A Plan To Defeat Al Qaeda In Mali

[longknife]

by War News Updates Editor @ War News Updates: A Plan To Defeat Al Qaeda In Mali

Graphic showing the areas of Mali which are now controlled by AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)

Finally, A Plan To Prise Mali From al-Qaeda's Grip -- David Blair, Daily Telegraph

The strategy for how to prise northern Mali from al-Qaeda’s grip is slowly emerging. By the end of this year, the Security Council will probably decide to authorise the deployment of an African force consisting of 6,000 troops, funded and supported by the West. Half the soldiers will come from Mali’s national army and half from other African countries. America, France and Britain will supply logistics and intelligence. The force will probably be ready to go into action some time next year. But don’t expect the northern deserts of Mali, which “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM) and its local allies captured in March, to be freed any time soon.

Finally, a plan to prise Mali from al-Qaeda's grip – Telegraph Blogs
Read more ....

My Comment: Considering the vast region that al-Qaeda now controls, I suspect that it will take a long time to 'kick-out' Al Qaeda's soldiers and their sympathizers.

Is this gonna be another Libya for the USA?

 

[Moonglow]

Huzzah! For our side. May they slaughter those that would kill for a God.

 

[RoadVirus]

So...Al-Queda is on the run, huh Obama?

 

[waltky]

American C-17's helpin' airlift French troops...

Mali conflict: US begins French troop airlifts
22 January 2013 - The US C17s are helping to move heavy, bulky equipment to Mali from France

The US military has begun airlifting French soldiers and equipment to Mali to support their operation against Islamist militants. Five US flights had already landed in the capital, Bamako, with more planned in the coming days, a spokesman said. France began its intervention nearly two weeks ago with the aim of halting the militants' advance south. It plans to hand command of the operation to a West African force which has some 1,000 soldiers on the ground. An estimated 2,000 French troops are currently in Mali, with 500 more expected.

Desert fighters

C17 transport planes had begun flights from a French base in Istres, in southern France, the US military's Africa Command said on Tuesday. Pentagon spokesman George Little told Reuters news agency five sorties had been flown so far. "The priority is to move heavy, bulky things" such as armoured vehicles, French military spokesman Thierry Burkhard told the AFP news agency. The UK, Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Italy are also providing transport planes for the French mission. Initially, the US said it would provide communications help for the operation. On Monday, French and Malian troops seized two key towns - Diabaly and Douentza - from the militants, after they had fled.

Col Burkhard said selected French air strikes had continued in the north, where Islamist militants had gained control last year. Last month, the UN approved plans to send some 3,000 West African troops to Mali in September to recapture the vast desert region. But, following France's intervention, the regional force, which will be under Nigeria's command, has begun an urgent deployment. Chad, which is not part of the regional body Ecowas, is also sending 2,000 soldiers to work in co-ordination with French troops. Analysts say their foot soldiers are experienced desert fighters and are likely to face combat, with the bulk of the Ecowas troops providing more of a policing role.

Mali's army chief General Ibrahima Dahirou Dembele told AFP that Chadian troops would join some 500 Nigeri troops in western Niger with the aim of crossing the border and heading towards the town of Gao, in north-eastern Mali. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised France's intervention, saying dialogue with the militants was not possible "at this time", AP reports. Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012. But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, including Gao and Timbuktu, sidelining the Tuaregs.

BBC News - Mali conflict: US begins French troop airlifts

 

[waltky]

EU in Mali for the long haul...

EU must stay in Mali to end security threat: top official
Sat, Jan 26, 2013 - Europe will have to stay in Mali for the long haul as military victory alone cannot remove the security threat looming in the EU’s backyard, the bloc’s counter-terror coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said.

“The end of the operation will not be the end of the story,” said the Belgian former senior civil servant and law professor appointed to coordinate EU counter-terrorist activities in 2009. Urging more aid to be pumped into the West African nation, one of the world’s 25 poorest countries, he said the EU also needed to help restore civilian rule and bolster the rule of law to improve Mali’s chance of a return to peace and security. “The European Union will play an active role for many years and has the means to face the challenges posed by security and development issues,” he said. “This is something we know how to do.”

