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

[The Bread Guy]

Evidence of less-than-fully-united effort on the part of the Mali military?

Malian government soldiers fought mutinous paratroops in the capital Bamako on Friday in a clash that threatened to undermine a French-led offensive against Islamist rebels which has moved up close to the Algerian border.

In the southern capital, local residents fled in panic as heavy gunfire echoed from the Djikoroni-Para paratrooper base on the Niger River and army units with armoured vehicles surrounded the camp. At least one person was killed, state media reported.

Smoke rose from the base, where mutinous members of the 'red beret' paratroop unit loyal to deposed Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was toppled in a coup last year, started firing with their weapons to protest attempts to redeploy them.

After several hours of firing, calm returned at the camp.

The paratroopers had been ordered to join other units at the front in the ongoing French-led campaign against al Qaeda-allied insurgents. But they insisted on staying together as a regiment and resisted the military police, Malian officers said ....

Reuters, 8 Feb 13

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Malian government soldiers fought mutinous paratroops in the capital Bamako on Friday in a clash that threatened to undermine a French-led offensive against Islamist rebels which has moved up close to the Algerian border.

Are these the same paratroopers that were trained by CSOR not so long ago??

 

[Colin Parkinson]

A number of them were executed/murdered by other units after the coup, so I suspect they wonder if they are being sent off to die. Not to mention being sent out to Northern Mali cuts them off from the Capitol and their supporters, lessening their influence.

 

[The Bread Guy]

A few more details as it unfolds....

Malian government soldiers and police on Friday opened fire on the families of paratroopers loyal to a deposed president at their camp in the capital Bamako on Friday, killing or wounding a number of people, witnesses said.

A initial version of events given by Malian government officers had spoken of a heavy gun battle in the riverside capital involving armed mutinous paratroops loyal to President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was toppled in a coup last year.

But witnesses at the Djikoroni-Para base in western Bamako, including a Reuters photographer, said they only saw the government forces open fire when the wives and children of the paratroopers resisted them, some throwing stones.

"The soldiers and gendarmes burst in and started shooting," Seydou Kone, a resident at the camp, told Reuters. Other camp residents gave a similar version of events, saying the paratroopers had been deprived of their arms since they attempted a counter-coup last year after the ousting of Toure ....

 

[Edward Campbell]

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its kin don't care about countries and borders; they need - or at least want - a firm base from which to launch operations against us, but they don't need to hold much ground in the traditional sense. See this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/malian-rebels-fleeing-into-lawless-deserts-of-africa/article8419174/

Malian rebels fleeing into lawless deserts of Africa

GEOFFREY YORK
TRIPOLI — The Globe and Mail

Last updated Saturday, Feb. 09 2013

When the 13-vehicle convoy of Malian rebels crashed through the Libyan frontier, armed with anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons, the Libyan border guards were soon overwhelmed.

They managed to arrest five of the insurgents, but dozens escaped and headed north into the lawless desert of southern Libya, where they quickly melted into the dusty terrain.

This account of a border clash late last week, reported by a Tuareg activist in southern Libya with sources at the remote border posts, is part of the growing evidence that the retreating Islamist radicals of northern Mali are now migrating across a vast region of the Sahara, taking advantage of porous borders and finding shelter in a widening swath of dysfunctional states.

France’s relentless campaign of air strikes and ground assaults in Mali has forced the Islamists to retreat northward into the desert. But the latest evidence of their new strongholds – from mountain caves in northern Mali to desert sanctuaries as far away as Libya and Sudan – suggests that the insurgents are regrouping in safe havens as they bide their time for a future counterattack when targets are softer.

It also suggests that the weak states of North Africa are becoming a valuable corridor for the Islamist fighters, allowing them to recuperate and rebuild in places French warplanes cannot reach.

Reports from Sudan suggest that the insurgents may have reached as far as Darfur, in western Sudan, after crossing the whole of southern Libya in recent days. They were spotted in Darfur by some of the Sudanese rebel groups that are active in the war-torn region.

