Frenchmen's easy hunting in Mali, Africa

[halloweene]

Oh and another thing. Did you know China gave money to Mauritania in 1990 in order to fight djihadists?

 

[SajeevJino]

Malians say "Thank you, France!" as Hollande visits​

French President Francois Hollande flew to Mali on Saturday to support French troops fighting Islamist rebels in the Sahel nation, and he visited the famed ancient city of Timbuktu that was recaptured from al Qaeda-allied fighters six days ago.

Hollande, accompanied by his ministers for defence, foreign affairs and development, was greeted by a group of dancers and singers at Timbuktu airport and then went on to visit the Grand Mosque in the UNESCO World Heritage Site city.

Heavily-armed French soldiers in armoured vehicles and Malian troops ringed the ancient mosque, built from mud bricks and wooden beams. French and Malian flags fluttered from telephone poles.

Local people chanted "Vive La France" and praised Hollande for France's military intervention in its former West African colony, which after three weeks has pushed Islamist fighters occupying the north into more remote desert and mountains.

"I'm so proud of Francois Hollande, we have got our old lives back," Khalifa Cisse, the muzzein or crier who calls the faithful to daily prayer at the mosque, told Reuters, wearing a flowing white robe and cap and a red, white and blue scarf.

The international community has greeted the liberation of Timbuktu with relief as the sharia-observing radical Islamist occupiers had smashed traditional ancient Sufi mausoleums in this seat of Islamic learning, calling them idolatrous.

They had also destroyed up to 2,000 of some 300,000 priceless ancient manuscripts held in the city. Curators say the bulk of the scholarly texts are however secure and safe.

During his one-day visit to Mali, which will also take him to the southern capital Bamako, Hollande was expected to outline the next steps of the French military operation, which has so far retaken from the rebels the main towns of the north.

Hollande has said that the French operation, which has 3,500 soldiers on Malian soil backed by warplanes, helicopters and armoured vehicles, wants to hand over to a larger U.N.-backed African force which is still being deployed.

Sustained French airstrikes have forced fighters from the Islamist militant alliance that was occupying northern Mali to retreat into the remote Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border. The rebels are also believed to be holding there seven French hostages previously seized in the Sahel.

The United States and Europe are backing the U.N.-mandated Mali operation as a counterstrike against the threat of radical Islamist jihadists using the inhospitable and ungoverned Malian Saharan north as a launch pad for international attacks.

The U.S. and European governments are providing training, logistical and intelligence support to the French-led operation in Mali, but have ruled out sending ground troops.


Malians say Thank you, France! as Hollande visits | Reuters

 

[Armand2REP]

Oh and another thing. Did you know China gave money to Mauritania in 1990 in order to fight djihadists?

China gave money to Mali ECOWAS mission too, a whopping $1 million.

 

[Armand2REP]

French planes pounded extremist training camps as well as arms and fuel depots from Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday, according to French army Col. Thierry Burkhard.

"It was an important aerial operation to the north of the town Kidal and in the Tessalit region where we targeted logistical depots and Islamist training camps ... some 20 sites," said Burkhard. He said there were 30 planes used in the operation including Mirage and Rafale jets.

AP Nation / World | Union Democrat | Sonora News, Sports, & Weather, Angels Camp, Twain Harte, Jamestown - AP Nation / World

Wow... 30 planes on 20 target sites. AQIM is practically wiped out now!

France for the win... :thumb:

 

[SajeevJino]

Lessons of the Mali War​

Despite a flurry of attacks pointing to the possibility of drawn-out insurgent fighting in Mali, the French government is still planning on withdrawing its roughly 2,500 troops in the West African country starting in March, potentially bringing to a close the lightning-fast French-led intervention in Islamist-held northern Mali that began on Jan. 11.


Analysts are beginning to consider the lessons of the brief campaign, which saw French and Malian troops, heavily supported by Europe and the U.S., retake the north 10 months after it was seized by militants including fighters from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The obvious and most important strategic lesson is that conventional invasions begin wars but don't end them — and Mali could suffer a bloody insurgency lasting years, with only the Malians and a small West African peacekeeping force to maintain security.

But there are lessons at the operational level, as well. Joseph Henrotin, a Belgian editor, analyst and military-academy instructor, points to the tight coordination of space, air, ground, airborne and special operations forces as an example of something the French did right — and which allowed Paris to quickly dislodge the militants and withdraw speedily. "As African forces begins to arrive in the theater, we have witnessed a really clean model of 'first in, first out' compound warfare."

