Sunday, January 13, 2013

France starts a major military campaign in Mali and a rescue Op in Somalia - which was a badly bungled hostage rescue attempt - not only did they not rescue the hostage ( still alive and captive despite French statements he was killed , the French apparently left a commando behind..... ) But don't despair , bombing have undoubtedly succeeded in killing many Mali civilians

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-14/war-reverse-french-government%E2%80%99s-descent-unpopularity-hell

( Wag the dog...... )


A War To Reverse The French Government’s Descent Into Unpopularity Hell

testosteronepit's picture
Submitted by testosteronepit on 01/14/2013 20:45 -0500



Normally, the media would have given it priority: French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault have become more unpopular than ever before. But the poll was shoved into the background by France’s bombing campaign in Mali—which released an avalanche of positive comments and support from all sides, at least in France. With impeccable timing.
In a poll conducted on Friday and Saturday just before the Mali intervention, only 39% of the respondents had a positive opinion of Hollande, a new low, a plunge of 19 percentage points in seven months. A brief uptick in November had been a mirage. By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy, during the same period in his term (January 2008), was still riding high with an approval rating of 54%.
And poor Ayrault. He never even had an uptick. His ratings have gone straight to hell. Only the speed has varied from poll to poll. After seven months of watching his handiwork, only 35% of the French still have a positive opinion of him—down 21 percentage points since he took office. His predecessor, François Fillon, had never sunk this low.
“This raises the question of Jean-Marc Ayrault’s legitimacy,” explained the Institute LH2, which had conducted the poll. Even on the left, the “presidential and governmental action is not convincing....” He would soon have to be sacked.
Suddenly the intervention in Mali. A savior. It was triggered when jihadists, who’d taken over parts of northern Mali, started rolling south towards Mopti, the second largest city. It has an airport, and a paved highway to the capital Bamako about 400 miles to the south. Mopti would have been the staging point for taking Bamako. So the French started bombing jihadist positions and convoys.
The intervention has monopolized French media with talking heads and voices of all stripes, and with a tsunami of articles, overflowing with support for the operations.
Just before 11 p.m. Monday night, Ayraultemerged from a meeting at the Hôtel Matignon, his official residence, where he’d briefed ranking Members of Parliament. Steely-voiced, he told his compatriots: “Faced with the threat of terrorism, the government’s commitment will not weaken. I welcome the support shown by all political forces.”
Every detail was suddenly important. Hollande left for Abu-Dhabi and Dubai, but even while traveling, he’d make decisions. Nigerian troops were on their way to Mali and would be there next week. Algeria, which borders Mali along the northern edge, vowed to close its borders, as did Mali’s other neighbors. According to witnesses, about 30 French armored vehicles entered Mali from the Ivorian border town Pôgô.
Tuareg rebels, who took control of the northern territory of Azawad early last year and declared its independence, only to be sidelined or run off by jihadists, had their own announcement: they offered to support the French. “We’re ready to help, we are already involved in the fight against terrorism,” said a representative of their National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).
All day, there was similarly exciting stuff to talk about—and the much maligned Prime Minister may have finally found his footing. Even Marine Le Pen, head of the right-wing National Front, who has relentlessly hammered away at the government, and who berated both the Hollande and Sarkozy governments for minimizing the “mounting Islamic fundamentalism in France,” well, even she grudgingly called Hollande’s decision “legitimate.”
There were a few holdouts however. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, left-wing firebrand and 4th in last year’s presidential elections, grumbled: “The UN mandate stipulated that this was an African problem to be resolved by Africans.” Not known for mincing words, he added, “They’re grown-ups, they have real countries, but yet again we find ourselves going back to our old bad habits of intervening here and there on the continent. We haven’t learned a single lesson.” And he asked, “Which of the wars over the last 20 years that had to be undertaken with urgency, and that would have solved a problem, actually succeeded?”
On the right, Dominique de Villepin, career diplomat, Prime Minister under Jacques Chirac, and archenemy of Sarkozy, penned aneditorial that acknowledged the critical situation Mali found itself in when jihadists began rolling south, but... “Let’s not give in to the reflex of war for the sake of war,” he wrote. “The obvious haste, the déjà-vu of the arguments of the ‘war against terrorism’” worried him. “Let’s learn a lesson from a decade of lost wars, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya.”
Wars, he went on, “promote separatism, failed states, the iron law of armed militias.” He doubted that this war would lead to success; its goals were ill-defined, and France was fighting without a solid Malian partner. Pointing at the coups that had ousted the president in March and the prime minister in December, at the collapse of the divided army, and at the general failure of the state, he asked, “Who will support us?”


