Op PRESENCE/Mali (Cdn mission/s, sitreps, etc. - merged)

[57Chevy]

Mali Islamists gain ground despite French airstrikes; French evacuate citizens from Segou
The Associated Press <<<link
By Rukmini CallimacHi And Baba, 14 Jan

BAMAKO, Mali - Despite a punishing aerial bombardment by French warplanes, al-Qaida-linked insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali on Monday, seizing a strategic military camp that brought them far closer to the government's seat of power.

Declaring France had "opened the gates of hell" with its assault, the rebels threatened retribution.

"France ... has fallen into a trap much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia," declared Omar Ould Hamaha, a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of the rebel groups controlling the north, speaking on French radio Europe 1.

French fighter jets have been pummeling the insurgents' desert stronghold in the north since Friday, determined to shatter the Islamist domination of a region many fear could become a launch pad for terrorist attacks on the West and a base for co-ordination with al-Qaida in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.

The Islamist fighters responded with a counter-offensive Monday, overrunning the garrison town of Diabaly, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of Segou, the administrative capital of central Mali, said French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The French Embassy in Bamako immediately ordered the evacuation of the roughly 60 French nationals in the Segou region, said a French citizen who insisted on anonymity out of fear for her safety.

France expanded its aerial bombing campaign, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But the intense assault, including raids by gunship helicopters and Mirage fighter jets, failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who were only 250 miles (400 kilometres) from the capital, Bamako, in the far south.

The rebels "took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army, that couldn't hold them back," said Le Drian, the French defence minister.

Article shared with provisions of The Copyright Act continues at link.

 

[cupper]

Turns out one C-17 is going, from the PM's website:

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=3&featureId=6&pageId=49&id=5243

It's the least he could do. ;D

 

[a_majoor]

To really stabilize the situation will take lots of troops, and to roll back the gains of the Islamists will take both large amounts of resources and time. Sadly, I don't think *we* have the will to commit manpower and resources either at the level or the time frame needed to make real progress.

 

[a_majoor]

Senator Roméo Dallaire and Kyle Matthews make the case for intervention. Sadly, without the will to commit a lot of resources for a very long time, there is very little will to make the intervention (and without an actual army hitting the ground, any intervention will be very limited in effect and scope).

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/01/15/romeo-dallaire-and-kyle-matthews-the-price-of-inaction-in-mali/

Roméo Dallaire and Kyle Matthews: The price of inaction in Mali

Roméo Dallaire and Kyle Matthews, National Post | Jan 15, 2013 12:01 AM ET | Last Updated: Jan 14, 2013 5:00 PM ET
More from National Post

Last week the head of the African Union, Thomas Boni Yayi, travelled to Ottawa to drum up support for an African-led initiative to restore the territorial integrity of Mali. After a coup d’état by the Malian military last March, the northern part of the country was forcefully occupied by armed-Islamist groups. Among them are Ansar Al-Din and al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb. The latter was behind the recent assassination of the American ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

Following a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Yayi said he would welcome NATO’s support. And Canada in particular could play an important role. Not only do Canadian troops speak French, an important skill in this part of Africa, but they also have far-reaching combat and peacekeeping experience. Yet Harper announced that Canada will not participate in any military intervention, and will continue to work with western allies and African countries to seek a diplomatic solution.

Yayi warned that diplomacy will not work: “Dialogue with the forces of evil is futile.” We agree.

United States Senator Chris Coons has correctly noted that Northern Mali constitutes the largest territory controlled by Islamist extremists in the world. There have been reports of serious human rights abuses carried out by jihadists, many with connections to Somalia’s murderous Al-Shabaab and Nigeria’s equally vicious Boko Haram. Public floggings of unmarried couples, amputation of limbs of suspected thieves, rape and the imprisonment of unveiled women have become the new norm. Human Rights Watch confirms that children have been recruited as soldiers. But despite the mounting evidence of crimes against humanity, Mali continues to be overshadowed in the news media by Syria.

Severe human rights abuses in one country usually have security implications for the entire region. More than 400,000 people have fled the north seeking refuge in the south and neighbouring countries. What is taking place in Mali will not stay within Mali for much longer. Ansar Al-Din just pulled out of a cease-fire agreement and has begun to push further south. These killers are gaining momentum.

The West needs to acknowledge that, sadly, the Malian army is not up to the task of countering the Islamist groups’ substantial military superiority. The NATO campaign over the skies of Libya inadvertently allowed a considerable influx of sophisticated weaponry into Mali. NATO members should not wash their hands of this responsibility.

Related

    Harper sends C-17s military cargo plane to Mali after request from France as campaign against Islamist insurgents intensifies
    Harper: Canada won’t pursue ‘direct military mission’ to Mali

Countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland have offered to train Malian forces under a European mission, yet many are adding conditions to their commitments — a functioning government or restored constitutional order — that are unlikely to occur. The only Western country to show leadership is France. It deployed troops and fighter aircraft to Mali over the weekend. Canada announced on Monday that it would support France by lending it a C-17 cargo plane for one week.