The Arab Spring of 2011 has liberated Libya from a dictator’s rule, but it has also created a shambolic new government and a dangerous security vacuum, easily exploited by the jihadi groups. “They hide in Libya, mainly because of the absence of government,” said Hamed Fadel, a leader of the Tuareg ethnic group that traditionally lives in four countries across the Sahara region.

Mr. Fadel, who has extensive contacts in southern Libya, says the Islamist insurgents in northern Mali have benefited from a steady supply of Libyan weapons and volunteers since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. “Weapons have spread – they are everywhere,” he said. “The Islamist groups mainly got their weapons from Libya.”

Photographs of abandoned or seized weapons in northern Mali and at an Algerian hostage-taking site have suggested that much of the rebel arsenal came originally from Mr. Gadhafi’s store of weapons. The weapons were smuggled southward or sold on the black market to the Islamists, giving them a significant advantage over the Malian army in the rebellion that began in early 2012.

To reach Libya, the retreating rebels from Mali would have had to traverse across northern Niger or southern Algeria. These are largely empty desert wastes, with few border controls and little security presence. But the region is criss-crossed with smuggling routes, controlled by the rebels themselves, which helped them escape to North Africa when the French military pressure became too heavy for them to tolerate in Mali.

Algeria, immediately to the north of Mali, may be already encountering the retreating rebels. Four heavily armed militants – including two Libyans – were reportedly arrested in recent days by the Algerian army near the Algerian borders with Mali and Libya.

Fearing a spillover from the Mali conflict, Libya recently announced that its southern borders would be closed and the southern region would become a sealed military zone.

But this has failed to prevent the rebels from entering Libya as they withdraw from Mali. Despite the government announcement, those who live in the south have seen no real strengthening of Libya’s borders, and no major reinforcement of the overstretched border guards. The guards, lacking good vehicles or observation posts, are unable to prevent the rebel move into southern Libya.

“We can’t do much about it,” said Kalmi Ramadan, head of a human-rights group in southern Libya. “We don’t have the ability to stop them. We don’t have the resources to control the borders. There’s no army or anything, no support and no equipment. Nobody is guarding the border, except the same people as before.”

Mr. Fadel agrees, noting that Libya’s southern borders are thousands of kilometres long. The attempt to seal off the south “doesn’t really make sense,” he said. “It’s not possible to close the border.”

So, will France (aided by whom?) want to stretch its forces all the way across to Darfur? Or, having expelled AQIM from Mali, for the moment, will it declare victory and go home and have a nice big parade down the Champs-Élysées?

 

[Monsoon]

So, will France (aided by whom?) want to stretch its forces all the way across to Darfur? Or, having expelled AQIM from Mali, for the moment, will it declare victory and go home and have a nice big parade down the Champs-Élysées?

I'm guessing the latter; their offensive in Mali was clearly not geared towards containing the AQIM forces, just dispersing them to be dealt with another day somewhere else (and, presumably, by someone else). Maybe that's not the worst approach, if you consider that the options are to either do some sub-Saharan housekeeping every few years, or to entrench a politically costly permanent position spread across north Africa.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I'm guessing the latter; their offensive in Mali was clearly not geared towards containing the AQIM forces, just dispersing them to be dealt with another day somewhere else (and, presumably, by someone else). Maybe that's not the worst approach, if you consider that the options are to either do some sub-Saharan housekeeping every few years, or to entrench a politically costly permanent position spread across north Africa.

:goodpost:

I think you're right on both counts.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I also expect that life in those northern hills will make life in the Hills of Afghanistan look like paradise. If your enemy spends 9/10th of the day surviving, it's a worthwhile investment. The Turaeq are the key, the more France and allies can do to keep them separate from the AQ types the better for everyone.