and....


http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16511476-french-to-send-1000-more-troops-to-mali-us-playing-supporting-role?litehttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-14/french-military-embarrassments-continue-insurgents-grab-more-territory-mali



French to send 1,000 more troops to Mali; U.S. playing supporting role

French soldiers from the 2nd Navy Infantry Regiment shortly after deplaning at an air base near Bamako, Mali, on Monday.
By Richard Engel and Robert Windrem, NBC News
France will send about 1,000 troops and armored vehicles to Mali over the next few days with the support of U.S military and intelligence operations,  upping the ante in its effort to turn back Islamic militants threatening to topple the north African nation’s government, U.S. national security officials told NBC News on Monday. 
French mechanized forces will join approximately 500 French troops already on the ground in the country, battling fighters from at least three Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The military escalation follows intense bombardment over the weekend  by French aircraft of Islamic militant positions in the country's north, where they effectively created an al-Qaida refuge late last year.
The French force will be aided by U.S. military and intelligence operations, the officials said. The U.S. will provide both transport and refueling capability for the operation as well as intelligence, including drones, the officials added. The U.S. Africa command, headquartered in Djibouti in East Africa, is coordinating the U.S. operation, said the officials.
The U.S. has been providing intelligence-gathering assistance — primarily spy satellites —  to the French in their assault on Islamist extremists, which began with a series of aerial attacks that began on Friday and continued through Monday. But French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Associated Press that the rebels fought back on Monday, overrunning the garrison town of Diabaly, about 100 miles north of Segou, the administrative capital of central Mali. 
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other U.S. officials told the AP early Monday that they would not rule out having American aircraft land in the West African nation as part of future efforts to lend airlift and logistical support.
Separately, U.S. officials in Washington told NBC News that, while there are no current plans for the U.S. to provide direct combat support — American combat forces on the ground or aerial combat support from manned aircraft or unmanned drones —  a small number of U.S. advisers could be tasked to work directly with French combat forces in non-combat roles.
Speaking to reporters traveling with him to Europe, Panetta said that while AQIM, and other affiliate groups in Mali may not pose an immediate threat to the United States, "ultimately that remains their objective."
For that reason, Panetta said, "We have to take steps now so that AQIM does not get that kind of traction."
The U.S. officials say France's big fear is that if they don't eliminate AQIM and other allied Islamic militant groups in Mali, it will become a terrorist safe haven, as Afghanistan and Yemen have been at various times over the past 20 years. Mali is a lot closer to Europe than either of those countries. Moreover, there are 200,000 Malians living in France, most of them in and around Paris. AQIM and other groups could, it is feared, recruit supporters from within that  community to launch terrorist attacks in France. France is not alone either, say the U.S. officials. Britain, Portugal and Spain fear AQIM attacks from Islamic militants in the Sahel region of North Africa as well.
"The ease with which individuals can move from North Africa to Europe makes such attacks a real possibility and are clearly the principal motivation for French action," said Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counter Terrorism Center and now a consultant to NBC News.
How did it begin?After U.S. and NATO forces helped topple Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, neighboring Mali imploded. First rebels in the north revolted, then the military carried out a coup against the government in Bamako. Amid the chaos, Islamic militants defeated breakaway rebels in northern Mali and last week began to advance on Bamako. That’s when the military-led government asked France to intervene.
On Monday the French continued bombing raids across Mali's north in an effort to root out fighters who seized control of a large chunk of the region starting nine months ago. French fighter jets bombed the airport, training camps, warehouses and other facilities used by the al-Qaida linked rebels.
"In some ways, this has been a long time coming," said Leiter. "The U.S. and France have been very focused on AQIM since at least … 2006.  … Also, in 2007, its major attack on Algerian troops caused significant alarm in Washington and Paris, spurring significant investment in intelligence collection, cooperation and increased military and diplomatic efforts."
The AQIM, a Sunni extremist group, was previously headquartered in Algeria, where Islamic militants clashed with  the government in a bloody war during the 1990s. The Algerians responded aggressively and pushed AQIM south to the border area with Mali.    
Since 2008, the Obama administration has partnered with the French, whose deep roots in the region go back more than a century when the area was part of French West Africa.
"The French had capacity that was hard to come by in D.C.," added Leiter. "This path produced some useful gains, but the French were often caught up with their elections and the like."
In recent years, AQIM became "very much focused" on low-level kidnappings of Europeans in Africa, bringing in tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and giving it the ability to move quickly into the power vacuum in Mali.  
AQIM is one of several Islamic extremist groups that have set up shop in northern and western Africa. U.S. officials point to recent cooperation between AQIM and Boko Haram, an al-Qaida operation in northern Nigeria, as another troubling development that pushed U.S.-French cooperation.  
Roger Cressey, who worked as deputy director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in both the Clinton administrations, said U.S. policy makers also are concerned that AQIM could form alliances with other groups.
"Key for U.S. policy makers is to provide support to the French that is consistent with our specific and limited interests in West Africa," he said. “The long- term concern has been that AQIM will interact with al-Shabab in Somalia and AQAP (al-Qaida on the Arab Peninsula) in Yemen and create a capability that threatens our interests beyond W Africa."
Although AQIM's links with al-Qaida's core in Pakistan have never been "especially operationally tight," noted Leiter, "It isn't clear that it matters much now. AQIM is basically operating independently."  So far, he added, AQIM has been very limited outside the region.






