Watch as it Develops - The Staged War Against Islamists in Northern Mali

Darby Doom is that you?

I'm Darby Doom....

lawyer/CPA/fitness addict/wing-nut/occasional bitch...
No - I lied, I am always a bitch...

An Algerian blogger I follow just provided the best explanation of the current strategy in Mali that I've seen.

The French are creating a buffer zone between the Islamist north & the south...

Here's link -

[link to translate.google.com]

Excerpt -

The French operation Serval. Thursday evening, witnesses reported the arrival of European soldiers on airport Sévaré... An aerial transport aircraft Transall C-160 followed. Intervention helicopters positioned in Burkina Faso through an operation called Sabre. There were also Gazelle helicopters which came from Niger. The action of these elements along with two MI-24 helicopters of the Malian army, piloted by Ukrainians, were crucial during the day on Friday, 12. They stopped a local group of jihadist coalition advancing towards the city Sévaré...

Ground attack aircraft Mirage F1 CR and Mirage 2000D from contingent in Chad, accompanied by a tanker aircraft C-135 took part in intense bombardments during the night of Friday to Saturday around Konna. In this kind of situation, ground commando designate targets by laser or radio a description... (it is not clear if Malian army has retaken Konna)

A closer reading of the map shows that the operational area covers a large area from the border with Burkina Faso to the Mauritanian border, the "gooseneck" in the words of Admiral Edouard Guillaud, chief of Staff (ECS). With six points indicated by small diamonds on the map, indicating that several objectives well beyond the defense of Mopti. The cons-offensive Franco-Malian seems intended to create a security buffer between the South and the North. Cities still occupied by the jihadists as Douentza Niafunké Goundam are included in this area. While Timbuktu is outside of this area. Who knows if this stated objective is the actual French strategy or part of a mis-information campaign? The next few days will tell us very quickly on it.

France surprised by Mali Islamists' fighting strength

France has expressed surprise at the fighting strength of Islamists in Mali, as the nation kept up its bombing of militant targets for a third day....

The Islamists had got hold of up-to-date and sophisticated weaponry after Libya conflict, the official added...

At the start, we thought they would be just a load of guys with guns driving about in their pick-ups, but the reality is that they are well-trained, well-equipped, and well-armed.” . . .

The unnamed Elysee Palace official quoted by AFP said on Sunday that French armed forces had been surprised by the fighting quality of the Islamist militants they were up against.

"What has really struck us is how up-to-date their equipment is, and the way they've been trained to use it..." the official said.

"At the start, we thought they would be just a load of guys with guns driving about in their pick-ups, but the reality is that they are well-trained, well-equipped, and well-armed.

"From Libya they have got hold of a lot of up-to-date sophisticated equipment which is much more robust and effective than we could have imagined.

[link to www.bbc.co.uk]

Mali: the first British military aircraft to take off Sunday

The first British military transport aircraft logistical support for the French army in Mali should take off in the UK on Sunday, announced the Ministry of Defence in London. ..

The C-17 aircraft that take off from the base of the Royal Air Force Base Norton, in the center of England will make a stop first in France, where he will be responsible for French equipment, she added without specifying when the aircraft would land in Mali.

The aircraft is part of the British logistics military assistance to France in Mali, announced Saturday by Downing Street and for rapid transport to Mali foreign troops and equipment.

[link to translate.google.com]

UN Watch - As France Bombs Mali, UNclear If Ban "Confirmed in Advance" SC Satisfaction

As France expands its air strike on Mali from Konna to Gao, claiming it is all within the "framework of international law," questions remain unanswered.

The law at issue is Security Council Resolution 2085, drafted by France and adopted as modified on December 20,

(Under that resolution) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should "confirm in advance the Council's satisfaction with the planned military offensive operation,"

Inner City Press on January 12 asked Ban's top three spokespeople to "Please state, both as of the beginning of France's military operation and as of your response, what the Secretary General did to 'confirm in advance the Council's satisfaction with the planned military offensive operation,' specifying both what the Secretary General knew about the plans and operation, and what he knew of the Council's position on those plans and operation(s). Also, less pressingly, what did Mr. Prodi do while in Bamako?"