We cannot stand idle, expecting Mali to become a functioning democracy before we begin to contemplate supporting the African Union, which was granted a seal of approval by the UN Security Council this past December. Inaction will only give the extremist groups more time to strengthen their defences and recruit more jihadists — or worse, they might take over the rest of the country.

In 2005, under Canada’s leadership, all countries seated at the United Nations endorsed the Responsibility to Protect, agreeing to take action when a country is unable or unwilling to protect its population from mass atrocities. Northern Mali has become a haven for Islamic militants. If other Western countries don’t join in alongside France, these groups will grow in strength, perpetuate more atrocities across Africa, and expand their ability to strike at the West. Thus Western nations have all the more reason to support the Malian government, instead of abandoning its citizens to extensive retributions and abuses.

Leaving Canada empty-handed, the chief of the African Union reminded us that “each day that we wait is a bad thing.” France understood this warning. Is anybody else in the West listening?

National Post

Roméo Dallaire, a distinguished senior fellow at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Right Studies at Concordia University, is a Canadian Senator.

Kyle Matthews is the Senior Deputy Director of the Will to Intervene Project at Concordia and a New Leader at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (@kylecmatthews).

 

[Journeyman]

Senator Roméo Dallaire and Kyle Matthews make the case for intervention.

Lots of wonderful, empty, hand-wringing words.

Matthews, as the Senior Deputy Director of whatever the "Will to Intervene Project" is, is obligated to say these things; no actual knowledge is required.

But as a Senator and former-Brigade commander, Dallaire knows both what we could potentially contribute and the costs (political and military) that could entail.  I guess that's why the opinion piece is strong on bleeding-hearts, but completely bereft of details on what Canada should provide. 

Without that extra journalistic step, the article is as meaningless as most claims that "something must be done!"

 

[The Bread Guy]

To really stabilize the situation will take lots of troops, and to roll back the gains of the Islamists will take both large amounts of resources and time ....

Well, France appears to be sending in more troops ....

France is tripling the number of troops deployed to Mali to 2,500, part of the massive preparation for a land assault to dislodge the Islamist extremists occupying the West African country's north.

The increased total of French troops was confirmed in Paris Tuesday by a French Ministry of Defense official, who refused to give his name because he was not authorized to speak.

Despite a punishing, five-day campaign of aerial bombardments, the al Qaeda-linked rebels have continued to advance south, seizing a strategic military camp in central Mali, and embedding themselves in villages of thatched roofs, making it impossible to bomb without killing civilians.

The number of French soldiers in Mali is rapidly increasing from the Tuesday morning count of 800, including elite special forces. Every few hours, enormous transport planes are landing at Bamako's airport, loaded with supplies and more soldiers ....

.... so now let's see how long they're willing to stay (highlights mine):

France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out air raids since Friday in the northern half of the country, which Western and regional states fear could become a base for attacks by Islamist militants in Africa and Europe.

Thousands of African troops are due to take over the offensive but regional armies are scrambling to accelerate the operation - initially not expected for months and brought forward by France's bombing campaign aimed at stopping a rebel advance on a strategic town last week.

"We have one goal. To ensure that when we leave, when we end our intervention, Mali is safe, has legitimate authorities, an electoral process and there are no more terrorists threatening its territory," Hollande told a news conference during a visit to the United Arab Emirates ....

That may sound doable now to someone in the French government, but watch and shoot ....

 

[GAP]

Was this not being initiated under a UN mandate.....what's the ROE's....they tend to be meek...

 

[PanaEng]

Shared according to law:
France will deploy 2,500 troops in Mali
800 French soldiers, including special forces, already in country
The Associated Press
Posted: Jan 15, 2013 4:59 AM ET


http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/01/15/mali-bombing-french-diabaly.html

Overnight, a regiment of 150 French soldiers drove overland from neighbouring Ivory Coast, bringing in a convoy of 40 armoured vehicles, including the ERC-90, a tank-like car, mounted with a 90-mm cannon.

Several thousand soldiers from the nations neighbouring Mali are also expected to begin arriving soon, and Nigeria said nearly 200 would be coming in the next 24 hours.

It's going to take a lot more than that. Some very optimistic pronouncements from Hollande:

During a stop in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Hollande told RFI radio that he was sure the French military operation would succeed.

"We are confident about the speed with which we will be able to stop the aggressors, the enemy, these terrorists. And with [the help] of the Africans that are being deployed, I think that in one more week we can restore Mali's territorial integrity,"

 

[57Chevy]

With immediate logistical support from allied nations,
no one is expecting him to be pessimistic on actions in Mali.

