Amid talk of Mali exit, French forces find war in north still hot, not yet over
| Kidal, Mali
French and Malian troops are fighting Islamist rebels in the聽Sahara聽outside聽northern Mali's biggest town,聽France's defense minister said on Wednesday, describing the desert campaign against Al Qaeda as a "real war" that was far from won.
After driving the Islamists from聽north Mali's main towns with three weeks of air strikes and a lightning ground advance,聽France聽is now pursuing them in the remote northeast where pro-autonomy Tuaregs are pressing their own territorial claims.
French defense minister聽Jean-Yves Le Drian聽said French and Malian joint patrols were searching the scrub-land outside the desert trading towns of聽Timbuktu听补苍诲 Gao. Residents in Gao said today their town was hit by rebel rockets fired from the bush.
"There were clashes yesterday at聽Gao聽because from the moment where our forces, supported by the Malian forces, started undertaking missions and patrols around the towns we had taken, we encountered jihadi groups that fought," Mr. Le Drian told Europe聽1 radio.
"It's a real war," Le Drian said. "Every night now, even last night, the French forces are targeting and hitting the training centers and truck depots of the jihadists."
With just 4,000 ground troops in an area the size of聽Texas,聽France聽has appealed for the swift deployment of a UN-backed African military force (AFISMA) to help secure the region. But the effort has been slowed by lack of transport and equipment.
Paris聽has said it would start to draw down its own force in聽Mali聽from March.
French troops are cooperating with Tuareg pro-autonomy MNLA rebels who say they have occupied the remote northeastern town of聽Kidal听补苍诲 surrounding areas after the Islamist fighters fled French air strikes into the nearby Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.
The Tuaregs promised to help fight Al Qaeda and its allies.
That on-ground cooperation, and聽France's public insistence that the MNLA should take part in negotiations on聽Mali's political future if it drops its demands for full independence for the north, is an irritant for聽Mali's troubled military.
Mali's armed forces are still smarting from their defeat in last year's northern Tuareg rebellion that triggered a coup in the capital Bamako and was later hijacked by rebels acting in the name of Islam.聽
Interim Mali president Dioncounda Traore has offered talks to the MNLA if they do not seek full independence, and says he is aiming to hold national elections in the country by July 31.
"There will never, ever be a solution if you don't talk to the Tuaregs - but they are not homogenous," said聽Jeremy Keenan, a British anthropologist and expert on the Tuaregs.
"The MNLA is trying to give the picture that they are back in control and that they are the legitimate voice... This is their last-chance saloon," he told Reuters, adding Mali's Tuareg community was comprised of many shifting factions and loyalties.
France聽has said that several hundred Islamist fighters have been killed in its "Operation Serval" in聽Mali, since it intervened dramatically on Jan. 11 to turn back a rebel guerrilla column advancing southward toward the riverside capital Bamako.
The loose Islamist alliance that had occupied the north for 10 months includes Al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM, a splinter group聽MUJWA, and聽Mali's聽Ansar Dine movement, led by a former prominent Tuareg separatist turned聽Islamist, Iyad Ag Ghaly.
Tuaregs positioning for talks
France聽wants to restore stability to聽Mali听补苍诲 remove the threat of Islamists using it as a base to launch attacks in聽Africa听补苍诲 the West. The聽United States听补苍诲 European allies are supporting the mission with transport, logistics and surveillance but have said they will not furnish combat troops.
Paris聽argues a lasting peace in聽Mali聽hinges on political talks to reconcile the black African-dominated government in Bamako with the restive north, in particular the Tuaregs.
Positioning itself for talks, the MNLA said on Tuesday it had occupied the town of Menaka, more than 185 miles south from its remote northern聽stronghold of Kidal.
But complicating the chances of any deal is the deep resentment felt by many Malians towards the MNLA for opening the door to the Islamists' seizure of the north. The MNLA themselves are poorly organised, divided and represent only a part of the north's population, experts say.
"You have a huge part of the rest of聽Mali聽not wanting to have anything to do with the Tuaregs - the Tuareg problem has to be resolved and it goes wider than聽Mali," Keenan said. There are restive Tuareg communities in neighboring聽Algeria听补苍诲 Niger.
Analysts said聽Algeria听补苍诲聽Mali's other northern neighbours such as聽Mauritania听补苍诲Libya聽must be part of international efforts to forge long-term security in the ungoverned wastes of the聽Sahara, where Al Qaeda hostage-takers have sheltered alongside traffickers of drugs, cigarettes and migrants.
The MNLA has started its own patrols in the remote regions around the Algerian border where Islamist fighters are believed to be holding seven French citizens hostage. It announced this week it had arrested two senior Islamists fleeing to Algeria.
French special forces and some 1,800 Chadian troops are also based in聽Kidal, but Malian government聽troops have kept away.
"[The African force] AFISMA and also the聽Malian army聽will deploy eventually to聽Kidal," AFISMA spokesman Col.聽Yao Adjoumani聽told a news conference in Bamako."Talks between the MNLA and the government will take place later."
(Additional reporting by Alexandria Sage in聽Paris, Pascal Fletcher in Dakar and Adama Diarra in Bamako; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
