[VIDEO/PHOTOS/INT] CONFLICT IN MALI

[Crusader74]

TIMELINE- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13881978
A chronology of key events:
11th century - Empire of Mali becomes dominant force in the upper Niger basin, its period of greatness beginning under King Sundiata in 1235 and peaking under Mansa Musa who ruled between 1312 and 1337 and extended empire to the Atlantic.

Moussa Traore took power in a 1968 coup and ruled until 1991
14th-15th centuries - Decline of the Empire of Mali, which loses dominance of the gold trade to the Songhai Empire, which makes its base in Timbuktu - historically important as a focal point of Islamic culture and a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route.
Late 16th century - Moroccans defeat the Songhai, make Timbuktu their capital and rule until their decline in the 18th century.
19th century - French colonial advance, and Islamic religious wars which lead to creation of theocratic states.
1898 - France completes conquest of Mali, then called French Sudan.
1959 - Mali and Senegal form the Mali Federation, which splits a year later.
Independence
1960 - Mali becomes independent with Modibo Keita as president. It becomes a one-party, socialist state and withdraws from the Franc zone.
1968 - Keita ousted in coup led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore.
1977 - Protests erupt following Keita's death in prison.
1979 - New constitution provides for elections; Traore re-elected president.
1985 - Mali and Burkina Faso engage in border fighting.

Mali used to be on the route of the gruelling Paris to Dakar rally
1991 - Traore deposed in coup and replaced by transitional committee.
Democracy
1992 - Alpha Konare wins multiparty elections to become Mali's first democratically-elected president.
1995 - Peace agreement with Tuareg tribes leads to return of thousands of refugees.
1999 - Former President Moussa Traore sentenced to death on corruption charges, but has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Konare.
1999 October - Several people killed in fighting in the north between members of the Kunta tribe and an Arab community over local disputes.
2000 February - Konare appoints former International Monetary Fund official Mande Sidibe prime minister.
2001 December - Manantali dam in southwest produces its first megawatt of hydro-electricity, 13 years after it was completed.
Amadou Toure
2002 April - Amadou Toumani Toure elected president by landslide. Poll is marred by allegations of fraud.
2002 September - France says it will cancel 40% of debts owed to it by Mali, amounting to some 80m euros ($79m, £51m).
2002 October - Government resigns, without public explanation. New "government of national unity" is unveiled.
2003 August - Clashes between rival Muslim groups in west kill at least 10 people.
2004 April - Prime Minister Mohamed Ag Amani resigns and is replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga.
2004 September - Agriculture minister says severe locust plague has cut cereal harvest by up to 45%.
2005 June - World Food Programme warns of severe food shortages, the result of drought and locust infestations in 2004.

Mali's popular annual Desert Festival - described as a Saharan Woodstock - was moved closer to Timbuktu because of security concerns
2006 June - The government signs an Algerian-brokered peace deal with Tuareg rebels seeking greater autonomy for their northern desert region. The rebels looted weapons in the town of Kidal in May, raising fears of a new rebellion.
2007 April - President Toure wins a second five-year term in elections.
2007 July - The ruling coalition, Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), strengthens its hold on parliament in elections.
Rebel activity
2007 August - Suspected Tuareg rebels abduct government soldiers in separate incidents near the Niger and Algerian borders.
2008 May - Tuareg rebels kill 17 soldiers in attack on an army post in the northeast, despite a ceasefire agreed a month earlier.
2008 December - At least 20 people are killed and several taken hostage in an attack by Tuareg rebels on a military base in northern Mali.
2009 February - Government says the army has taken control of all the bases of the most active Tuareg rebel group. A week later, 700 rebels surrender their weapons in ceremony marking their return to the peace process.

Conflict in the north of the country prompted thousands to flee
2009 May - Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda.
2009 August - New law boosts women's rights, prompts some protests.
2010 January - Annual music event - Festival in the Desert - is moved from a desert oasis to Timbuktu because of security fears.
Terror challenge
2010 April - Mali, Algeria, Mauritania and Niger set up joint command to tackle threat of terrorism.
2012 January - Fears of new Tuareg rebellion following attacks on northern towns which prompt civilians to flee into Mauritania.
Continue reading the main story
Political crisis - 2012

President is ousted in coup, Tuareg rebels and Islamists seize north of country

• Mali crisis: Who's who?

