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

An estimated 30,000 people may have been displaced by fighting in central and northern Mali since Islamist insurgents suddenly started moving south last week, the United Nations says.

Del Buey told reporters that a total of 230,000 people have been displaced by fighting and insecurity in Mali since March 2012.

[link to www.theaustralian.com.au]

Hi IFUN - Remember the current leader of NATO is Danish. So, this is yet another sign that the French are screwing up royally. As is this...

A convoy of 40 to 50 trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast as France prepares for a possible land assault.
[link to www.cbc.ca]

Looks like the French forces who have been in Ivory Coast since the 2011 UN intervention have been redeployed. Wasn’t their stabilizing presence still needed in Ivory Coast? (There were several articles in Cote d’ Ivoire press re: opposition support for Mail intervention but…). I’m also hearing that French forces in Chad are being transported to Mali. The long-running Chadian bush war has been essentially on pause since 2011. Will the removal of French forces change that?

IMO – Looks like France is having some trouble with the Algerians in Mali.

I’m presuming the final ‘Hail Mary’ would be redeployment of French forces from CAR. How bad would it have to be to abandon an uranium mine?

France may be in process of destabilizing both West Africa and the Sahel. Time will tell.

Morning Darby, French screwing up already?

Qatar will try to destabilize Algeria coz they have conflicting interests regarding natgas and other resources, tense relations since the Libya intervention and Qatar's role in it, Algeria worries a lot for the spillover os the crisis that has been avoided so far since Libya.

Saw this coming; these are the most combat experienced troops they have on the continent, they are foreign legion troops BTW. Good sized tank contingent on top of it. If they don’t get this stopped in the next 3 week we most likely will be watching this all year. France ano0uncing they won’t hit the trade routes was about the stupidest things I have heard.

Great points Chrit, i too feel for sometime now that the endgame is Algeria here, i just dunno how much time it will take to reach to this point, can't find in my history a good article i read about the Algeria-Qatar interests conflict some time ago. Algeria is a very western interests friendly country that has been resisting the influx of islamic funds for sometime now, big Algeria-Qatar row about the Libya situation in 2011, they have been criticized by Arab league for not condemning Assad a lot last year, visa problems for Algerians in Qatar etc. After Libya collapsed they have retreated a bit by the pressure of an Arab Spring hitting them too and Qatar is making big investments and buying up things in Algeria, a 5BN energy, mining and industry deal was completed just this previous week. Algeria will have to bow to the Islamic nwo that Qatar promotes either the easy or the hard way, question is which horse the west will really support here if it comes to this.

I agree. The big prize is Algeria.

Here are France's stated goals -

President Francois Hollande said France had three aims: to stop the rebel advances, to secure the capital, Bamako, and to help the Mali government regain control of the whole country.

He said France would take a lesser role "as soon as there is an African force, in coming days or weeks", adding that France did not intend to stay.

Hollande said: "France should only intervene in Africa in exceptional circumstances and for a limited time. That's what we will do." In response to questions about a return to France's controversial role in its former colonies, he said the Mali intervention, in an international legal framework with UN backing, had nothing to do with the practices of "a bygone era."

NY Times confirmation of planned 2,500 French troops -

“We will continue the deployment of forces on the ground and in the air,” Mr. Hollande said. “We have 750 troops deployed at the moment and that will keep increasing so that as quickly as possible we can hand over to the Africans.” French defense officials said the French force would be increased gradually to 2,500 soldiers, backed by armored vehicles.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Canada presses Mali military rulers to hold elections, help restore stability
[link to www.timescolonist.com]

Islamist armed groups occupying northern Mali should immediately release all child soldiers within their ranks and end the military conscription and use ofthose under 18, Human Rights Watch said today. With France carrying out aerial bombardment since January 11, 2013, to block the Islamists from advancing farther south, Human Rights Watch also urged rebel groups to remove children immediately from training bases in or near Islamist military installations.
[link to www.hrw.org]

...Belgium, UK, and others.

All this to tackle some 'Islamists'? Who exactly are they fighting over there? Current story smells like Sandy Hook. Is Islamists a code word for something?

OP, please enlighten us.

Got numbers, 150 troops from Ivory Coast with 40 armored vehicles... France does not like to talk numbers, was hard to find.

France is losing ground fast!

Diabaly fell just a few hours ago, located 100 miles north form Segou the capital of central Mali. The heavy bombing is acutely speeding up the jihadists advances.

Wow, French gonna French i guess.
Hollande according to Indepedent said that's all cool with Diabaly and the islamists just using it for cover.
Gulf states would be really helpful with the situation.