Quoting intelligence reports, De Kerchove said only 500 to 1,000 of the about 3,000 Islamist fighters stationed in Mali’s vast arid north were believed to be “active jihadists who are ready to die.” The others were said to have joined “for the money or due to local problems and frustrations.” “The belief is that a strong military response will send two-thirds home again,” he said, while acknowledging that the hardcore element “are very well armed.”

The EU was slow to listen to France and Spain, who three to four years ago had warned of the growing security menace in the Sahel region, he said. However, the bloc has now leapt into action, strongly supporting France’s decision to intervene militarily. “Everyone’s rolled up their sleeves,” he said. De Kerchove said Mali needed a stronger police force and, along with its neighbors, also needed to create special jurisdictions to investigate, prosecute and try those suspected of terrorism and organized crime.

An EU-backed Sahel security college was set up last year in Niger to train police and magistrates, but Europe needed to involve Mali and Mauritania as well, and improve regional counter-terror efforts by involving neighboring countries such as Senegal and Nigeria, he added. Amid growing concern over reports of summary executions and rights abuses by the Malian army, De Kerchove said the 250-odd EU officers due to be sent to train the Malian army in the coming weeks would need to focus on human rights and the lawful treatment of prisoners.

EU must stay in Mali to end security threat: top official - Taipei Times

See also:

AU Security Council Calls for More Troops in Mali
January 25, 2013
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The African Union Peace and Security Council says more troops are needed for the African military force being deployed in Mali. The AU security council Friday called on African countries to deploy the soldiers quickly.

At a meeting in Addas Ababa, Ethiopia, the AU security council approved a declaration calling for an increase in the number of troops for the African-led Support Mission in Mali [AFISMA]. The move comes as African troops have begun to arrive in Mali to assist the country's national army to quell a rebellion by al-Qaida-linked militants in the north.

Significant help required

Security Council Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said he could not put an exact figure on the number of new soldiers needed, but that it would be substantial. “We definitely know, based on the first assumptions on which they are working, that the force size will have to be significantly augmented, increased,” said Lamamra. The original concept for the force called for 3,300 troops to assist the Malian army. Lamamra said at this point, however, countries already have pledged 6,000.

Adama Drabo, 16, sits in the police station in Sevare, Mali, January 25, 2013. He was captured traveling without papers by Malian troops and arrested on suspicion of working for Islamic militant group MUJAO.

​He also said the AU security council is requesting help from the United Nations to fund the deployment of additional troops, citing the urgency of the situation. “I think the political message from the peace and security council is we are facing an emergency situation, therefore we need to take these issues not in a business as usual manner,” said Lamamra.

Raising funds

The AU will host a donors' conference January 29 to raise funds from African nations and other international partners for the Mali intervention. France, which has sent its own military into Mali to attack rebel positions, has said the fundraising goal for the conference is about $450 million. On the issue of Sudan and South Sudan, the AU Security Council decided to further extend the mandate of the AU negotiating body overseeing talks between the two countries until the end of July.

The decision comes as the two sides continue to quarrel on the implementation of a border security agreement they reached in September. One of the biggest obstacles is resolving the final status of the Abyei region, which is claimed by both sides. In a statement prepared for the meeting, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir accused Sudan of holding up progress, saying, “We have upheld our side of these agreements. Sudan has not.” Kiir also blamed Khartoum for delaying the resumption of oil exports by insisting first on the implementation of new security arrangements.

Source

 

[waltky]

Humanitarian crisis developing in Mali, France gonna bug out in March...

Oxfam Warns of Growing Food Crisis in Northern Mali
February 04, 2013 - The international aid group Oxfam warns the food situation in northern Mali is very critical following the recent military operations.