So far, there has been no answer; whatever is provided will be published. But there are questions of how Ban Ki-moon even COULD have confirmed in advance the Council's satisfaction with France's military offensive.

[link to innercitypress.com]

Two interesting tweets from Bamako this AM

Hannah Armstrong (@HannahHaniya)
1/13/13, 9:51 AM
Just spoke with people from Gao, Timbuktu, no cellphone network in Tim past two days, there is network in Gao; everyone hiding in homes.

Hannah Armstrong (@HannahHaniya)
1/13/13, 10:56 AM
@RudyAtallah just saw tweet about accident involving Sanogo's convoy on way back into Kati - maybe origin of rumored demise

Sanogo killed in car accident? . Guess they didn't need him anymore..

From France - Live Mali Updates...

Note - time is 6 hours ahead...

5:11 p.m.:

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that four Rafale led airstrikes near Gao in northern Mali.

4:48 p.m.:

"There were a dozen shots in and near Gao Gao. All bases have been destroyed by Islamists, "said a resident told AFP contacted by phone. "We see the smoke coming out of camp. There is not a single Islamic today in the city. They fled, "said a teacher from the city.

Regional security source confirmed to AFP that "the main basis" Islamists, Gao and its periphery have been "useless" by French raids.

16:45:

French forces began bombing Gao, the stronghold of Islamists in northern Mali. Witnesses reported the flight of jihadists.

16h42:

The French military operation in support of the Malian army already mobilized hundreds of troops from France or prepositioned forces in Africa, supported by a dozen fighter planes, refueling and aerial surveillance.

Source -
[link to translate.google.com]

Mali: airstrikes in the center and Gao, the MNLA is seeking to regain control

Air strikes continue in central Mali, along with Mauritania frrontière particularly against troops Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Gao was also bombed, Sunday, Jan. 13, to dislodge the Islamists from their bases. The MNLA responded to the joint intervention of France and the Malian army. Declaring its willingness to engage in the "fight against terrorism", he called for a "political settlement of the conflict."

The French army continued its airstrikes Sunday against armed Islamist groups in Mali after stopped their advance Friday in the center of the country, in fighting that left dozens dead, including an Islamist leader...

[link to translate.google.com]

Andrew Lebovich (@tweetsintheME)
1/13/13, 1:46 PM
RT @FHeisbourg: Algeria's overflight authorisation for #Mali ops military aircraft is a remarkable,act of staesmanship // a BFD, if you will

Algeria has also moved helicopter gunships to border towns to cut off MUJWA escape routes.

This Map from LeMonde shows area affected by Mali...(neighborhood)

[link to translate.google.com]

Someone asked if Mali was Libya Redux (NATO attacking African country)

We have an answer - NO; Several European countries have come out in support of France's actions in Mali BUT saying they will not contribute forces. Looks like NATO is staying out of initial action; NATO countries may take part in reconstruction or peace-keeping after...

Here's link to article on Dutch support but non-participation in Mali

[link to translate.google.com]

500 Senegalese Paratroopers will take part in operations in Mali.

[link to www.afrik.com]

So many jokes; so little time...

With French air strikes, has the war to retake northern Mali begun?

France widened its military intervention in the African nation of Mali today beyond targets in the center of the country, sending fighter jets to the north to hammer training camps, infrastructure, and logistics depots used by Islamist rebels with ties to Al Qaeda.

"The president is totally determined that we must eradicate these terrorists who threaten the security of Mali, our own country, and Europe," said France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on French television.

The French began air strikes on Friday to counter an ambitious rebel advance southward from their strongholds in the north. While France's intervention appears to have the tacit support of the international community, the expansion of the French air campaign beyond central Mali has left many analysts wondering if a long-discussed war to retake northern Mali has begun in earnest – without much international coordination or planning.

