Posted on 01/15/2013 9:06:48 AM PST by JerseyanExile
President Francois Hollande says more French troops are to be deployed in Mali to support the 750 in the country countering an Islamist insurgency.
Mr Hollande said new air strikes overnight had "achieved their goal". One target was the town of Diabaly, which rebels entered on Monday.
West African military chiefs are meeting in Mali to discuss how an alliance with the French will work.
France began its intervention on Friday to halt the Islamists' advance south.
Late on Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously backed the intervention.
Mr Hollande, on a visit to the French regional military base known as Peace Camp in Abu Dhabi, said: "For now, we have 750 men and the number will increase. New strikes overnight achieved their goal."
The French contingent is expected to rise to 2,500 in the coming weeks.
Some 30 French tanks and armoured troop transport vehicles also crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast on Monday with a helicopter escort, witnesses said.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Bamako says the French want ground reinforcements from West African allies as soon as possible.
Nigeria is set to lead the regional force, supplying 600 troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I understand Obama is going to sent US troops to Mali to assist the French as well.
May I remind you it was the French, under another democrat President that got us into Vietnam.
What is our national security threat from Mali?
How long before the French surrender and we have to take over
Send our kids over there to be slaughtered by islamists. At least the ones who survive have the statisfaction of knowing there’s a minimum wage part time job waiting for them at Walmart if they get home.
Send our kids over there to be slaughtered by islamists. At least the ones who survive have the statisfaction of knowing there’s a minimum wage part time job waiting for them at Walmart if they get home.
Al Qaeda is there.
So are several largely unexplored sedimentary basins - in other words, potential new oil-producing regions.
I suspect he is actually sending US troops to assist the Islamic Brotherhood, and the French are incidental.
Mr. niteowl77
Mali is 90% Muslim,1% Christian, and 9% "indigenous beliefs" according to the CIA Factbook. There really isn't a good side. I suspect the real conflict is tribal in nature.
Meanwhile, the southern tribes of Mali are black. So the Mali conflict is to some extent a race war.
The French didn’t get us into Vietnam, that was JFK on his own, not the two terms of Eisenhower, and the long gone France.
Ike refused French requests for assistance during the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
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