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

Militant Video - We hold 41 Foreigners including 7 Americans -

[link to www.csmonitor.com]

France 24 spoke to one of the French hostages held at the gas facility in Algeria. He stated that Malaysians & Filipinos are also being held...

[link to translate.google.com]

Don't forget the critical role of China in Mali
The Chinese government has given millions to the North African country, and their influence is massive
[link to www.independent.co.uk]


Thread: BREAKING - Algeria Hostage Update: 35 Killed, 15 Escape! Pentagon Prepares Mali Intervention - China to be Sucked into Mineral Grab

Algerian helicopters have attacked a group of Mali Islamists militants held up in a Saharan gas facility, reportedly killing 34 hostages and 15 of their captors. The army moved in after over 50 captives, including dozens of foreigners, escaped.
[link to rt.com]

Are the chinese expected to just walk-away or defend their investments in Africa?

I guess we'll find out soon, i'd normally say that they will defend coz they invested too much in Africa, but they voted yes for intervention in Mali in UNSC recently, they won't participate in the intervention though. They lost a lot in Libya and more African countries are about to follow imo, we'll see.

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/17/2013 09:23 AM

Mali towns marked by fighting, airstrikes
[link to abcnews.go.com]

Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens: Bamako (Mali), Curfew for Official U.S. Embassy Personnel
[link to www.osac.gov (secure)]

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/17/2013 05:15 PM

They will keep a very business-like attitude and try to get contracts signed; you can’t get in or out of a Chinese mining compound. They are heavily armed and stand-alone communities. They will sit tight and just protect their assets.

The Chinese people themselves do not want to start trouble where no Chinese lives are threatened, the government profiteering is another story.

I’m keeping quiet today because too much odd info is coming in. We are missing a piece of the puzzle. When an army comes to confront you and you cannot win, you disperse and chaos ensues everywhere. Now who does the army confront?

True, they have a very business-like attitude, there's no chance that they will do something in Mali, but if their interests take a serious hit in more countries as i feel is part of the plan here who knows really. True that they don't get into a fight easily too, but if they're gonna fight they'll probably fight through a local proxy and not Chinese army or people. They might as well just make friends with the west and exploit Africans and African wealth together, nothing would surprise me regarding Africa.

Odd info indeed, haven't found reliable info about today's campaigns yet, hostage situation has covered most of the Mali related news. Good question in the last part, care to elaborate this thought a bit more?

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/17/2013 05:49 PM

Washington Post's summary of today's events in Mali

[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

Islamists are still in Diabaly & have been sighted even closer to Bamako - in a village called Banamba...

And then there is this....

Joe Penney (@joepenney)
1/17/13, 6:48 PM
According to Chadian newpapers, #Chad facing prospect of another rebellion in east

Chad is sending 2,000 troops to Mali. To put that in perspective...That was number of gov't forces who took part in last civil war in Chad...

Hey DD. Not unexpected at all, actually i was researching about Chad 2 days ago, countless ethnic groups, tribes, religions etc. Sounds perfect for destabilization and civil unrest. All the countries that have Arab-Berber population in the north and black population in the south like Mali, Chad, Niger will be very easy TPTB targets for a Sudan scenario. Mali unrest will probably spread to all the neighboring countries.

Hi - IFUN - Someone (was it Max Forte?) wrote article on how all the former French colonies in the Sahel were "artificial" countries w/ ignored & scarcely populated "brown" Norths and more densely populated "black" Souths... He made your exact same point - the countries are perfect for destabilization...

I have two cousins who served in US Peace Corps in Africa in 1960s (during independence era). They were both appalled by blatant racism of British & French colonial administrators. They both said the colonial powers expected African countries to fail after a few years & invite their colonial masters back in...

The Russians used geographical boundaries to assure that restive minorities didn't leave the empire - maybe the Brits & French did the same..(or should we just say the Brits & the French did the same)

Background on Belmokhtar...

As soon as he set foot on Algerian soil again, in 1993, Belmokhtar joined the Armed Islamic Groups, an extremist underground group fighting the army-dominated Algerian government and seeking to impose strict Islamic rule. Along with two other main groups, the Islamic Salvation Army and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, he and his comrades in arms battled in a merciless guerrilla war in the Algerian backlands until 2002...