Isolated in Europe, France appeals to Gulf for help with Mali mission
[link to www.independent.co.uk]

howcome this reminds me of VIETNAM?

there were only a few in the beginning and then they raised and raised and we all know how it ended.

france going from 800 to 2500 now.
after 1 week!

[link to www.dailystar.com.lb]

[link to edition.cnn.com]

[link to www.newsobserver.com]

Morris posted this interview with a Malian dude yesterday, originally recorded back in October 2012, he considered it 'prophetic' and posted it now. Malian dude argues that a military intervention scenario would be a disaster.


[link to www.youtube.com]

oh now the working class starts getting pissed?

[link to www.occuworld.org]

Just found out about 3 Algerian diplomats held hostage by Mali islamists since April.
[link to www.magharebia.com]

Mali prime minister visits Algeria for cooperation talks.
[link to news.xinhuanet.com]





Despite war gold exploration goes swimmingly in Mali.

Desert Gold's Mali Exploration Program Delivers Excellent Grades
[link to www.benzinga.com]

Desert Gold Ventures Inc is an exploration and development company which is a 50 / 50 co-owner and joint venture partner with Kinross Goldbanks Mining Company of Toronto, Ontario on a gold property in Nevada, USA.

Despite western media reports to the contrary, multiple reports that forces from Ivory Coast, Senegal, & Nigeria already on the ground in Mali...

Then there is this...

Andrew Katz (@katz)
1/15/13, 7:39 PM
Reuters corro in Mali MT @BateEtah Saw a small detachement of British soldiers at Bamako airport alongside 200+ French troops

It's all about Uranium -

In reality,, it is to secure the supply of French nuclear uranium: it is indeed extracted in the mines of northern Niger desert area only separated from Mali. by a line on the maps.

In this regard, we emphasize the extreme perversity of the former colonial powers that once Boundary absurd, ignoring the location of populations, and creating contours curious country: Niger and Mali are both hourglass, a southwestern part containing the capital, eccentric and completely removed an immense north-east, mostly desert.

Employees of Areva removed

Thus, for 40 years, Areva (formerly Cogema) was able to capture in peace in the Niger's uranium mines located 500 kilometers from the capital and the fragile "power" Nigerian politics.

In recent years, armed groups are organized in this region: the Tuareg, frustrated to be despised, displaced, dispossessed. And more or less Islamic groups, some from former GIA who sowed terror in Algeria, others controlled by Gaddafi and empowered after the latter's death.

Areva employees, executives in companies mining uranium, were abducted in Niger in September 2010, and transferred to Mali since retained. Then, on 7 January 2011, two young French have in turn been kidnapped in Niger....

[link to translate.google.com]

French say Islamists in Mali remain ‘agile, motivated,’ still control key towns

France’s top defense official said Tuesday that his country is continuing to build up its forces inside the West African nation of Mali and that the Malian military so far had been unable to rout Islamist rebels from the strategic city of Konna, which al Qaida-linked insurgents seized last week, or from the village of Diabaly, which fell to the rebels on Monday.

The Islamists "remain agile, motivated, well-equipped, well-trained and able to hide in the mountains and vegetation," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters.

Read more here: [link to www.mcclatchydc.com]

Al Qaeda Country -

France has promised to stay in Mali until the country is stable again, but Paris has said that it wants to position African troops to do the heavy work of dislodging the jihadists from the north. Still, France may be unable to avoid a long engagement with its own military forces right out front. A French armored column has already rolled out of Bamako, headed for the north. Even with air strikes -- there have been more than 50 so far -- and French troops on the ground it will still be some time before an African force is ready for a major push. Taking back Mali's northern cities, such as Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal, may be the easiest task. Mali's vast northern desert is a hard place to live, not to mention wage war. For eight months a year, the daytime temperature exceeds 120 degrees Fahrenheit in a vast and unpopulated land that is easy to hide in, especially for the jihadist forces who know the territory well. Any army, no matter how large and well equipped, will have a tough time driving them out.

[link to www.foreignpolicy.com]

Mali - Libya - Algeria

Terrorists have seized gas facility in Algeria (near Libyan border) - They have kidnapped 3 or 5 Japanese & 1 French worker (count of people taken varies by source). There are reports of 2 British deaths.

The attack may be related to Mali; but attackers are believed to have come from Libya.

In Aménas terrorist attack: Three foreign nationals kidnapped in Tiguentourine

Three foreigners were kidnapped earlier Wednesday during a terrorist attack by an armed group in the base life of the association Sonatrach-BP-Statoil to Tiguentourine (In Aménas), we learn of witnesses eye.

These two French and one Japanese group working with JGC (Japan Gas Corp.), said the same source.