"What retains my attention is the perfect execution and reproduction of "¦ complex, highly combined operations," Henrotin adds. He points out that in late January a battalion-sized column with strong air and intelligence support was able to cross 900 kilometers of desert in just 10 days. He singles out the vital intel work of France's tiny force of Harfang drones, plus Atlantique 2 patrol planes and Helios 2 surveillance satellites, as well as the U.S. and U.K.'s data contributions.

But David Cenciotti, an Italian aviation expert, adds caveats to Henrotin's assessment. "The French air force operates three Harfang drones," he writes in an email. "Usually, five drones are required to keep two "¦ orbits active on a 24-hour basis."

The shortage of drones limited their use to only the most critical missions, Cenciotti adds. "So far, the Harfang drones have been used to support French special missions, providing surveillance in the vicinity of the airfields and cities about to be taken by the paratroopers "¦ You need many more UAVs to look for rebels, track suspicious activity and support convoys/special ops across such large territories as central and northern Mali."

Moreover, French drones are not armed. "Manned bombers are required to strike ground targets identified by the Harfangs," Cenciotti explains. By contrast, many American UAVs carry their own weapons and can immediately strike the targets the spot. Adding more drones, and arming them, would mean more and better intelligence and a shorter time between finding and hitting targets.

The French suffered another shortfall. Paris possesses just 14 KC-135 aerial tankers, used to refuel fighters and other planes in mid-flight, extending their range. "Even if only a few combat planes are involved in the air strikes, the French air force is not equipped with a tanker force capable to sustain a limited amount of attack sorties."

To sustain its aerial campaign, France relied on American KC-135s based in England. Likewise, the French needed airlift support from the U.S., the U.K., Canada and other countries to keep men and supplies flowing into Mali — and the diplomatic arrangements behind the aerial support were often tense and drawn-out.

Unless Paris invests in more drones, tankers and transports, intelligence and logistics could prove a major bottleneck in future interventions.


Lessons of the Mali War | Offiziere.ch

 

[Armand2REP]

Hence the orders for 14 MRTT and 50 A400M. Drones are hung up because UK can't make up their mind.

 

[SajeevJino]

Mali Islamists have 'destructive power' of army: colonel

Mali Islamists have 'destructive power' of army: colonel​

Islamists in northern Mali have the "destructive power" of an army, a top Malian colonel said Sunday, while showcasing weapons seized in Gao since French-led forces retook the city last month.

"What we have here, it's indicative of an army, or groups that have the capacity of an army," said Gao commander Laurent Mariko, showing the stockpile of weapons to reporters.

Al-Qaeda-linked armed Islamists had occupied Gao, the north's largest city, for nine months before the French and Malian forces retook it on January 26 in a lightning offensive that drove radical fighters from major cities.

But since fleeing Gao under the French-led advance, militiamen regrouped on its outskirts and infiltrated the city a few days ago to attack the Malian forces newly in control.

The stockpile on display Sunday included US-made M-16 assault rifles, Czech-made sniper rifles, Russian-made rockets and Malian army uniforms.

Mariko said the weapons -- which were seized by the Malian special forces, the French army or groups of "young patriots" -- had belonged to the Malian army, as well as the Senegalese gendarmerie or other neighbouring countries.

"The impression we have is that they and we (the Mali army) have pretty much the same weapons, except for the third dimension, aviation, which they don't have," said Colonel-Major Didier Dacko.

"They also have armoured vehicles, but we realised that they don't know how to use or repair them," he added.

The under-equipped Mali army was put to the test last year by armed groups, mainly Islamists, who according to several sources procured heavy weaponry in Libya.

Thanks to the fall of long-time Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who died in 2011, the armed groups were able to get hold of arms from his considerable arsenal, the sources said.

In April of last year, the Dakar-based human rights group RADDHO said that "thousands of rebels" left Libya "with 35,000 tonnes of weapons" and could have entered Mali.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which ruled Gao before the French-led offensive, has since unleashed Mali's first suicide attack.

It claimed a car bomb attack on Thursday near a camp occupied by French and Chadian troops in the northern city of Kidal in which at least two civilians were reported wounded.

