islamist intervention.
Islamists are reported to have made what they say is a tactical withdrawal from the major towns of Timbuktu and Gao.One resident of Timbuktu told Agence France-Presse: "The mujahideen have left. They are really scared."
However islamist forces coming from the Mauritanian border area took the garrison town of Diabaly in Malian government territory on Monday.
The UN Security Council meeting on Monday evening a gave the French intervention ts support. United States UN Ambassador said that the United States was very confident in France, saying that the French intervention had a "firm basis". She welcomed the fact that he French have dealt with the Islamist threat in a professional manner , Le Figaro reports.
But she stressed that the United States remained sceptical about the ability of Malian forces and their allies in West Africa to reconquer the North. "The United States have always wondered about the viability of the concept" of Misma, she said, noting that the Malian army had been "turned upside down" by the latest offensive by Islamists. She says the UN hadtothoroughly review the International Mission to aid Mali (Misma "given the circumstances on the ground have changed."
The French intervention may continue for weeks and France is looking for support from its allies. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says there will be a donor meeting towards the end of January to discuss the funding of the anti-Islamist intervention.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Mali-France-inc...