Comment

Comment by Napoleon Bonaparte on January 14, 2013 at 8:02pm

I think your question will arise more and more the longer the war continues.

Comment by Pat on January 14, 2013 at 7:39pm

My one question. Where in the hell is the rest of the European Union? It's not like Spain, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Denmark don't have a stake in this.

Comment by Napoleon Bonaparte on January 14, 2013 at 6:00pm

Islamist rebels in Mali have seized control of a small town from government forces, despite the military intervention by France.

Reports say the counter-attack on Diabali was led by a leader of one of the main jihadist groups, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

One security source said the rebels came from the Mauritanian border to avoid being bombarded by French planes. They reportedly crossed a river in small groups to re-take the town 400 kilometres north of the capital Bamako.

France has said it does not want to act alone in Mali. The French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said overall the intervention was going well, and in eastern Mali the rebels had been forced back.

“There remains one difficult point in the west, where we are dealing with heavily armed groups and where operations are taking place at the moment alongside Malian forces who fought bravely last Friday in the east,” he said.

France has called for a meeting of the UN Security Council. It says its intervention on Friday in the face of a rebel advance stopped the Islamists from seizing the capital.

President Hollande says the aim is simply to support a West African military mission to retake northern Mali.

Islamist leaders have threatened to attack France in retaliation.

Britain is sending a cargo plane carrying military equipment and medical facilities for the French forces.

Meanwhile Algeria has said it is closing its borders with Mali.

Comment by Pat on January 13, 2013 at 3:25pm

See my comment about this.

Comment by Napoleon Bonaparte on January 13, 2013 at 12:42pm

This afternoon the French armed forces provided support to Malian troops in the combat against these terrorist elements. This operation will take as long as necessary and the French parliament will be consulted on this on Monday.

Today, the issue is this allied country, Mali, the security of its people and that of the French nationals there who number some 6,000 right now. This afternoon the French armed forces provided support to Malian troops in the combat against these terrorist elements. This operation will take as long as is necessary and the French parliament will be consulted on this on Monday.