French Military Embarrassments Continue As Insurgents Grab More Territory In Mali

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2013 09:39 -0500




As reported over the weekend, late on Friday French forces launched a military campaign, consisting primarily of airforce incursions, designed to crush the "Islamic extremists" in the country in order to protect "European interests" (it is unclear what these may be). Parallel with this came the first humiliation for French military forces as a French helicopter pilot was killed nearly at the same time as the offensive was launched. But even more embarrassing was the bungled attempt to rescue a hostage in Somalia, in which the hostage is said to have died (by France at least, not his captors), while at least one French commando is also reported to have been left behind. Moments ago, AP reportedon the latest French military developments in Mali, which confirm that when it comes to the words "French military" and "success" will hardly ever be seen side by side.

To wit: "Despite intensive aerial bombardments by French warplanes, Islamist insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali on Monday and got much closer to the capital, French and Malian authorities said. In the latest setback, the al-Qaida-linked extremists overran the garrison village of Diabaly in central Mali, France's defense minister said in Paris. Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday the rebels "took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army that couldn't hold them back." In other words, "before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 680 kilometers (420 miles) away"... while "by now sweeping in from the west, they are now only 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Mali's capital, Bamako, in southern Mali." Yet another French military campaign stupendously executed.
More:
France is urging the "Africanization" of the conflict, encouraging African nations to send troops to fight the Islamic extremists. There have been promises, but no troops movements have yet been publicly announced.

Early Monday, an intelligence agent confirmed that shots rang out near the Diabaly military camp in what was still nominally government-held territory and that soon after, jets were heard overhead, followed by explosions. The agent insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

A Malian commander in the nearby town of Niono said the bombardments did not stop the Islamist fighters and that they occupied Alatona, and on Monday, they succeeded in reaching the north-south road which connects Diabaly to Segou, the administrative capital of central Mali.

The Islamist advance in central Mali came even after fighter jets late Sunday began dropping bombs in the rice-growing region of Alatona. At that point, a rebel convoy had been spotted 40 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of Diabaly, until recently the site of a major, U.S.-funded Millenium Challenger Corporation project.

French radio Europe 1 broadcast a telephone interview with Omar Ould Hamaha, a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, which controls part of northern Mali. In it he dared the French to "come down on the ground if they're real men. We'll welcome them with open arms," he said. "France has opened the gates of hell ... it has fallen into a trap much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia."
One can only hope the tide doesn't turn so much on the French that the "insurgents" make their way to Paris where the French army surrenders post haste.