“That’s the $64 billion question,” says François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research. “I think all of this has happened so quickly between Thursday and today that the immediate objective of stopping the two [Islamist] columns and preventing the replenishment of the frontline [Islamist] forces has been the beginning and the end all of what the French are trying to do.”

[link to www.csmonitor.com]

Article by Peter Tinti - often cited on thread...

France Strikes Cities in Northern Mali - Who is participating in Operation

...French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed Sunday that the United States is providing communications and transport assistance. Over the weekend, a U.S. official confirmed that America will be sending drones. Britain has dispatched two, C17 aircrafts to France to help Mali's allies transport troops. Four nations in West Africa have pledged to send hundreds of soldiers, including 500 each from Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal, as well as from Nigeria.

Additionally, Fabius said Denmark and other European countries are also helping, according to an interview with RTL ...

The region is larger than Afghanistan, and throughout it, the bearded and turbaned fighters have imposed their unyielding form of Islam. Music is banned, as are cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol. Women are regularly flogged in public for offenses ranging from not covering their ankles to wearing perfume or make-up...

[link to bigstory.ap.org]

Local Media Coverage of Situation in GAO, Mali

THE SITUATION GAO strikes on terrorist bases back to Gao ... 130 dead, including a son Iyad ... The locals decided to finish with jihadists ... Colonel Gamou moving in the vicinity of Gao...

Very high tech stuff, weapons designed to defeat the US in the event we invaded Libya.

I’m hearing the average AQIM soldiers age is 13, some a lot younger obviously. They are trafficking child soldiers for $600 bucks a piece, I’ve also heard crazy numbers on the size of the children conscripts. Yell if you see estimates you trust.

Local Media Coverage of Situation in GAO, Mali

THE SITUATION GAO strikes on terrorist bases back to Gao ... 130 dead, including a son Iyad ... The locals decided to finish with jihadists ... Colonel Gamou moving in the vicinity of Gao...

Translation - air strikes in city of GAO (one of 3 main cities in Northern Mali); among the killed is a son of the leader of Ansar Dine; locals are rising against jihadists; a Taureg who runs a militia that has fought Taureg separatists in the past is moving towards city...

[link to translate.google.com]

Wow, shtf for good. That 130 dead number is for today's campaigns? Besides the yesterday's 100?

Islamists Gain Ground in Mali Despite French Airstrikes
Despite intensive aerial bombardments by French warplanes, Islamist insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali Monday and moved closer to the capital, French and Malian authorities said. In the latest setback, the al-Qaida-linked extremists overran the garrison village of Diabaly in central Mali, France's defence minister said in Paris...

The Islamist fighters control the north and had been blocked in Mali's narrow waist in the central part of the country. But by seizing Diabaly, they appear to have now succeeded in a flanking move getting around the 300-kilometre (200-mile) long belt, opening a second front in the broad southern section of the country, knifing in from the west on government forces...


The French military, which began battling in Mali on Friday, expanded its aerial bombing campaign of northern Mali, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But it failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who now are only 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the capital Bamako, in the far south. Before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 680 kilometres (420 miles) away near the central belt, though they might have infiltrated closer than that.

[link to www.theprovince.com]

France Failed to Obtain Rquired Approval at UN

On Mali, UNSC "Exchange of Views" Is Too Late, Ban Had to Do It in Advance


On Mali in December, the UN Security Council's members spent multiple sessions negotiating Resolution 2085, which specified steps to be taken before military action began.

Among these was a requirement, in Operative Paragraph 11, that Ban Ki-moon as "Secretary-General also confirm in advance the Council's satisfaction with the planned military offensive operation."

But France began bombing Konna on January 11, then Gao and elsewhere since, without any such "confirmation in advance" by Ban Ki-moon.


[link to www.innercitypress.com]

LIVE Updates on War in Mali from Le Parisien

Fabius: "France is not intended to be left alone in Mali"

latest update - 5:50 p.m.- According to French FM Fabius, a special meeting of EU FMs will occur this week to discuss Mali

[link to translate.googleusercontent.com]

Current Reported Troop Counts....