2012 March - Military officers depose President Toure ahead of the April presidential elections, accusing him of failing to deal effectively with the Tuareg rebellion. African Union suspends Mali.
2012 April - Tuareg rebels seize control of northern Mali, declare independence.
Military hands over to a civilian interim government, led by President Dioncounda Traore.
2012 May - Junta reasserts control after an alleged coup attempt by supporters of ousted President Toure in Bamako.
Pro-junta protesters storm presidential compound and beat Mr Traore unconscious.
The Tuareg MNLA and Islamist Ansar Dine rebel groups merge and declare northern Mali to be an Islamic state. Ansar Dine begins to impose Islamic law in Timbuktu. Al-Qaeda in North Africa endorses the deal.
2012 June-July - Ansar Dine and its Al-Qaeda ally turn on the MNLA and capture the main northern cities of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao. They begin to destroy many Muslim shrines that offend their puritan views.
2012 August - Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra forms a new government of national unity in order to satisfy regional demands for a transition from military-dominated rule. The cabinet of 31 ministers includes five seen as close to coup leader Capt Amadou Sanogo.
2012 Autumn-Winter - Northern Islamist rebels consolidate their hold on the north. They seize strategically important town of Douentza in September, crossing into the central part of Mali and closer to the government-held south-west.
Continue reading the main story
Enigmatic leader

The radical Islamist group Ansar Dine was founded by Tuareg rebel Iyad Ag Ghaly

• Iyad Ag Ghaly profile

2012 November - The West African regional grouping Ecowas agrees a coordinated military expedition to recapture the north, with UN and African Union backing. Preparations are expected to take several months.
2012 December - Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra resigns, allegedly under pressure from army leaders who oppose plans for Ecowas military intervention. President Traore appoints a presidential official, Django Sissoko, to succeed him. The UN and US threaten sanctions.
French intervention
2013 January - Islamist fighters capture the central town of Konna and plan to march on the capital. President Traore asks France for help. French troops rapidly capture Gao and Timbuktu and advance on Kidal, the last major city in the north. European countries pledge to help retrain the Malian army.

January 10:
Some 1,200 Islamists capture the government-held central town of Konna and say they will push farther south, after several days of clashes with the army.
- Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore asks France for help.
- Witnesses say that foreign troops and weapons have begun arriving by transport plane at an army base in Sevare, just 43 miles from Konna.
- January 11:
Related Articles

• Mali crisis in pictures
  15 Jan 2013
• Mali: African troops due to arrive in days
  15 Jan 2013
• British military 'could be sent to Mali to support EU training'
  14 Jan 2013
• Mali: al-Qaeda have numerous options for retaliation
  14 Jan 2013
• Islamist fighters in Mali seize control of southern town in daring counter offensive
  14 Jan 2013

Malian government troops launch an offensive against Islamist rebels.
- French President Francois Hollande confirms French troops are actively supporting the offensive by Malian forces.
- The 15-nation west African bloc ECOWAS gives its go-ahead for the immediate deployment of troops.
- January 12:
Mali's army retakes control of Konna after one of the worst clashes with Islamists since the start of the crisis. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announces the death of a French helicopter pilot in the battle. The clashes kill around 100 Islamists, according to the Malian military.
- January 13:
France keeps up airstrikes on Mali, targeting Islamist bases in the northern regions of Gao and Kidal.
- Four French Rafale fighter jets bomb targets near the town of Gao, which has been controlled by Al-Qaeda offshoot the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), destroying rebel training camps and logistical bases, according to the French defence ministry. More than 60 jihadists are killed in Gao and its outskirts, according to residents.
- French President Francois Hollande says the intervention has stopped a southward rebel advance seen as threatening the capital Bamako, but stresses France's mission is not over.
- Benin and Togo follow Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal in promising troops. Britain says it will send aircraft for logistical support.
- Algeria has authorised French warplanes to use its airspace for bombing raids on Mali, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says.
- January 14:
Islamists seize the town of Diabaly in government-held territory, 250 miles north of the capital. They vow to "strike at the heart of France".
- French warplanes pound Islamist positions in the town of Douentza in central Mali.
- Rebels abandon key northern bases under pressure from French airstrikes. Residents in the towns of Gao, Douentza and Timbuktu report all Islamists have fled, though an Ansar Dine spokesman calls it a "tactical retreat".
- Ethnic-Tuareg separatists say they are ready to support the French military intervention by taking on Islamist rebels on the ground.
- NATO says it supports French efforts but that the alliance has received no request for assistance.
- Nigerian troops will arrive in Mali "before next week", announces President Goodluck Jonathan.
Source: AFP
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...nocean/mali/9801760/Mali-crisis-timeline.html

