Comment on No easy exit for French fighting terror in Mali

No easy exit for French fighting terror in Mali

No easy exit for French fighting terror in Mali Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 12:44 am, Monday, January 14, 2013 French authorities contend that Mali and its neighbors in West Africa, Europe and especially France are threatened by three radical organizations, including an al-Qaida affiliate, that control northern Mali and are looking to extend their grip to the crucial south and the capital of Bamako to set up a terror state. To avoid entrapment, "The purpose (of the French mission in Mali) has to be limited in scope but it has to have specific strategic purposes," said London-based security and terror analyst Sajjan Gohel. Hollande, not seen as a man of bold action, had for months rung the alarm bell about the dangers stalking unstable Mali, where a temporary government has led the poor west African country since a March coup d'etat. Islamist radicals who moved in to fill the power vacuum have whipped and amputated limbs of those they consider sinners, to force them to conform to their interpretation of Islamic law, and have destroyed the ancient tombs of local saints in cities such as Timbuktu. [...] by Sunday, hundreds of French forces were involved in a military operation in Mali, and Rafale fighter jets had bombed training camps and other installations near Gao, one of three cities held by the militants. [...] the real fear is that a state run by radical Islamists could spread the doctrine throughout the Sahel and do what al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the leading radical groups in Mali, has failed to do from its home base in neighboring Algeria — strike across the Mediterranean. At the moment, the threat is limited to Mali and potentially its neighbors — where terrorists can target western interests but lack the structure to do damage elsewhere, said Gohel said of the Asia-Pacific Foundation think tank. French authorities worry that the radicals could contaminate the diaspora of Malians in France and elsewhere, much as some Algerians in France took up the jihadist cause in the 1990s, sending weapons and money to Islamist insurgents in Algeria — and carrying out terrorist attacks in France.

 

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