As French and Malian troops advanced on the Islamist militia, the group said many of the key suppliers of food and fuel fled the area, especially Gao, along with thousands of others. They also said, what little stocks remain have risen in price by as much as 20%, and even those supplies are running out.

“The humanitarian situation in general is of concern for us because the military intervention and escalation of violence had consequences in terms of a humanitarian situation which was already bad. We have to remember that in 2012, more than 4.6 million people were affected by severe food prices in Mali, both in the north and in the south, so of course we fear the ongoing military operation can worsen the humanitarian situation,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Oxfam’s policy campaign manager for Oxfam, who’s in Bamako.

Allegrozzi added that food and fuel traders are critical to the local economy and without their return the humanitarian situation will deteriorate. “At the moment the main traders didn’t come back yet. Although markets are now open, if traders do not come back soon, and the flows of food into the north regions of Mali do not start again, the situation will be very bad. And we are already observing markets and they are not well supplied, which makes it very difficult for people to get enough food to feed their families,” explained Allegrozzi.

Oxfam Warns of Growing Food Crisis in Northern Mali

See also:

‘Stand by us,’ Mali urges world
Wed, Feb 06, 2013 - Mali urged the international community to stand by its side to drive out Islamist extremists from its territory as the UN, the African Union and other global players met in Brussels yesterday.

“The threat concerns all civilized countries,” Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said as he arrived for talks to anchor long-term peace and stability once the military offensive against Islamist rebel forces is over. “The entire world must gather around us to chase the jihadists from our soil,” he said as about 45 delegations from African and European nations, along with donor and aid groups, stepped into the meeting of the “Mali support and follow-up group.” “We need to prepare the future,” a senior EU official said ahead of the talks. “When a state falls apart it takes time to put it together again, like Humpty Dumpty.”

At the top of the political agenda will be the dispatch of human rights observers, amid fears of rights abuse and revenge killings, as well as financing the deployment of about 8,000 African troops. US Vice President Joe Biden this week joined French President Francois Hollande in calling for a UN mission to eventually take over the baton in Mali from the African-led force once French forces move out. “We are favourable to this,” said Ivorian African Integration Minister Ali Coulibaly, whose country chairs the west African regional body ECOWAS. Diplomats say there is a clear need for a UN force to police the country as the ramshackle Malian army remains incapable of reconquering the remote corners of the vast, arid nation.

After a three-week campaign by French-led forces drove the extremists from strongholds, including the cities of Timbuktu and Gao, French fighter jets have pounded Islamist supply bases in Mali’s mountainous northeast, near the Algerian border. “It is about destroying their rear bases, their depots,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday. “They have taken refuge in the north and the northeast, but they can only stay there long-term if they have ways to replenish their supplies.” The radical Islamists have fled into the Adrar des Ifoghas massif in the Kidal region, a craggy mountain landscape honeycombed with caves.

?Stand by us,? Mali urges world - Taipei Times

Related:

French FM: French Troops to Leave Mali in March
February 05, 2013 - France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius says French troops will start pulling out of Mali next month if, as he says, "all goes as planned."

Fabius made his comments to the Metro newspaper. French soldiers went to Mali almost one month ago when Islamist extremists who had taken control of the north started moving toward the capital, Bamako. France plans to withdraw its forces and turn control of recaptured cities over to the Malian army and an African-led military force.

France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French News Agency that French air strikes and ground attacks, with the help of Malian forces, killed several hundred militants in the cities of Konna and Gao in the past month.

Meanwhile, soldiers from Chad are securing the Malian city of Kidal, which was the last major stronghold of Islamist militants in the country. Malian forces took control of Kidal's airport last week after secular Tuareg rebels seized control of Kidal itself.

Also Tuesday, international organizations and officials from Mali met in Brussels to discuss Mali's future and efforts to stabilize the country. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the international community needs to recognize its responsibilities to Mali and "react quickly."