The war had begun in 1991 when the Algerian army canceled parliamentary elections . . . leaving the army in full charge and sparking the civil war.

Defeated by the Algerian army a decade later, Belmokhtar and most of his fellow guerrilla fighters scattered to the thinly populated mountains along the border between Algeria and Mali, and roamed the desert-like flatlands across northern Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

It was there that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) took shape, in the form of three divisions of fighters with separate leadership but all dedicated to hostage-taking, smuggling and propagation of strict Islamic ways. The Algerian-formed divisions over the years began attracting recruits from other countries as well, such as Mali, Mauritania and even Pakistan.

Belmokhtar was the leader of one of the columns, but he was often dismissed by Algerian and French security officials as more interested in cigarette smuggling and ransom than in Islamic probity. Reflecting their disdain, Algerian security agents gave him a new nickname: “Mr. Marlboro.”...


[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

Good question in the last part, care to elaborate this thought a bit more?




Darby link says a little.

Snip; “The Islamists are not only in Diabaly,” said Oumar Diakite, its mayor, who fled to Bamako on Monday, hours before the Islamists entered. “They are also in the surrounding villages.”


Basically they are breaking up in to small groups 5 here 5 there and hiding, air strikes can't find targets hiding among local populations. France expected to be able to destroy convoys form the air but there are none.

It only takes a few handfuls of well-armed guys to take a town of 400 unarmed people. Then they hide in the town, The French have to then move to defend that town leaving many more towns open to attack, one step forward two steps back..

The jihadists are splitting up and moving quietly all over the country side now, hiding in plain sight as it is called.

Nigerian Air Force Begins Deployment of War Planes to Mali Today

Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Alex Barde yesterday disclosed that the Nigerian Air force will today commence the deployment of Nigeria war planes to check the activities of Islamist fighters in Mali....

[link to allafrica.com]

Doesn't Nigeria have more airplane crashes that just about any other country?

Add this to the Senegalese paratroopers w/o parachutes... And the non-existent Malian armed forces... France is going to be doing all the fighting...

Good timing with that info...So now Frances hands are tied with air strikes, so they bring in a group whose hands are not tied by politics.

Anything to promote Islam is what the agenda is of this WH.

Lotta good research OP

It will happen one way or another imo, these countries had also many civil wars until recently, not that this is surprising for the African continent, but the racial/religious hatred is very easy to be initiated.

Blatant racism combined with colonialism is nothing new in Africa, still happening, they're not free just coz we created almost failed-states for them. :(

my girlfriend has been sponsoring a child through World Vision. This girl lives in the Bani valley somewhere west of Mopti. (World Vision doesn't give out the child's exact location. who knows maybe it's as much a scam as the Nigerian e.mail scams).

If, in fact, the little girl really exists, I think that she would be better off if the Bani valley was taken over by al-Qaeda than if it fell under the "protection" of Nigerian peacekeepers.

Ooow sorry, thought you were talking about an invisible force pulling the strings that we don't know about.

Jihadi's are expert in this kind of warfare, Libya experience and all. I'm reading that French find it tough on the ground operations. Mali citizens also say that they're hiding and moving among the average population. Hide and seek, i guess that the French/ecowas will adapt at some point, reinforcements coming will play a big role too.

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/17/2013 08:02 PM

Mopti - is near the border between the Islamist controlled North & south Mali; but, it was in the south. It was not threatened by Islamists until the last couple of weeks. (Other than fact it became garrison town w/ Malian military & local militias training there)

So, until very recently the little girl was safe (except for all the terrible things that happen to little girls in Mali like FGM)...

As for what may happen now... Does your girlfriend know if she is Dogon? Dogon are an ethnic group who live in that region. Due to their religion, they are in grave danger; other Muslim Malians have actually fared pretty well under Islamist rule (economic benefits etc.).

I agree "peacekeepers" can be quite dangerous. Some of the things they've done in Congo are just awful.

I think it's great that your girlfriend tried to help a child & hopefully everything will be okay.