The French-led forces are increasingly facing guerrilla-style tactics after initially meeting little resistance in their drive to oust Islamists from the main northern centres of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

On Friday, fresh fighting erupted in the mountainous Ifoghas region. The Chadian army said that 23 of its troops and 93 Islamists died in the clashes.

Tuareg militias battled Arab rebels in northern Mali Saturday, while French jets, US drones and Chad's elite desert forces were also in action in a major push to stamp out resistance from pockets of Islamist fighters.

A travel advisory posted on the French foreign ministry's website said Saturday that France's intervention in Mali "may have repercussions on the security of French residents or tourists" in Benin and other nations in the 15-member ECOWAS bloc of west African states.

Conflict-torn Mali will be on the agenda at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, which kicks off Monday.

There have been reports of widespread human rights abuses, including by Malian troops which with France's help have been struggling to expel Islamists from the vast northern territory the militants seized last April.

France has asked the UN Security Council to quickly deploy observers to oversee the human rights situation in the country, and NGOs in Geneva expect the rights council to adopt a resolution on this issue.

AFP: Mali Islamists have 'destructive power' of army: colonel

 

[SajeevJino]

U.S. tanker refuels French Rafale combat planes over Mali ​

Among the (known) U.S. assets supporting the French Air War in Mali, there are some 100th ARW's KC-135 from RAF Mildenhall (operating from Moron airbase, in Spain).

Dassault Rafale Refueling (2013) - YouTube

 

[SajeevJino]

Al-Qaeda leader reported dead in Mali​

Abou Zeid, Al-Qaeda's top leader in Mali and responsible for the kidnapping and murder of several French tourists, has been reported killed by Chadian troops taking part in the French-led intervention in the country.

Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has confirmed the killing, signalling a significant blow to the rebels in the seven-week intervention against Islamist insurgents.

Several newspapers in Abou Zeid's native Algeria had reported his death and Washington had described the reports as "very credible".

Deby on Friday said Abou Zeid, the Mali-based operative of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was killed in fighting between Chadian troops and Islamist fighters on February 22nd.

"On February 22, we lost several soldiers in the Ifogha mountains after destroying the jihadists' base. This was the first time there was a direct confrontation with the jihadists," he said.

"Our soldiers killed two jihadist chiefs including Abou Zeid," said Deby, whose elite forces are among the best desert troops on the continent and have played a key role in the offensive to liberate northern Mali.

Algeria's independent Ennahar TV reported earlier this week that Abou Zeid was killed in northern Mali along with 40 other Islamist militants.

In Washington, a US official speaking on condition of anonymity said reports of his death seemed "very credible" and that if Abou Zeid was indeed slain "it would be a significant blow to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb".

French officials have so far reacted with caution, with President Francois Hollande saying Friday: "Reports are circulating, it is not up to me to confirm them."

The killing of Abou Zeid, a ruthless militant linked to kidnappings and executions of Westerners, would be a major success for French forces, who intervened in Mali in mid-January to help oust Islamist rebels then in control of the north.


Al-Qaeda leader reported dead in Mali - The Local

 

[amoy]

Mali's 1992 Constitution at a glance - Constitution of Mali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The constitution provides for multi party democracy with the only prohibition against parties on ethnic, gender, regional or religious grounds.[4]

Just fabulous!

 

[SajeevJino]

50 rebels, French soldier killed in 'heavy' Mali fighting​

Heavy clashes in northern Mali have left at least 50 rebel fighters and a French soldier dead, officials said Sunday, following reports that two top Islamist militants were killed in recent days.

The reports from Chad that its soldiers killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of January's assault on an Algerian gas plant that killed 37 foreign hostages, as well as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid have not been confirmed by other sources.

But both French and Malian officials said clashes had intensified in the region in recent days, with French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian saying a French soldier had died "in some of the heaviest fighting that we have carried out on Malian territory."


A Malian military source said the fighting continued on Sunday near the town of Gao in northern Mali, where Malian troops backed by French forces are hunting down Islamist rebels driven from the region's main cities after a lightning French intervention launched in mid-January.

"At least 50 MUJAO Islamists have been killed since the day before yesterday (Friday)," the source told AFP, referring to rebels from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

France said one its soldiers had been killed on Saturday evening in north Mali, the third death of a French serviceman since the intervention began.

The defence ministry identified the soldier as 26-year-old Corporal Cedric Charenton, from the First Parachute Chasseur Regiment, who had been deployed in Mali since January 25 and had previously served in Afghanistan and Gabon.