French FM: French Troops to Leave Mali in March

 

[LAfrique]

by War News Updates Editor @ War News Updates: A Plan To Defeat Al Qaeda In Mali

Graphic showing the areas of Mali which are now controlled by AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)

Finally, A Plan To Prise Mali From al-Qaeda's Grip -- David Blair, Daily Telegraph

The strategy for how to prise northern Mali from al-Qaeda’s grip is slowly emerging. By the end of this year, the Security Council will probably decide to authorise the deployment of an African force consisting of 6,000 troops, funded and supported by the West. Half the soldiers will come from Mali’s national army and half from other African countries. America, France and Britain will supply logistics and intelligence. The force will probably be ready to go into action some time next year. But don’t expect the northern deserts of Mali, which “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM) and its local allies captured in March, to be freed any time soon.

Finally, a plan to prise Mali from al-Qaeda's grip – Telegraph Blogs
Read more ....

My Comment: Considering the vast region that al-Qaeda now controls, I suspect that it will take a long time to 'kick-out' Al Qaeda's soldiers and their sympathizers.

Is this gonna be another Libya for the USA?

The US and its allies will defeat themselves? Last I knew, Al Queda is the creation of the US and its allies.

 

[High_Gravity]

by War News Updates Editor @ War News Updates: A Plan To Defeat Al Qaeda In Mali

Graphic showing the areas of Mali which are now controlled by AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)

Finally, A Plan To Prise Mali From al-Qaeda's Grip -- David Blair, Daily Telegraph

The strategy for how to prise northern Mali from al-Qaeda’s grip is slowly emerging. By the end of this year, the Security Council will probably decide to authorise the deployment of an African force consisting of 6,000 troops, funded and supported by the West. Half the soldiers will come from Mali’s national army and half from other African countries. America, France and Britain will supply logistics and intelligence. The force will probably be ready to go into action some time next year. But don’t expect the northern deserts of Mali, which “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM) and its local allies captured in March, to be freed any time soon.

Finally, a plan to prise Mali from al-Qaeda's grip – Telegraph Blogs
Read more ....

My Comment: Considering the vast region that al-Qaeda now controls, I suspect that it will take a long time to 'kick-out' Al Qaeda's soldiers and their sympathizers.

Is this gonna be another Libya for the USA?

The US and its allies will defeat themselves? Last I knew, Al Queda is the creation of the US and its allies.

Bullshit.

 

[Saigon]

The US and its allies will defeat themselves? Last I knew, Al Queda is the creation of the US and its allies.

That really is stupid beyond belief.

 

[waltky]

The Mouse that roared...

Europe to Pledge $650 Million to Help Mali Rebuild
May 14, 2013 — The European Union will pledge more than $650 million to help Mali rebuild after its conflict, ahead of a major international donors' conference in Brussels Wednesday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced the European Union pledge at a joint press conference in Brussels with Malian President Dioncounda Traore. He said the funds, earmarked into 2014, could be reviewed if the situation merited.

Barroso said support from the international community was essential to guarantee a stable, democratic and prosperous Mali but that Malians and their government were key in realizing these goals. Along with security, he said the West African country needs reconciliation and political legitimacy and he saluted a blueprint that will be announced Wednesday by the interim government for getting there.

Malian authorities are hoping an international donors' meeting in Brussels will pledge about $2 billion to help bankroll an ambitious plan to establish peace and rebuild the country's economy. President Traore also said authorities will do everything possible to hold presidential elections as planned on July 28.

President Traore said Mali is committed to holding elections on time because a legitimate government is critical in facing the country's many challenges. Mali plunged into turmoil last year following a coup that allowed Islamist fighters to take control of large parts of the north. In recent months, French and African fighters have routed many of the extremists, and a United Nations peacekeeping force is expected to deploy as of early July to help stabilize the country.

Europe to Pledge $650 Million to Help Mali Rebuild

 

[High_Gravity]

Mali has no oil so they will be forgotten about soon enough.