In Mali

Mali crisis: timeline

On the frontline in Mali

Mali crisis in pictures

France sends more troops to Mali as UN backs intervention

Mali: al-Qaeda have numerous options for retaliation

 

[Crusader74]

 

[Crusader74]

 

[Crusader74]

 

[Crusader74]

 

[Crusader74]

Up to 200 British military personnel could be deployed to West Africa to help train a regional intervention force for Mali, the Government has said, in a further deepening of the UK's involvement in the conflict to drive out Islamist militants.
Downing Street said the troops would be in addition to up to 40 personnel that Britain is offering to contribute to a European Union training mission to build up the Malian army.
In addition, the UK has offered to supply a roll-on, roll-off ferry to help transport heavy equipment to the French intervention force currently spearheading the fight against militants.
It will also allow allies such as the United States to fly air-to-air refuelling missions from British airbases in support of the French operation.
However an offer to establish a joint Anglo-French logistics headquarters in Mali to organise supplies to the French force has not been taken up by Paris.
With around 90 UK personnel already committed in the region with the RAF Sentinel surveillance aircraft and two C-17 transport aircraft already operating in support of the French mission, it could take the numbers involved to more than 300.
A spokesman for David Cameron said the Prime Minister remained adamant that British troops would not be involved in combat operations against the militants.

Mali shares its border with seven countries
Answering an urgent question from Labour in the Commons, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the deployment numbers and said the 200 British troops would assist Anglophone West Africa countries.
He said the role of UK soldiers "is clearly not a combat role and will not extend to a force protection role".
When pressed by the opposition party about exit strategies, Mr Hammond said he shared plans outlined by France that it should be a "short intervention to stabilise the situation on the ground".
The Defence Secretary added that Britain was "very clear" about the risks involved and the Government had "defined very clearly the support we are willing and able to provide to the French and Malian authorities".
The mission to train a West African force known as Afisma - which has been under consideration since late last year - was being discussed at a donor conference for Mali being organised by the African Union in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
British personnel will be involved in training troops from countries, such as Nigeria, which is expected to be one of the largest contributors to Afisma which is slated to take over from the French once their mission is over.
Speaking from the historic city of Timbuktu, which was taken by the French forces on Monday, Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford said British soldiers would help "bolster" the Malian forces, which she described as "very depleted".
Local troops had been unable to fight off militants entering Timbuktu last year and simply put down their weapons and fled - leaving the already armed radical jihadists with further weaponry.
Crawford added: "Malians themselves as an army have a reputation for being ill-disciplined, badly motivated and are accused in some towns of carrying out human rights abuses, so there's clearly a lot of training to be done there."
Looting and violence broke out in Timbuktu on Tuesday. Homes and businesses of suspected jihadist supporters were broken into as local residents vented their anger at the regime which had controlled the city until French troops moved in.
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy told Sky News that Labour supported the Government's decision to send troops to Mali for training purposes.
But Mr Murphy cautioned that the public were "wary" about military commitments after the UK's involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
http://news.sky.com/story/1044320/mali-conflict-british-troops-to-train-forces

 

[Crusader74]

Mali crisis: 330 UK military personnel sent to West Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21240676