France has so far suffered relatively few casualties during its operations in Mali. A legionnaire with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment was killed in clashes on February 19 and a helicopter pilot died at the very start of the operation.

The French army said at least 15 Islamist rebels had been "neutralised" -- killed or wounded -- in the fighting Saturday that led to the soldier's death.

The increase in clashes came as Chad announced the killings of Belmokhtar on Saturday and Abou Zeid on Friday.

If the killings are confirmed, the French-led military coalition fighting in northern Mali will have eliminated the Sahel region's two historical Al-Qaeda leaders and decapitated the country's Islamist insurgency.

AFP.com

 

[satish007]

Btw French troops are presently indirectly protecting Chinese mines from invasion by islamists in Niger

Halloweene, you should come here earlier, Armand2REP the chini expert has totally destroyed France China relationship in this forum.
in this forum, France = pro-India and anti-China.

 

[SajeevJino]

Halloweene, you should come here earlier, Armand2REP the chini expert has totally destroyed France China relationship in this forum.
in this forum, France = pro-India and anti-China.

Yeah whenever you started Kiss with Jihadis and Pakistani's The entire world is Anti China Not only the France

 

[Armand2REP]

One really has to question the logic of AQIM and MUJAO here. They had the best position at the start of the intervention controlling the cities and mostly just melted back into their remote mountain bases. Now we are able to slaughter them without collateral damage. Either way they would be killed, but at least they could run their terror campaign and blame France if innocents died. Now they just die with no result. And why are they staying inside Mali where we have free reign to slaughter them? If they moved into the No Man's Land of Mauritania they could bring about diplomatic difficulties at the very least. Anyway... France kicks ass again. Props to Chad, they are about the only African force worth their salt.

 

[SajeevJino]

Al Qaeda rebels wanted Mali as base for global attacks: France​

French forces in Mali have discovered tons of weapons stockpiled by al Qaeda-linked fighters who planned to use the country's north as a base for international attacks, France's defense minister said on Friday.

France launched a ground and air operation on January 11 to break Islamist rebels' hold on the northern two-thirds of Mali, saying the militants posed a risk to the security of West Africa and Europe.

While the rapid offensive has now taken back most of the territory seized by the militants nearly a year ago, French and allied Chadian forces have met heavy resistance from militants holed up in mountains near the Algerian border.

Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Mali on Friday, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the Islamist rebels, many of whom have flooded in from abroad, had been well armed and hoped to make the impoverished, arid nation a "terrorist sanctuary".

"What struck me most was the scale of the arsenals that we have discovered in the north and in the region of Gao. There was certainly the desire to make it a base for international actions," he told journalists in the capital Bamako.

French soldiers this week killed about 15 militants and captured a French national fighting for the Islamists, after discovering a small army of jihadists in the isolated Ametetai valley. About 30 French soldiers were wounded in the clashes.

Earlier on Friday, Le Drian told Europe 1 radio that French forces had found rebel weapons "by the tons" and that one cache uncovered in the Ametetai valley included heavy arms, material for improvised explosive devices and suicide bomb belts.

He said the Frenchman who was seized, among a number of prisoners taken in combat, would be extradited to France soon.


MORE FIGHTING TO COME

France intervened in its former colony after the Malian government requested help against the rebels.

French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday his country would start to reduce its forces in Mali from April, a month later than previously forecast, with the military exit taking place over several months.

Le Drian said French forces still had to drive militants from Mali's northeastern border area and secure the rebels' former eastern stronghold of Gao before they could scale back.

"We are 70 percent there ... but we must do 100 percent," he said on Friday. "The mission given to our forces by the President of the Republic is to succeed in liberating all Malian territory ... so there will be more combat."

Chad claimed to have killed al Qaeda's two top leaders in the region, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar, last week. Hollande said on Wednesday that "terrorist leaders" had been killed in the operation, but did not elaborate.

Despite France's military successes to date in Mali, the planned withdrawal of its troops could yet face obstacles.

Islamist rebels have struck back with bombings and raids in areas considered liberated by French and African forces, raising concerns that Paris could become mired in a messy guerrilla war.

A French soldier patrolling with Malian troops was killed on Wednesday near Gao, which was retaken from rebels in late January.

Four civilians were killed in an ambush on a vehicle late on Thursday outside the town of Tonka, about 100 km (65 miles) southwest of the ancient northern city of Timbuktu, though it was unclear whether the attackers were rebels.

