| Can the French beat the Islamists in Mali? Jan 31st 2013, 10:57 Since French troops entered Timbuktu, horrible stories have emerged of what the Islamists did to the local population. But no-one seems to believe that they are really beaten. Afghanistan all over again? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...-french-troops Quote:
After a successful three-week operation, French troops are close to recapturing all the key northern towns previously held by the rebels. They took Timbuktu and Gao over the weekend. Early on Wednesday, they secured the airport in the desert town of Kidal, meeting no resistance, but were prevented from entering the town itself because of a sandstorm, said the French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
A crucial question remains, however. Where did the rebels go?
Instead of battling the French, Mali's former colonial rulers, the Islamist fighters escaped to fight another day. Many Malians fear it is only a matter of time before they come back.
"The rebels didn't ever leave. They are still living in caves or in the forest, not far from Boni," Dicko said.
"When the French army drove past we all cheered and waved, shouting: 'Vive la France.' But the French didn't stop. And then a few days later, on Monday night, five of them came back and shot me. They also shot my wife and my daughter."
Dicko said he was singled out for reprisals because he is the son of Boni's mayor, Hamadoun Dicko, and knew who had sided with the insurgents.
The trouble had begun, he said, after Mali's president was toppled in a coup last March. Soon afterwards the north of the country rapidly fell under rebel control and the secular MNLA, fighting for an independent Tuareg state, seized the nearby town of Douentza.
On 1 September, however, the radical Islamist Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an offshoot of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), took over. It immediately imposed sharia law. According to Dicko, the rebels in his neighbourhood were never pious believers — more a gang of local bandits and criminal opportunists...
...During their brief period in charge, the Islamists ripped down all the Malian flags. On one occasion, they administered five lashes to a group of youths caught drinking in the public square.
Most of the fighters were outsiders, he suggested – Algerians, Mauritanians, Qataris – with a couple of locals.
"They wanted to impose sharia law in the whole of west Africa," he said, admitting that he had sat out their rule in the capital, Bamako. "They have a vision of radical Islam. They wanted to start with Mali, then spread this vision to other countries. They would beat any woman who didn't wear a veil."...
...France is hoping that a UN-backed African intervention force, now expected to exceed 8,000 troops, can be fully deployed in Mali to bolster security and perhaps even hunt down the Islamist radicals. On Wednesday new recruits to the Mali army, wearing green "Liberation Force of the North" T-shirts, were exercising in a dusty square not far from the French garrison at Sévaré airport. Most did not have weapons. But with France winding up the first successful phase of its military mission, it remains to be seen how effective the Mali army will be.
Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday Britain will send 250 soldiers to the region to train the African force. Over the past decade the United States has invested much effort in bolstering Mali's army, only to see it crumble when the Islamists attacked.
France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, signalled on Wednesday that his military would not remain in Mali for ever. "Liberating Gao and Timbuktu very quickly was part of the plan. Now it's up to the African countries to take over," he said.
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