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/13/france-malis-islamists-surprisingly-strong/


France: Mali’s Islamists ‘Surprisingly Strong’

Well-Trained, Well-Armed Rebels Awash in Libyan Arms

by Jason Ditz, January 13, 2013
Virtually the whole northern half of Africa is awash in weapons looted in the wake of the NATO war for regime change in Libya, and all those weapons are making the French invasion of Mali a lot less convenient than they’d figured.
“At the start, we thought they would be just a load of guys with guns driving about in their pick-ups, but the reality is that they are well-trained, well-equipped, and well-armed,” noted one French official. “From Libya they have got hold of a lot of up-to-date sophisticated equipment which is much more robust and effective than we could have imagined.”
They perhaps should have imagined this, as the Tuareg secessionists that initially took northern Mali did so with weapons from Libya, quickly overwhelming the Malian military. The Islamist factions then quickly defeated the Tuaregs. This makes it difficult to imagine why France would assume the group would be any worse armed than the Tuaregs were.
At any rate, France has sent only a few hundred ground troops, and is planning to rely on troops from Senegal and Niger for most ground fighting, while launching air strikes against the northern cities in the open-ended war. This means France will likely be able to pound the region at its leisure, barring significant anti-aircraft weapons having found their way into northern Mali, but any efforts to actually occupy it will be very much more difficult.



« Breaking News »

Islamists vow revenge for French Mali offensive
DEBKAfile January 14, 2013, 12:17 PM (GMT+02:00)

“France has attacked Islam. We will strike at the heart of France,” said a leader of an Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) offshoot Monday after Mali government forces with French air cover made inroads Sunday on Islamist-held territory in North Mali. Asked where they would strike, Abou Dardar told AFP by phone: "Everywhere. In Bamako, in Africa and in Europe." He also promised a statement later Monday on the eight hostages they are holding in the Sahel region.





« Breaking News »

Islamists counter French airstrikes, capture Diabaly in central Mali
DEBKAfile January 14, 2013, 9:22 PM (GMT+02:00)

Al Qaeda-led insurgents Monday struck the town of Diabaly which houses a Malian army base in government-controlled central Mali in retaliation for French airstrikes Sunday which targeted rebel positions near the town. The rebels fought with reinforcements from the Mauritania. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French bombardments had blocked the Islamist advance fromn the north to the east of Mali, but the situation in the west “remains difficult.”






and......






http://www.blacklistednews.com/France_Displays_Unhinged_Hypocrisy_as_Bombs_Fall_on_Mali/23555/0/38/38/Y/M.html


France Displays Unhinged Hypocrisy as Bombs Fall on Mali

January 11, 2013
Print Version
Source: Tony Cartalucci, BLN Contributing Writer
NATO funding, arming, & simultaneously fighting Al Qaeda from Mali to Syria.

(LD) - A deluge of articles have been quickly put into circulation defending France's military intervention in the African nation of Mali. TIME's article, "The Crisis in Mali: Will French Intervention Stop the Islamist Advance?" decides that old tricks are the best tricks, and elects the tiresome "War on Terror" narrative.

TIME claims the intervention seeks to stop "Islamist" terrorists from overrunning both Africa and all of Europe. Specifically, the article states:
"...there is a (probably well-founded) fear in France that a radical Islamist Mali threatens France most of all, since most of the Islamists are French speakers and many have relatives in France. (Intelligence sources in Paris have told TIME that they’ve identified aspiring jihadis leaving France for northern Mali to train and fight.) Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), one of the three groups that make up the Malian Islamist alliance and which provides much of the leadership, has also designated France — the representative of Western power in the region — as a prime target for attack."
What TIME elects not to tell readers is that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is closely allied to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG whom France intervened on behalf of during NATO's 2011 proxy-invasion of Libya - providing weapons, training, special forces and even aircraft to support them in the overthrow of Libya's government. 

As far back as August of 2011, Bruce Riedel out of the corporate-financier funded think-tank, the Brookings Institution, wrote "Algeria will be next to fall," where he gleefully predicted success in Libya would embolden radical elements in Algeria, in particular AQIM. Between extremist violence and the prospect of French airstrikes, Riedel hoped to see the fall of the Algerian government. Ironically Riedel noted: 
Algeria has expressed particular concern that the unrest in Libya could lead to the development of a major safe haven and sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other extremist jihadis.
And thanks to NATO, that is exactly what Libya has become - a Western sponsored sanctuary for Al-Qaeda. AQIM's headway in northern Mali and now French involvement will see the conflict inevitably spill over into Algeria. It should be noted that Riedel is a co-author of "Which Path to Persia?" which openly conspires to arm yet another US State Department-listed terrorist organization (list as #28), the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to wreak havoc across Iran and help collapse the government there - illustrating a pattern of using clearly terroristic organizations, even those listed as so by the US State Department, to carry out US foreign policy.

Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar noted a more direct connection between LIFG and AQIM in an Asia Times piece titled, "How al-Qaeda got to rule in Tripoli:"

"Crucially, still in 2007, then al-Qaeda's number two, Zawahiri, officially announced the merger between the LIFG and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM). So, for all practical purposes, since then, LIFG/AQIM have been one and the same - and Belhaj was/is its emir. "

"Belhaj," referring to Hakim Abdul Belhaj, leader of LIFG in Libya, led with NATO support, arms, funding, and diplomatic recognition, the overthrowing of Muammar Qaddafi and has now plunged the nation into unending racist and tribal, genocidal infighting. This intervention has also seen the rebellion's epicenter of Benghazi peeling off from Tripoli as a semi-autonomous "Terror-Emirate." Belhaj's latest campaign has shifted to Syria where he was admittedly on the Turkish-Syrian border pledging weapons, money, and fighters to the so-called "Free Syrian Army," again, under the auspices of NATO support.


Image: NATO's intervention in Libya has resurrected listed-terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate, LIFG. It had previously fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now has fighters, cash and weapons, all courtesy of NATO, spreading as far west as Mali, and as far east as Syria. The feared "global Caliphate" Neo-Cons have been scaring Western children with for a decade is now taking shape via US-Saudi, Israeli, and Qatari machinations, not "Islam." In fact, real Muslims have paid the highest price in fighting this real "war against Western-funded terrorism."
....
LIFG, which with French arms, cash, and diplomatic support, is now invading northern Syria on behalf of NATO's attempted regime change there, officially merged with Al Qaeda in 2007 according to the US Army's West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). According to the CTC, AQIM and LIFG share not only ideological goals, but strategic and even tactical objectives. The weapons LIFG received most certainly made their way into the hands of AQIM on their way through the porous borders of the Sahara Desert and into northern Mali. 
In fact, ABC News reported in their article, "Al Qaeda Terror Group: We 'Benefit From' Libyan Weapons," that:
A leading member of an al Qaeda-affiliated terror group indicated the organization may have acquired some of the thousands of powerful weapons that went missing in the chaos of the Libyan uprising, stoking long-held fears of Western officials.

"We have been one of the main beneficiaries of the revolutions in the Arab world," Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a leader of the north Africa-based al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM], told the Mauritanian news agency ANI Wednesday. "As for our benefiting from the [Libyan] weapons, this is a natural thing in these kinds of circumstances."
It is no coincidence that as the Libyan conflict was drawing to a conclusion, conflict erupted in northern Mali. It is part of a premeditated geopolitical reordering that began with toppling Libya, and since then, using it as a springboard for invading other targeted nations, including Mali, Algeria, and Syria with heavily armed, NATO-funded and aided terrorists.

French involvement may drive AQIM and its affiliates out of northern Mali, but they are almost sure to end up in Algeria, most likely by design. Algeria was able to balk subversion during the early phases of the US-engineered "Arab Spring" in 2011, but it surely has not escaped the attention of the West who is in the midst of transforming a region stretching from Africa to Beijing and Moscow's doorsteps - and in a fit of geopolitical schizophrenia - using terrorists both as a casus belli to invade and as an inexhaustible mercenary force to do it.




and......