Seems that the hills do have a bit of water and lots of caves which few people know about, however the supply source for people hiding out there are the passing caravans. So I can see a Khyber Pass scenario. Special  guards to patrol the pass and protect the caravans which allow the Tureaq some economic stability and access to markets. To the south are the salt mines which are only liveable for 6 months of the year and anyone staying longer needs imported water due to the saline content of the domestic supply. The mines are still a major economic factor in Northern Mali. Frankly the area seems ripe for a split following the main river Niger into two countries. This would remove a lot of the conflict and make Mali more governable. It's interesting though to see the difference in the living conditions in Northern Mali to Southern Algeria using Panorama pictures on Google Earth. Algeria has clearly invested far more in the southern infrastructure than Mali has for the North. 

 

[a_majoor]

Walter Russell Mead looks at these developments. If, as Edward thinks, the French declare victory and go home, then they will have avoided the "bad" part of the war. IF they stay and try to root out the AQ, like T6 would desire, then the French would be caught in the proverbial quagmire, and any military/political strategy to defeat radicals and radicalism in North  Africa would require action from the Atlantic to the Red Sea to succeed:

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/02/10/the-going-gets-tough-in-mali/

France Pounds Sand In The Sahara

France is now bombing the Sahara.

When French and Malian forces captured the town of Kidal last week, Islamist militants lost control of the last major town in northern Mali. Yet the battle continues despite France’s success at capturing the cities as the militants have moved to the vast, empty mountains in the north. African and French forces have begun to push forward to flush the Islamists out of their last desert strongholds, but they’re discovering that fighting in this inhospitable terrain is considerably more difficult than the urban combat they’ve seen so far. The New York Times reports:

    The few Westerners who have traveled in this inaccessible region bordering Algeria say it differs from Afghanistan in that the mountains are relatively modest in size. But its harsh conditions make it a vast natural fortress, with innumerable hide-outs.

    “The terrain is vast and complicated,” said Col. Michel Goya of the French Military Academy’s Strategic Research Institute. “It will require troops to seal off the zone, and then troops for raids. This will take time.” [...]

    The French military has been flying fewer sorties over the region in recent days, “from which I deduce a lack of targets,” said a Western military attaché in Bamako, Mali’s capital, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “They are just not finding the same targets. Clearly they are hiding better and dispersing more widely.”

The fun part of the Mali war is over, but the war itself has only just begun. The bombing raids that wipe out enemy formations, the fall of cities, the parades with the kisses and flowers: All that is pretty much over and done with, but the enemy survives and will be heard from again.

The Malian government remains a pathetic shambles; the Malian armed forces make Italy look like Prussia, and the French lack the will and the capacity for successful desert warfare in the high desert. Trying to work out a political settlement that gets the Tuareg on board against the religious nutcases is the best strategy, but neither the Malian government nor its neighbors welcome that prospect.

The new strategy of the radical jihadis is to insert themselves into areas where states are weak and the terrain favors guerrillas. Right now that includes Syria as well as remote wastelands in places like the mountains of the Sahara—and of Afghanistan. Normally the world would not care which cliques of bandits control various inaccessible valleys and mountainsides out in the back of the beyond, but the ideological, financial and personal ties among these groups makes their presence difficult to ignore, and their capacity to take advantage of any vulnerabilities (like the political meltdown in Mali) means that we and our allies face the prospect of getting sucked into one campaign after another.

Meanwhile the radical ideology spreads in stressed out Arab countries where the Arab Spring is leaving a legacy of weak states and economic failure. Add that to the radicalization of religious feeling caused by the Sunni-Shi’a conflict throughout the Middle East and it’s an ugly mess.

Things are not looking good. On the one hand, at the moment there is not a lot that these people can really do; they can’t stand up to hostile armies in the field and they don’t (yet) have the capacity to take power in major countries like Egypt or even Syria. But they are successfully recruiting, training and equipping more fighters, and the unsettled conditions in much of the region favor the growth of their movement. We can’t win, but we can’t walk away. From Mali to Afghanistan that pretty much describes America’s strategic position right now; it is not the worst spot to be in, but it is certainly not the best.

Posted in Africa, Europe, Middle East, Quick Takes

 

[The Bread Guy]

Some of the latest from some Committee testimony....

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird declared Tuesday that Canada won’t “get into another Afghanistan” as he defended the Harper government’s refusal to do more in Mali.