France – 550
Nigeria – 600
Niger - 500
Togo - 500
Burkina Faso – 500
Senegal – 500
Ivory Coast – 500
Benin – 300
Ghana – 120 technical experts
US; UK & Canada – Logistical support; probable training; United States will also supply drones
Germany – possible logistics & medical assistance; possible training


Canada support source - [link to www.newsdaily.com]

War in Mali: France Can Bomb Militants, but Not Arms Routes

To fight a war, you need three essentials: Weapons, fighters and cash. And the al-Qaeda-linked groups in northern Mali now being bombed by France have enjoyed a rich supply of all three ingredients, thanks to the downfall of Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi...

The pipeline of weapons to Mali’s insurgents from Libya’s old regime has been an anxiety for African and Western governments ever since Gaddafi was killed in Oct. 2011. The Libyan leader was a prolific arms buyer, spending billions in oil revenues during his last years on state-of-the-art weaponry, and leaving behind miles of unsecured warehouses filled with rockets, machine guns, ammunition and anti-aircraft systems, much of which had never been unpacked. Within hours of Gaddafi’s death, many ethnic Tuareg fighters from northern Mali, who’d fought alongside Libyan forces as mercenaries, retreated across the Sahara, carrying as much weaponry as they could stuff into their pick-up trucks. The patchwork of ethnic separatist groups and Islamist militias that seized Mali’s north this year cemented their control from the muzzles of these guns.

But nearly 16 months on, that arms pipeline has yet to be halted. A report last November by the Civil-Military Fusion Center, a research organization run by NATO’s Allied Command Operations in Norfolk, Va., said that Tuaregs had continued selling quantities of weapons from Libya’s stockpiles to the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, or MNLA, the major rebel group that seized control of northern Mali last March.

Yet despite the mounting threat, Western and African governments delayed action for months, and decisions which might have been taken last year were not...


Read more: [link to world.time.com]

Was the botched rescue attempt the 1st salvo on an operation that is some weeks long in duration?

So that list in the article is what NATO was stock-piling in Libya from when they got involved? Pickups that make repeated trips back for more arms. What do they bring back? $$$

Russia was the main arms dealer with Libya; Libya was stocked to defeat the US in the event of an invasion.

Explained in two posts.

Thread: WH: Obama 'Is Not Particularly Concerned' Whether Susan Rice Misled the American People (Page 5)

Thread: WH: Obama 'Is Not Particularly Concerned' Whether Susan Rice Misled the American People (Page 5)

I guess one would have to see the items. Seemed more like the article was the ad for a new store. Anything NATO related would be from the West after the 'uprising', right?

All those 'missing stingers' are US munitions.

Is the increase in small arms coming in increasing since the end of the war would be the 'scandal', same as all the other ones where they supply the weapons for the 'weapons free zones', ...... then comes the stab in the back.

And so US Official involvement begins...

US Moves to Bolster French Military Campaign in Mali

The Obama administration is preparing to ferry hundreds of additional French troops to the North African country of Mali, bolstering a rapidly evolving military campaign in the latest conflict with Al Qaeda affiliates.

U.S. officials said they also were making plans to send drones or other surveillance aircraft and provide help with aerial refueling of French fighter jets, which bombed columns of Al Qaeda-allied militants in northern Mali for a fourth straight day Monday.

The Pentagon's moves reflect growing concern in Washington about rebel advances, and a decision by the Obama administration to back France's operation after months of inaction. French officials said they had halted the rebels' advance on Bamako, the capital, but insurgents later overran Malian forces in a town about 200 miles northeast of the capital.

[link to www.latimes.com]

As a member of one of the invading nations, ....... can we bring our own ice?

Bob Reid (@rhreid)
1/15/13, 6:24 AM
(AP)Convoy of 40-50 trucks carrying French troops crosses into #Mali from Ivory Coast in prep for possible land assault against jihadis.

In light of the critical situation in Mali and a French request for Danish support to France’s military intervention in the country, the Danish Government today presented a motion on a Danish contribution in support of the French intervention in the form of a C-130 transport aircraft (Hercules).

[link to um.dk]