French and Malian forces having been driving back Islamist rebels in the north of the country
Continue reading the main story
Mali: Divided nation

• 'Shadow war' looms
• In pictures
• Sahara terror
• Relief in Diabaly

The UK is to deploy about 330 military personnel to Mali and West Africa to support French forces, No 10 has said.
This includes as many as 40 military advisers who will train soldiers in Mali, and 200 British soldiers to be sent to neighbouring African countries, also to help train the Malian army.
French-led forces are continuing their offensive against Islamist militants who seized northern Mali last year.
International donors have pledged $455.53m (£289m) to tackle militants.
The 330 military personnel comprises of 200 to West African nations, 40 military advisers to Mali, 70 on an RAF Sentinel surveillance aircraft and 20 on a C17 transport plane. None will have a combat role.
A conference taking place in Brussels is expected to decide which countries will contribute troops for an EU military training mission for Mali and discuss details of the mission.
Meanwhile, French-led troops are consolidating their position in the historic Malian city of Timbuktu after seizing it from Islamist extremists. They are then expected to focus on the last rebel stronghold, Kidal. They seized Gao, northern Mali's biggest city, on Saturday.
In a separate development, Downing Street said UK Prime Minister David Cameron was to visit neighbouring Algeria on Wednesday.
The trip comes in the wake of a hostage crisis that left three Britons dead and three believed dead. During the siege, one statement purporting to be from the hostage-takers called for an end to the French military intervention against Islamist militants in Mali.
'What we can'
Detailing in the House of Commons the "extended support" the UK will offer France, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it would:

• Continue to allow the use of one of two C17 transport planes, which are already flying French equipment to and from Mali, for three months. The RAF has also provided a Sentinel surveillance aircraft
• Allow the US - which has been involved in airlifting French soldiers and equipment to Mali - to operate air refuelling flights out of Britain
• Offer a roll-on, roll-off Merchant Navy ferry to help transport equipment to the French force in Mali. It would dock at a port in a West African state to enable the kit to be moved across land to Mali
• Provide £5m to assist in the training of West African forces through two UN funds - £3m directed to Afisma (African-led International Support Mission to Mali) and £2m to support political processes in Mali

The UK also offered to set up a combined joint logistics HQ in Mali. However, so far the French have declined this offer.

UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond: "We do not envisage UK personnel fulfilling a force protection role"
UK shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said there were concerns about "mission creep".
"The UK commitment to Mali has grown from lending the French two transport aircraft to the deployment of perhaps hundreds of troops to the region," he said.
"UK trainers may be non-combat but that does not mean they are without risk."
But Mr Hammond stressed: "It is not our intention to deploy combat troops. We are very clear about the risks of mission creep.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis

Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent, BBC News
So does this move by the UK signal a new era of defence co-operation - the fruit of the defence treaty signed by Mr Cameron and the then French President Nicholas Sarkozy at Lancaster House just a few years ago? Well, yes and no.
British and French forces have already carried out a number of joint military exercises. They've also worked together in battle - most recently joining forces in the overthrow of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi.
But Libya was fought under the Nato umbrella. And Mali is clearly being led by the French. It's not a truly joint operation, or a sign that in the future Britain will always intervene with the French, or vice versa.
It's more an old fashioned "coalition of the willing", based on the shared threat posed by Islamic radicals. Ultimately British and French commanders are not sitting down together in a joint operations room calling the shots.
And when British troops do arrive on the ground in Mali - in relatively small numbers - they'll be working as part of an EU mission.
"We have defined very carefully the support that we are willing to provide to the French and the Malian authorities."
Number 10 is also considering who will provide "force protection" for the military advisers. At present, it is envisaged the force protection will not be provided by British soldiers. It is possible existing French forces in Mali could be used.
Former defence minister Sir Nick Harvey warned the number of personnel involved could rise if the UK had to provide its own force protection.
"If they (the military advisers) are spread out in different locations providing technical advice to different aspects of the Malian forces then those numbers will begin to climb quite rapidly," he said.
Military analyst Col Mike Dewar said the initial UK support was short-term but its latest offer of help constituted a "much more long-term plan".
It could take "years" for the British troops to make a difference to the "ill-trained" Malian army, he said.
The former head of the Army, General Sir Mike Jackson, backed the government's position but warned that nations involved may face a "protracted guerrilla warfare".