“We are not, at the drop of a hat, going to get into another Afghanistan in this region,” Baird told members of the Commons’ foreign affairs committee. “We will reflect on Mali before we make any decisions.”

This came as Conservative committee members repeatedly pointed to a recent opinion poll showing Canadians don’t want Canada more involved in the conflict that has embroiled the West African nation.

But opposition critics responded by charging the Conservatives with selling out on their “principled foreign policy,” while one of this country’s most respected former diplomats lamented Canada’s limited role to-date.

“We can do more, and our friends in Mali deserve more,” said former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Robert Fowler ....

National Post/Postmedia News, 12 Feb 13

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he has no interest in hearing any direct advice from former Canadian diplomat and one-time al-Qaeda hostage Robert Fowler.

"He obviously had a distinguished record as a former diplomat ... I can tell you I have one better than that: I have the entire foreign service, diplomatic team at the Department of Foreign Affairs that I count on and rely on," Baird said Tuesday as he testified before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.

"I'm not going to get into a debate with a former diplomat."

Four years ago, Fowler and fellow Canadian diplomat Louis Guay came face to face with that threat when they were kidnapped and held for 130 days by the Islamic Maghreb, the al-Qaeda linked group in Mali.

Prior to the minister's testimony, Fowler told the all-party committee of MPs that Baird hasn't asked to meet him to hear about his unique perspective on the al-Qaida linked terrorist threat in West Africa.

"Mr. Baird has not sought my advice," he said in response to a question from NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar. "I have had chats with other people in the government, particularly shortly after I came back."

Fowler has been critical of the Harper government, which he maintains is not doing enough to help French and African forces in Mali, where the same terrorists behind his abduction recently gained a foothold in the northern part of the country before being driven out ....

CBC.ca, 12 Feb 13

 

[The Bread Guy]

The Government of Canada announced today that it will extend its support of France’s mission in Mali for an additional month.  At the request of the French Government in early January, the Canadian Armed Forces contributed a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-177 Globemaster III strategic airlift aircraft in support of Operation Serval, the French mission in Mali, and will continue to provide this support until March 15.

“Canada is committed to standing with our international allies in a fight against extremists and to making a positive contribution to regional and international security,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence. “The work of our well-equipped Canadian men and women in uniform, in support of our Government's intent, is helping to stabilize the security situation in Mali and beyond.”

"Canada is very pleased to support our French allies and the good work they and African forces are doing to combat extremism in Northern Mali," said Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. "Some questioned the need for this type of military asset at the time our government purchased it. The example of recent days and weeks proves the worth of this type of heavy-lift capability and the wisdom of the government's decision to invest in it for the Royal Canadian Air force." 

Operation Serval is conducted under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2085 which authorizes the deployment of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali and calls upon the international community to support this mission and the Malian Security and Defence Forces.

Air Task Force Mali consists of one CC-177 Globemaster III and approximately 40 Royal Canadian Air Force personnel including flight and maintenance crews from 429 Transport Squadron and air movement traffic technicians from 2 Air Movements Squadron, both from 8 Wing Trenton. Since January 17, a total of 27 flights of more than 194,000 kilometers were conducted airlifting more than 765,000 kilograms of military equipment and personnel in support of Operation Serval ....

DND/CF Info-machine, 14 Feb 13

 

[Journeyman]

Prior to the minister's testimony, Fowler told the all-party committee of MPs that Baird hasn't asked to meet him to hear about his unique perspective on the al-Qaida linked terrorist threat in West Africa.

Maybe Fowler should go on a fish broth and KFC hunger strike.  :nod:

 

[GAP]

Maybe Fowler should go on a fish broth and KFC hunger strike.  :nod:

He may have had something significant to add at one time, but now it's just a whine..... :

 

[Edward Campbell]

Mr Fowler's views are well enough known. In fairness, his general view that we, the US led West, should address Africa's many and varied problems before they become crises is sensible if politically naive. His specific views on AQIM are based on his own, solitary experience and cannot, in my estimation, form, on their own, a solid base for policy.