Remember the locals in Diabaly (and their neighbors in Mauritania) probably have big issues w/ Malian authorities...

Link - Government of Mali apologizes for killing 16 clerics in Diabaly - September 2012

[link to www.panapress.com]

I would probably had issues too if in all my life and recent history we had coups and civil wars, like poverty wasn't really enough.

Meanwhile in Africa, Congo and Central Africa are in ceasefire talks this week with their own rebels.

Last Edited by insertfunnyusername on 01/17/2013 09:01 PM

Can’t find any good links because the operation is being denied.

But Daibaly was retaken today ALL jihadists escaped dressed as civilians. The attack displaced the entire town’s population, making for very poor relations would be an understatement. They chased everyone out of the town with air raids and admittedly expect to displace 400,000 more civis in the upcoming MONTHS; yes they are talking months upon months now.

One more thing no one has entered the town, they just forced everyone out and surrounded it.

As I expected France denies it was them or their air raids! So no official French confirmations as of yet.


To sum it up, they are creating more fighters by chasing out entire towns populations playing right in to the hands of AQIM

Last Edited by Chrit on 01/18/2013 03:16 PM

Thanks for info Chrit.
MSM saying that Konna was retaken too.

Snip; After failing to organize an international coalition to battle Muslim extremists in Mali, France has become embroiled in its own “war on terror” as Western allies offer meager support from a safe distance and nearby West African nations stay out.

French soldiers in Mali are not just fighting radical Muslims – that would be much easier. No, they are battling the tip of a worldwide army of extremists who as a matter of strategy shield themselves behind women and children.

Meanwhile, French bombs have already begun claiming the lives of collateral victims, including African children. The French invaders will be treated like heroes – for a short while. However body counts will soar on both sides should the French stay and fight it out with advancing Muslim extremists, and the media will alternately focus on French casualties and collateral victims, not the larger war on terrorism, as an initial surge of French patriotism fades

Snip2; French forces will soon retreat or become embedded in a long, costly war that in the long run, will only earn condemnation from the Western press as photos of dead women and children begin to surface in the global media.

LOT more at the link [link to www.examiner.com]


This states everything I have already said. I am glad the news is realizing it.



Rememrb when it gets bad the news stops flowing.

Thanks...

ABC News has an article on the delays in deploying African troops. There appear 2B logistic issues...Who would have guessed? Another nuggets from the link - France is telling it's African allies that US will pick up most of the tab...

[link to abcnews.go.com]

That would be just about the only way to take the town - from what I hear - the locals supported the jihadists.

Anita Hunt just posted that President Aziz is no longer safe in Mauritania - so he has a number of foreign visits on his agenda. This is a man who was accidently shot 5 times a couple of months ago - you think he'd finish his recovery at home...

It's pretty clear this is shaping up as a race war w/ the black south taking on the brown north. Most of Mauritania, including almost all of its military officers, are brown. They can't be happy that their leader is supporting France.

NYTimes OP/ED on Mali -

The jihadis are successful today in part because of the perennial weakness of the Malian state, a failed political process in Mali, and deep multifaceted dissatisfaction among Malians with regard to how politics have been practiced and resources allocated. Long-term success will turn on rebuilding the political process in Mali.

... We must recognize three serious obstacles to restoring political legitimacy and rebuilding state institutions in Mali. None of these will be easy for outsiders or Malians to fix quickly.

First, the political process in Mali is broken... With the democratic veneer removed, the coup has revealed a rotten core.

Second, the military forces that staged the coup and have stubbornly meddled in politics ever since need to retreat from the political arena definitively...

Third, a durable solution for northern Mali is required. The north is home to many Malian ethnic groups, including various Tuareg groups who at different periods during the past 50 years have fought against southern rule. An initial collaboration between Tuareg separatists and the jihadis helped the jihadis take control of northern Mali last year. (The groups have since fallen out, and the main Tuareg nationalist group supports French intervention.) Finding the right mix for recognizing the particular needs of northern Mali while integrating the region and not alienating southern Malians is also no easy task.

[link to www.nytimes.com]