MALI: French troops advance to Mali’s north

Mon, 21 January 2013

BAMAKO — French troops yesterday advanced towards Mali's north as more African troops deployed and Russia, Canada and Germany offered key aid for the Paris-led offensive.
The French progress towards the insurgents strongholds came amid reports that the militants were abandoning some of their positions and converging on the mountainous region of Kidal, their northernmost bastion, 1,500 kilometres from Bamako and near the border with Algeria.
Kidal was the first town seized by an amalgam of Islamist militants and Tuareg separatist groups in March last year. The two sides then had a falling out and the Islamists have since gained the upper hand in the vast desert north.

Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno yesterday visited 200 troops gathered in the Niger capital Niamey ahead of their deployment to Mali, Niger's state radio said. Their location indicates a possible new front on the east as it is only 200 kilometres from the Mali border.
Chad has pledged 2,000 of its battle-hardened troops experienced in fighting rebels at home and abroad for an African force in Mali, which is slated at a total of 5,800. France has 2,000 soldiers already on the ground.
Fifty Senegalese soldiers meanwhile arrived in Bamako Sunday, taking the number of African forces in Mali to 150, as French soldiers sought to consolidate gains.
"The deployment towards the north... which began 24 hours ago, is on course with troops inside the towns of Niono and Sevare," Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Dosseur told reporters.
Niono is about 350 kilometres north-east of the Malian capital and 60 kilometres south of Diabaly, which was seized nearly a week ago by Islamists and then heavily bombed by French planes.
Sevare has a strategically important airport which could help serve as a base for operations further north. It is about 630 kilometres north-east of Bamako.
The town is also near Konna, whose seizure by Islamists on January 10 sparked the French military intervention in the former colony against the forces occupying northern Mali for about nine months.
"We are in a phase of pushing forward," said a French lieutenant-colonel in charge of operations in Niono and the town of Diabaly, whose fate remained unclear amid conflicting claims over whether insurgent had been routed.
"In Diabaly, the situation is not very clear but it appears the rebel fighters have left the town," he said, identifying himself only as Frederic.
The region where the towns are located is known for housing the most martial and fanatical Islamists.
French-led Malian troops patrolled the outskirts of Diabaly Sunday in a show of muscle.

Source: Oman Observer