The armed group took three strangers in a 4x4 vehicle and disappeared into nature. The Reuters advance but a figure of six foreign nationals kidnapped by the terrorist group, five Japanese and French.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that he is taken hostage several BP employees, including nationalities British, Norwegian and Japanese.

Two British headed secutity of camps and a policeman were also killed in the counterattack against the intrusion of this armed group in the base life of the association Sonatrach-BP-Statoil, we learn to eyewitnesses . Our source says that the focus is Libyan terrorists. ANP units were deployed in the region.

[link to translate.google.com]

BBC Report - Foreigners 'abducted' by Islamist militants in Algeria [link to bbc.in]

Update on Hostage Situation...

ANI, which has regular direct contact with Islamists, said that fighters under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar were holding the foreigners seized from the gas field.

Belmokhtar (the Marlboro King) is an Algerian who for years commanded AQIM in Mali. He was replaced by AQIM leadership in Algeria last year after they had a falling out, supposedly over his smuggling activities. He then created his own "Ansar al Sharia" Islamist group based in Mali.

The Algerian interior ministry said that a terrorist group, heavily armed and using three vehicles, launched an attack against a Sonatrach base in Tigantourine, near In Amenas, Algeria about 60 miles from the Libyan border. The attackers are believed to have come from Libya.

Current count - 9 hostages taken; 2 people killed

French troops launched their first ground operation against Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednesday in a crucial action to dislodge al Qaeda-linked fighters...

A column of French armored vehicles moved into position on Tuesday at the town of Niono, 190 miles from the capital Bamako. With the Malian army securing the northern region near the Mauritanian border, Islamist fighters were encircled in the nearby town of Diabaly.

Source R**ters

Making sense of Mali's armed groups
Al-Qaeda gets the most attention, but local groups and ethnic fighters are part of a complicated mix of instability.
[link to www.aljazeera.com]

As the Algerian hostage takers, who are associated with an Islamist based in Mali, came from Libya, its worth noting what happened in Libya yesterday...

Assasinations in Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi last night.

A bomb in a car outside a mosque in Misrata killed an imam and wounded or killed (unclear from different reports) five others.

In Benghazi another police officer (not the one killed Monday night) was killed by a bomb under his car (or an RPG, again differing reports).

And in Tripoli a member of the Al Nawasi brigade, the brigade at the heart of the fighting there last week, is also reported killed.

Source - PeterBrit - if you've followed any of my Libya threads you know who that really is...

Info from this thread: Thread: Militants in Algeria kidnap BP workers (French, British, Japanese, Irish and Norwegian all kidnapped) TWO DEAD

3m Reuters Top News Reuters Top News ‏@Reuters

Al Qaeda-linked group claims to have seized 41 hostages, including 7 Americans, in raid on Algerian gas plant: Mauritanian media #BREAKING

[link to www.haaretz.com]

Thread: Breaking - hostage situation - 7 Americans, many other other Westerners taken HOSTAGE in Algerian gas complex, Algerian assault has began

Thread: BRKG: France Launches Gold Grab in Mali to 'Fight Terrorism'! US, UK, Germany, Italy Jump In. 41 Hostages Taken in Algeria incl 7 US

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/16/2013 11:48 AM

From CNN's Pentagon reporter Barbara Starr -

Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn)
1/16/13, 6:15 PM
US beginning to gather intel on BP plant in Algeria---but no orders to move in

Algerian bloggers saying 7 Americans being held (and MSM - see above)

Belmokhtar is behind attack - bold for him, but he has a new organization to publicize & his smuggling trade gives him connections from Libya to Mauritania - so he could definitely strike near Libyan border.

Jihadi group called Katibat Moulathamine (Masked Brigade) claimed responsibility for the hostage attack/situation. Another group called "Signers in blood" is helping. All analysts i follow say that French are finding things a bit tough so far in Mali.

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/16/2013 07:07 PM

AJE reporting hostages freed in Algeria - absolutely no confirmation...

Are they talking about the Algerian nationals released earlier in the day?

Here's Washington Post's Update -

Islamist guerrillas seized a number of hostages, including Americans, in a brazen attack early Wednesday on a remote gas-production facility in Algeria, and the United States vowed to take all necessary steps to deal with what it called a “terrorist act.”

Algeria’s official news agency said two people were killed, including a British national, and six were wounded, two of them foreigners, in the attack by what authorities described as a homegrown Algerian terrorist group. There were conflicting accounts of the number of people taken hostage. The agency, Algerie Presse Service, said Algerian troops quickly surrounded the site.

In Rome, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said U.S. officials believe that Americans are among the hostages in Algeria but that they are still trying to determine how many...


[link to www.washingtonpost.com]