It looks to me like he is moving things along rather quickly according to this article
shared with provisions of The Copyright Act

Hollande steps up security in France over military operations in Mali, Somalia
London 13 Jan
ANI Link
French President Francois Hollande has ordered to beef up security around public buildings and transport because of military operations in Africa.

He was responding to the risk of Islamist attack after French forces attacked militants in Mali and Somalia.

According to the BBC, a pilot was killed as air strikes were launched on an area of Malian rebels.

Hollande said that in Somalia, two French soldiers were ‘sacrificed’ in a raid to free a French hostage. The hostage was believed to have died.

France’s anti-terrorism alert system known as ‘Vigipirate’ is being reinforced immediately, with security boosted at public buildings and transport networks, particularly rail and air, the report said.

Holland said that the ‘struggle against terrorism’ required all necessary precautions to be taken in France itself.

According to the report, his remarks came within hours of one of the Islamist groups targeted by French military action in Mali threatening reprisals against France.

An Ansar Dine spokesman told and international news agency there would be consequences for French citizens throughout the Muslim world, the report said.

French troops were deployed in Mali on Friday after the army lost control of a strategically important town to Islamists who were advancing south.

A battle erupted with al-Shabab militants and, according to President Hollande, the operation failed ‘despite the sacrifice of two of our soldiers and probably the assassination of our hostage’, the report added. (ANI)

 

[ProtectAndServe]

I was watching RT news (Don't know of anyone knows that station here) and they mentioned how Canada may deploy troops.. That being said I've heard from many other news sources that Canada will NOT be deploying any troops.

 

[Rifleman62]

I have removed my dumb comment.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Mali:  What the bad guys say (1)

.... A spokesman for the MUJWA Islamist group, one of the main factions in the rebel alliance, promised French citizens would pay for Sunday's air strikes in their stronghold of Gao. Dozens of Islamist fighters were killed when rockets struck a fuel depot and a customs house being used as their headquarters.

"They should attack on the ground if they are men. We'll welcome them with open arms," Oumar Ould Hamaha told Europe 1 radio. "France has opened the gates of hell for all the French. She has fallen into a trap which is much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia." ....

What the bad guys say (2)

“France has attacked islam. We will strike at the heart of France. In the name of Allah, we will strike at the heart of France.” Abou Dardar, a leader of the islamist group Mujao (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) told French news agency AFP.

Asked where the they would strike , Abou Dardar said “Everywhere. In Bamako, in Africa and in Europe.” ....

What the bad guys (in Afghanistan) say (links to screen capture of statement at Google Docs)

As the struggle between the Mujahideen and the government of Mali has intensified more than ever and a foreign military intervention has also taken place therefore the Islamic Emirate, which has seen the results of foreign interventions and has a lot of experience in this regard, calls on the Malian people and all related and involved sides to utilize such a mechanism and process which restores peace and calm in the country on the basis of Islamic principles and solves the quandary without any foreign intervention.

When France began its withdrawal process from Afghanistan in recent times it seemed as the French government would likely expand its anti-war stance to other regions of the world however it broke off its commitment to peace by transgressing militarily on the soil of northern African nation of Mali. France has launched war against the Muslim nation of Mali without having any legal jurisdiction.

The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns this French attack on a Muslim nation and calls on all the nations of the world, governments and organizations to fulfill their due roles in stopping such transgressions so that the Muslims of Mali can solve their own problems by themselves. Such interventions and attacks are not only disastrous for Mali but also for France.

All the powerful countries of the world should take lessons from the failed American policy of military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq from which it cannot wrangle free or regain its lost status.

 

[The Bread Guy]

French troops have been fighting Mali's Islamist rebels in street battles in the town of Diabaly, Malian and French sources say.

In the first major ground operation in the conflict, French special forces were fighting alongside Malian troops.

Diabaly, 350km (220 miles) north of the capital Bamako, was captured by the rebels on Monday.

France intervened in Mali last Friday to try to halt the Islamists' push southwards towards the capital.

Islamists entered Diabaly on Monday, taking the town from Malian forces. French war planes have since attacked the rebel positions.

French army chief Edouard Guillaud said on Wednesday that ground operations had begun.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian added: "Today, the ground forces are being deployed. Until now, we had made sure there were a few ground forces in Bamako to keep our people safe... Now French ground forces are heading up north."

A convoy of 50 armoured vehicles left Bamako overnight.

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says these are legionnaires from the southern French town of Orange - a special forces unit expert in desert warfare.

Residents of Niono, 70km south of Diabaly, say the French arrived overnight ....

BBC, 16 Jan 13

Troops referred to in yellow above are reportedly with the French Foreign Legion's 1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie (1er REC)

 

[tomahawk6]

French Marine Infantry and the Legion's Cav Regiment. They are going to need alot more help on the ground.