 

[Crusader74]

UN Officials Are Worried 200K Armed Libyan Rebels Could Join The Fight In Mali

Agence France Presse | Jan. 29, 2013, 4:49 PM | 305 | 3

• Email
• More

AFP
There are still 200,000 armed fighters in "revolutionary brigades" in Libya, a top UN envoy said Tuesday, expressing fears that Mali's conflict could spillover into the country.
Foreign governments have raised concerns about security in Libya and UN envoy to the country Tarek Mitri said France's military campaign in Mali had opponents in Libya.
"Opposition of armed radical groups to the military intervention in Mali may exacerbate the situation given ideological and/or ethnic affiliations as well as porous borders in Libya," Mitri told the Security Council.
He said that border security was a "concern" because of unrest in Libya, particularly around the eastern city of Benghazi, and "the possible impact of recent developments in Mali."
Mitri told reporters after the meeting there are up to 200,000 armed men in the revolutionary brigades that overthrew late dictator Moamer Kadhafi who are still not under government control.
He added that an estimated 7,000 prisoners are still being held in jails run by the militias since the fall of Kadhafi in 2011.
Mitri said more than 20,000 former revolutionary brigade militia are being trained to become police in state security forces and insisted government control is slowly improving.
But he acknowledged problems. "They know they cannot extend the authority of the state to the whole of Libyan territory, they are aware that they do not have the monopoly of the use of force," Mitri told reporters.
"Senior Libyan officials whom I met recently stressed their concern over the situation in the east and pledged to provide better security to the diplomatic community and the citizens of Benghazi," Mitri said.
Britain reaffirmed its security fears on Monday when it said it had identified a "potential threat" to its embassy in Tripoli, days after warning of a threat to Westerners in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Thanks Chopstick.

 

[dknob]

French Foreign Legion did a combat jump into TImbuktu.

200ish men deep.

 

[Soldado]

French Foreign Legion jump:

It is 2° REP, 3° CO.

http://2rep.legion-etrangere.com/modules/actualite_seule.php?id=211&block=1&titre=la-3-cie-intervient-au-centrafrique.
3° CO info: http://2rep.legion-etrangere.com/modules/info_seul.php?id=118&idA=30&block=16&idA_SM=25&titre=3--cie

 

[Soldado]

A 'Légionnaire' in Mali:

The 'Légionnaire' is from 1° REC.

A French Foreign Legion tank, 1° REC:

A video about 1°REC in Mali:

The 1° REC is the only one cavalry unit in the French Foreign Legion.

More info:

http://1rec.legion-etrangere.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Foreign_Cavalry_Regiment

 

[DA SWO]

France has C-130's?

 

[Soldado]

France has C-130's?

Yes... Are you a real SOF?

French Air Force Roundel:

 

[DA SWO]

Yes... Are you a real SOF?

French Air Force Roundel:

No, are you?

 

[Soldado]

Well, your profile says: 'Verified SOF' and no, I'm just a soldier . I was confused that a SOF didn't know that, that's all, mate.

Greetings.

 

[TheSiatonist]

French troops patrol on January 30, 2013 along the Niger river in the northern city of Gao, a key Islamist stronghold until it was retaken on January 26 by French and Malian troops in a major boost to the French-led offensive against the Al Qaeda-linked rebels, who have been holding Mali's vast desert north since last April. French troops on January 30 entered Kidal, the last Islamist bastion in Mali's north after a whirlwind Paris-led offensive, as France urged peace talks to douse ethnic tensions targeting Arabs and Tuaregs. AFP PHOTO/ SIA KAMBOU (Photo credit should read SIA KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images)

 

[Soldado]

A Légionnaire KIA in Mali:

Rest In Peace Warrior

http://www.defense.gouv.fr/operations/mali/actualite/mali-deces-d-un-soldat-francais -In French-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/19/french-soldier-killed-mali

 

[Soldado]