Nigeria, others set to send troops to Mali

The first troops from a regional West African force were bound for Mali on Tuesday to shore up a five-day old French military offensive that has uprooted Islamist insurgents from several key strongholds.

Defence sources said France plans to triple its force from a current 750 to a total of 2,500 troops, a sign that Paris is preparing for a drawn-out campaign to stem the advance of jihadists who have held northern Mali since April.

Speaking in Dubai, French President Francois Hollande said that his government does not intend to keep forces in Mali, but will remain until security is restored and “terrorists” eliminated.

Meanwhile West African army chiefs met Tuesday in Bamako to plan the roll-out of a UN-mandated, 3,300-strong West African intervention force in the former French colony.

“We are here today to speak about the engagement alongside our Malian brothers in arms, to liberate the north of Mali,” Ivory Coast army chief General Soumaila Bakayoko said at the talks.

Defence spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yerima said Nigeria’s total commitment will be 900 troops, 300 more than earlier announced.

Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged troops.

Since France launched its offensive, the Islamists have fled key strongholds under their control as Rafale fighter jets blasted the areas of Gao and Kidal in the north, and Douentza in Mali’s centre.

Residents also reported the Islamists had fled Timbuktu, which has not been targeted by the French strikes.

The fabled city has seen some of the worst abuses in the Islamists’ brutal implementation of sharia law, including the destruction of ancient mausolea.

On Tuesday cultural agency UNESCO urged Malian and French forces to protect ancient cultural sites during air raids and ground attacks.

Analysts have said the Islamist retreat was likely a tactical move.

“The jihadists are in it for the long-haul. They are comfortable in this situation: the vast desert, a difficult terrain, a precarious security situation,” said Tunisian Islamist expert Alaya Allani.

Although driven from their strongholds, the rebels struck back Monday in the government-held south, capturing the small town of Diabaly some 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Bamako.

French planes hit Diabaly overnight, according to a security source who told AFP at least five Islamists were killed and many injured. A resident of a town some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Diabaly told AFP he had seen armed Islamists fleeing after the strikes.

Hollande, speaking earlier from a French military base in Abu Dhabi, said the latest strikes had “achieved their goal”. He said the French intervention had prevented Mali from being overrun by “terrorists”.

The 15-nation UN Security Council on Monday expressed its unanimous support for the French offensive.

But the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, of which Mali is a member, called Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire, dubbing the offensive “premature” and urging all parties to return to negotiations.

So far the unrest has sent 144,500 refugees fleeing to neighbouring Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria, while another 230,000 are internally displaced, the UN humanitarian agency said Tuesday.

The fighting has also left at least 11 Malian soldiers dead and one French helicopter pilot.

The hold by Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists on vast swathes of Mali’s northern desert has fuelled fears the zone — a hostile, semi-arid region more than double the size of France — could become an Afghan-style breeding ground for terrorists.

Scores of French tanks from a base in Abidjan arrived in Bamako overnight along with extra troops, a spokesman for the French forces told AFP.

Belgium offered two C-130 transport planes and two helicopters to back up France’s offensive, while Britain and Canada have offered troop transporters.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta reaffirmed Tuesday that Washington — which has pledged intelligence and logistical support — stands ready to support France’s assault, but without putting any US troops on the ground.