 

[The Bread Guy]

French Marine Infantry and the Legion's Cav Regiment. They are going to need alot more help on the ground.

More help is reportedly inbound ....
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/1091/post-1201716.html#msg1201716
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/1091/post-1201641.html#msg1201641
.... so we'll have to see if that's enough with the ~3300 African troops being committed.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Good hunting to them all.

 

[sean m]

Hello,

Just as a notion, not as a question, but does anyone here think it would be wise for Canada to send (possibly) intelligence specialists to Mali to provide support for the coalition in that regard, and to give our government a better understanding of what is going on . Pierre Boisvert (former CSIS) on Power and Politics, on CBC, suggested that Canada could send in personnel who would leave a "light footprint". Does anyone here think that this would be wise for Canada to do or no?

Thank you.

Sean M.

P.S. here is Ray Boisvert's interview

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Politics/ID/2325978646/

 

[Edward Campbell]

Intervening in Mali is nothing more than squeezing a visible, annoying pimple. It does nothing - not a goddamn thing - about the deep, serious problems that afflict Africa. The French will go in, kill a few black folks, drive some of the various warring factions either underground or into Mauritania, Algeria, Niger, etc, declare victory and return home having accomplished SFA. When both Africa and the wider world finally agree that it is time to come to grips with Africa, as a continent, then we can discuss what, relatively minor, role the CF might play.

 

[a_majoor]

Walter Russell Mead with some bad news. For those of you who are light on history, the French and French Union had tens of thousands of troops in Indochina, and sent a total of 26,800 troops to Dien Bien Phu alone during that battle. Trying to drive out the Islamists in an area the size of France will require an army (not a metaphorical one, but a real army with hundreds of thousands of troops, supporting staff, auxilliaries etc.).

The fact that the French had logistical difficulties during a much smaller intervention in Libya isn't a good sign that the French or even the EU will be able to sustain an operation in Mali:

Instapundit has a few choice coments as well:

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/01/15/mali-dien-bien-phu-all-over-again/

Mali: Dien Bien Phu All Over Again?

The French are known for eating small portions, but in Mali they may have bitten off more than they can chew:

France ordered new airstrikes overnight against Islamist fighters in central Mali, as the government in Paris pledged on Tuesday to commit more troops to a potentially protracted campaign against extremists pressing south from a jihadist state they have forged in the desert north of the country. 
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had his own “mission accomplished” moment,  announcing that French forces had halted the Islamist advance through Mali just hours before extremist forces captured Diabaly, an important Mali military post. The Islamists are now closer to the country’s capital than ever, and France is more than tripling its forces in response. Mali’s Islamists feel confident that France is getting sucked into a conflict that will be much harder than it ever imagined, against an enemy that can play the long game:

France “has fallen into a trap which is much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia,” Oumar Ould Hamaha, an insurgent leader, told Europe 1 radio. Stirring longstanding fears that the far-flung military operation in Mali could inspire vengeance as far away as Europe, he warned that the intervention had “opened the gates of hell for all the French.”

It’s too early to tell whether Mali will really become a quagmire; insurgents always make grand claims about their power, but only some are able to make good on it. Even so, France clearly underestimated the initial jihadist military strength in Mali, and the country is already turning to the US for logistical support.

France needs US help, and the US should give it. Just as France’s Libyan intervention failed because the country ran out of military supplies, France’s Malian adventure could collapse without our support. But the situation nevertheless raises alarms. The last time the US supported a major French military operation was the infamous Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. The French were completely routed, and the US launched the Vietnam War soon after. We hope Mali doesn’t turn into another Dien Bien Phu.

And from instapundit:

Remember when the press mocked Mitt Romney for bringing up Mali in a debate? Because, you know, they had no idea anything was brewing there. I keep saying that we have the worst political class in our history, and we do, but today’s press is the very worst part of the worst political class in our history.

Related: Belgians and Danes Join French-Led Mali Intervention With American Goodies.

UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes: “WRM’s invocation of Dien Bien Phu is amusing. More annoying however is the failure of the media to connect the Islamist takeover of northern Mali with the NATO-led overthrow of the Gaddafi. Mali is a knock-on consequence of a failed north-African policy. Just such consequences were the fear expressed by some with US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those failed to materialize. Now that they have materialized as a consequence of Obama’s policies the grand-high poobahs and their courtiers are as silent as church mice.”

 

[HB_Pencil]

Or is this France, seeing the US foreign policy contracting/moving east, deciding now's a good time to say, "look at us; we're a global power!!  Someone's got to respect us now!  Anyone?  Bueller?"

[/cynicism]

Its more France being France and working within their sphere of influence. France has never been shy to intervene in their former colonies. The only thing that can be said for it is that at least they their moral standards isn't nearly as bad in these actions as they once was.