France Confirms Troops On Ground in Northern Mali

[Tim]

Dear world when the US says they want to send military trainers... say no.

You'd think it would be that easy, right?

[Tim]

Rights Group Accuses Mali Troops of More Summary Executions

Yet another human rights group is calling the Malian junta to account tonight for its troops being involved in summary executions of detainees, with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) claiming credible evidence for dozens of executions in Sevare, Mopti and Niono, all towns along the frontier with the rebel-held north.

Often the victims were people who arrived without state issued ID cards and were members of ethnic groups the junta identifies as supporting the rebels, leading to their detention as “infiltrators” and a quick execution without trial. In infrastructure-less northern Mali villages, many people never got such IDs in the first place.

The FIDH also reported that ethnic Tuaregs living in the capital had their homes attacked by the junta in recent days.

Mali Army spokesman Capt. Modibo Traore denied the allegation, which is a first for the junta. Previous reports of torture and summary execution were shrugged off, with Justice Minister Malick Coulibaly insisting that “no army in the world is perfect.”

The problem of the abuse of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is likely to grow as the French offensive against central and northern Mali continues, with air strikes and foreign troops forcing civilians to flee south into the lands of a junta whose troops would just as soon shoot them as anything.

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/23/righ ... xecutions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ry]

Lybia blow back = Mali Mali blowback = Algeria Algeria blow back = ?

[Tim]

Lybia blow back = Mali Mali blowback = Algeria Algeria blow back = ?

Eventually they'll just level the entire continent and be done with it. After they're done bleeding it dry of course.

[Tim]

They're melting, they're melting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuJDmjq-xQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mali: jihadist fighters melt away as French begin to regain control

Just two weeks after intervening in Mali, French troops, together with the Malian army, have wrested back control of most of the north of the country from Islamist rebels.

At the weekend the French seized back Gao – under jihadist control since last April – securing the airport and the bridge across the Niger river. Thousands of residents turned out to celebrate, shouting "Liberté!" and "Vive la France!" The French suffered no losses with around a dozen "terrorists" killed, the French defence ministry said. The rebels were said to have fled on foot, or by camel, since there was no fuel.

At the same time, a column of French troops were trundling serenely towards Timbuktu, the remote Saharan town that has been a magnet for the intrepid and the foolhardy since the 19th century. French and Malian troops reached Timbuktu's gates on Saturday, army sources said. The town's maze of mud-walled mosques and sand-blown streets was deserted. Fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that took Timbuktu last summer appeared to have left.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ja ... bels-north" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ry]

It should say the Malian army with French technology..

[Tim]

It should say the Malian army with French technology..

So basically the French army.

[Halfcrazedhoser]

It should say the Malian army with French technology..

So basically the French army.

Foreign Legion. Which is I suppose a more politically correct name for whatever handy mercenaries the French Government can get to do the dirty work for them.

[Tim]

My thoughts: I don't like Islamism, period. But they're also using rebel weapons from Libya and I think it's blowback for arming the nuts in the first place. You can't be surprised when they go into neighboring countries (with your weapons you gave them) and start acting like supremacists. That's what religious extremists do.

But now, instead of dealing with Muslim extremists, the Mali locals will have to live under a joint military operation under France/Mali government.

[Ry]

I would reluctantly choose the French over some Muslism fundamentalism.

Well the Twareg were pushed out of North Mali by America's Islamic mercenaries after the US staged a Coup in Mali. So now the people who actually live in Mali are out while the US puppet government and the French battle with the Sunni fanatics from Algeria and Libya all fighting to control a country that belongs to none of them. So of those occupying factions I would reluctantly choose the French.