"They were shot in the head and chest. Everything in the vehicle was taken," Papou Hidara, the son of one of the victims, told Reuters.

An 8,000-strong African force is supposed to replace the French military presence in the country but it has struggled with logistical and financing setbacks and is currently deployed mainly in the south.

It is seeking a U.N. peacekeeping mandate, which would guarantee a budget for its operations, but a decision from the U.N. Security Council is still weeks, if not months, away.


Al Qaeda rebels wanted Mali as base for global attacks: France | Reuters

 

[SajeevJino]

Canada extends Mali airlift but cool on peacekeeping​

Canada's prime minister on Thursday appeared reluctant to supply troops for a Mali peacekeeping force but extended a loan of a jumbo jet to France to ferry military supplies to Bamako.

"We're obviously very pleased to assist with our plane and its team," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a joint press conference with his visiting French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault.

"It will remain there as long as we feel there is a need. In terms of our longer term engagement... we are not looking to have a combat military mission there," he added.

French forces launched a rapid intervention on January 11 in a bid to stop the Al Qaeda-linked fighters who had controlled northern Mali since April 2012 from moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.

Islamist groups have now largely been forced out of the main cities in the north and are waging a guerrilla war against French, Malian and regional troops battling to help the government assert its control over the entire territory.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said the United Nations is likely to vote next month on a peacekeeping force for Mali that could see as many as 10,000 troops being sent there in June.

Sources said Canada will continue providing airlift support for French troops in Mali for a few more weeks, after already moving more than one million pounds (454 tonnes) of French military equipment to Bamako since January.

Harper said Canada will "certainly be providing development and humanitarian assistance." Beyond that, he said he is consulting with his cabinet, lawmakers from his party and the opposition on any new commitments.

Canada extends Mali airlift but cool on peacekeeping - Africa - nation.co.ke

 

[SajeevJino]

Czech Republic Sends Military Contingent to Mali​

The Czech Republic sent a group of 34 military servicemen to Mali to join a military operation against Islamist militants in the north of the country, Czech news agency CTK reported.

The senate of the Czech Republic voted on Wednesday to send a contingent of 50 military servicemen to Mali for the term of 15 months. Their mission will officially begin in April.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said his country's soldiers would be deployed at military bases in Mali, but they would not be directly involved in combat actions.

The West African nation of Mali has been in crisis since its Soviet-trained president Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup in March 2012, and a coalition of Islamist groups seized the north of the country.

The 15-member UN Security Council unanimously voted in December to give the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) an initial one-year mandate.

France deployed its own military contingent on January 10 to aid Mali's government, whose army had been retreating before the attack of armed groups with ties to al-Qaeda.


Czech Republic Sends Military Contingent to Mali | Defense | RIA Novosti

 

[SajeevJino]

On March 17, 2013, the 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron (KC-135s out of 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall) completed its 100th sortie, transferring more than 4.5 million pounds of fuel to French allies in support of on-going missions in Mali!

 

[SajeevJino]

French troops to pull out of Mali 'from end' of April: PM​

French troops will begin pulling out of troubled Mali "from the end of April", French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told parliament on Wednesday.

Ayrault said a meeting next Monday between lawmakers in France's National Assembly and Senate would assess the involvement of French troops to help flush out Islamist rebels in the west African country "even if our troops will begin coming home from the end of April".

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius first said the 4,000-strong French contingent would be withdrawn from March. President Francois Hollande then promised a troop reduction from April.

In his speech to parliament Ayrault paid tribute to the French forces, which have been in Mali since mid-January.

They are France's "honor" and "proof that France can be up to its ambitions... and will be so wherever necessary", he said.

Five French soldiers have died in combat since the start of the operations to drive out the rebels from areas they control in the north.

Currently about 1,200 troops are still deployed in the northeast carrying out clean-up operations.

There are still pockets of resistance in areas such as Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, which has been hit by stray attacks and suicide bombings since the Islamists fled.

The French troops in the region are backed up by African forces. Soldiers from Chad, whose experience and training have made them key in the French-led offensive, have also suffered casualties, with at least 26 deaths.

Paris deployed the forces on January 11 to help stop Al-Qaeda-linked fighters who had controlled northern Mali since April 2012 from moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.

French troops to pull out of Mali 'from end' of April: PM - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page