Mr Fowler deserves respect for his accomplishments and intellect not for having been a hostage.

 

[Journeyman]

Mr Fowler deserves respect for his accomplishments and intellect not for having been a hostage.

Agreed, but his "disbelief" that John Baird wouldn't seek him out for his opinion comes across as simply Chief Spencer'esq whining.


Baird was quite correct in saying,

"He obviously had a distinguished record as a former diplomat ... I can tell you I have one better than that: I have the entire foreign service, diplomatic team at the Department of Foreign Affairs that I count on and rely on," Baird said Tuesday as he testified before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.

"I'm not going to get into a debate with a former diplomat."

 

[cupper]

Agreed, but his "disbelief" that John Baird wouldn't seek him out for his opinion comes across as simply Chief Spencer'esq whining.


Baird was quite correct in saying,

"He obviously had a distinguished record as a former diplomat ... I can tell you I have one better than that: I have the entire foreign service, diplomatic team at the Department of Foreign Affairs that I count on and rely on," Baird said Tuesday as he testified before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.

"I'm not going to get into a debate with a former diplomat."

Ouch! That's really going to leave a mark.  :nod:

 

[The Bread Guy]

From the attached EU Info-machine statement - more at the EUTM Mali mission page here....

"The Council today launched the EU mission to support the training and reorganisation of the Malian Armed Forces. An advance party has arrived in Bamako on 8 February and will start the expertise and advisory tasks in the coming days. Military instructors are planned to be deployed before the end of March.

The operation, launched in the framework of UN Security Council resolution 2085 (2012), is an integral part of the EU's comprehensive approach to the situation in Mali and the Sahel. It is intended to help improve the military capacity of the Malian Armed Forces in order to enable them, under civilian authority, to restore the country's territorial integrity.

(....)

EUTM Mali will provide advice and military training to the Malian Armed Forces, including on command and control, logistics and human resources as well as on international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and human rights. The mission will not be involved in combat operations.

Brigadier General François Lecointre from France is the EU mission commander for around 500 staff. The common costs of the operation are estimated at € 12.3 million for the initial mandate of 15 months. The headquarters will be in Bamako while training is to take place in Koulikoro ....

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I suspect those C-17's over the years are going to earn us a lot of favours over the next couple of decades. To be honest I wonder if we got enough?

 

[Journeyman]

I suspect those C-17's over the years are going to earn us a lot of favours over the next couple of decades. To be honest I wonder if we got enough?

Well, at least our C-17s, like our CH-146s, can deploy anywhere in the world. 

Apparently our CF-18s are tied to 3-star (or better) accommodations ...even in a gruelling hell-hole like southern California.  : 

I guess that's why they could go to Italy, but not Afghanistan where the rest of the CF was fighting a war.  Thankfully we could rely on the USAF and the RAF, which have fully-deployable air forces.

 

[57Chevy]

RIP
Condolences 


French soldier dies in clash with radicals in north Mali, France's president says

The Associated Press 19 Feb

PARIS - A French soldier was killed on Tuesday in a clash with jihadists in northern Mali where the French are in the midst of a critical operation, President Francois Hollande announced.

A Defence Ministry statement said that nearly 20 extremists have been killed in the ongoing fighting.

The death of the French Foreign Legionnaire brings to two the number of French killed since France, Mali's one-time colonial ruler, launched a military intervention on Jan. 11 to push out militants who had taken over the African country's vast north. A helicopter pilot was killed on the first day of the intervention.

The operation in a mountainous region where extremists are holed up is in its "last phase," the president said.

"At this moment we have special forces who are in the north of Mali and who are intervening in a zone that is particularly delicate, which is the Ifoghas mountain range, where terror groups are holed up," he said during a visit to Greece.

"There was a serious clash with several deaths on the side of the terrorists, but also a death on the French side," Hollande said, adding that the soldier killed came from a Legionnaire parachute regiment.

The French-led operation is aimed at preventing the extremists, who are inspired by radical Islam, from taking over all of Mali and destabilizing the west African region.

                                      Article shared with provisions of The Copyright Act