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-13/france-launches-major-military-campaign-mali-bungles-hostage-rescue-attempt


France Launches Major Military Campaign In Mali, Bungles Hostage Rescue Attempt

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2013 10:18 -0500



Whether it is to serve as a diversion from the ongoing deterioration in the French economy (purchases of French sovereign bonds by the SNB implying "all is well" notwithstanding), to distract public attention from the recent humiliation (and backfire) of the socialist government's "tax the rich" campaign or for whatever other reason, is unclear for now, but what is clear is that over the past two days France has launched a major airstrike and military campaign against Islamist rebels in northern Mali, the pretext being that control of northern Mali by the rebels posed a security threat to Europe.
What is also clear is that even as France is protecting "European interests" deep in the heart of African darkness, elsewhere in Africa, the socialist country, whose military "expertise" is best known for building impassable fortifications all around perfectly crossable forests, suffered yet another offensive humiliation when not only was a hostage held by Somalian insurgents, al Shabaab, killed during an attempted rescue operation, but a commando from the "rescuing" team was allegedly left behind during the bungled operation. The cherry on top in president Hollande's first major foreign policy excursion is that the same insurgents subsequently released a statement that the hostage was perfectly safe, even as a French pilot was killed in the Mali airstrikes early on in the campaign, all of which probably makes France wish it had just stayed home.
From Reuters on what is set to be another major humiliation for the French "military machine":
French fighter jets bombed Islamist rebels in Mali for a third day on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting the arrival of a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France's dramatic intervention on Friday to bomb a convoy of heavily armed Islamist fighters sweeping southwards had stopped them from seizing Mali's capital Bamako within days.

Western countries fear Islamists could use Mali as a base for attacks on the West, forming a link with al Qaeda militants in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Le Drian said former colonial power France was carrying out continuous bombing raids against the alliance of rebel groups, which seized the country's vast desert north in April.


"There are raids going on now: there were some last night, and there will be more tomorrow," Le Drian told French television. "The president is totally determined that we must eradicate these terrorists who threaten the security of Mali, our own country and Europe."

A Reuters cameraman reported seeing on Sunday more than 100 French troops disembarking from a military cargo plane at Bamako airport, just on the outskirts of the capital.

Bamako itself was calm on Sunday, with the sun streaking through the dust enveloping the city as the seasonal Harmattan wind blew from the Sahara. Some cars drove around with French flags draped from the windows to celebrate Paris's intervention.

President Francois Hollande has made it clear that France's aim in Mali is to support the deployment of a West African mission to retake the north, endorsed by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.

A French pilot was killed on Friday when rebels in Mali shot down his helicopter.

Naturally, since Russia (or China) have no interest in preserving their geopolitical interest in the west-African republic, the UN has no problem with sanctioning a military operation over yet another sovereign. But at least it's democratic.
As for the parallel campaign staged by France several thousand miles east in Somalia, things did not turn out quite as good.
France sent special forces into Somalia to rescue a secret agent but insurgents apparently killed their hostage during the raid along with a commando, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday.

The intelligence agency team flew into southern Somalia by helicopter under cover of darkness to try to free Denis Allex, held since 2009, by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, on the same day France launched air strikes against Islamist militants in Mali.

"Commandos broke into where Allex was being detained last night and immediately faced strong resistance," Le Drian told a news conference.

"Intense combat took place, during which - and now I speak with caution - everything leads us to believe that Denis Allex was unfortunately killed by his captors."
...
The defence ministry said earlier that 17 Somali fighters were killed in a mission prompted by "the intransigence of the terrorists, who refused to negotiate for three and half years".

What is worse are reports from the locals that the hostage was not in fact killed, suggesting the French expedition merely used his death as a scapegoat to justify a retreat so prompt it may even have left one of its commandos behind:

Sowing confusion, Al Shabaab said in a statement that Allex was still alive.

A French commando died from wounds sustained in the Somali raid and a second was missing, Le Drian said.

Al Shabaab said in a statement that Allex was alive and being held at a location far from the base where French military helicopters attacked overnight.

"The injured French soldier is now in the custody of the mujahideen and Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle," it said. "Several French soldiers were killed in the battle and many more were injured before they fled from the scene of battle, leaving behind some military paraphernalia and even one of their comrades on the ground."
When asked about whether the missing commando was now in the hands of Al Shabaab, French Army chief Admiral Edouard Guillaud said: "If he is alive then he could be, but he could also be hiding."


Embarrassing or not, the French military campaign is merely doing the one thing all "developed, democratic" governments do when left with no other options: distract from problems inside the country. And as can be seen in the list below, France certainly has experience in protecting its national interests especially within its former African colonies:
  • 1991 - DJIBOUTI/ETHIOPIA - French troops based in Djibouti help check the Afar rebellion and disarm Ethiopian soldiers who cross the border after the overthrow of Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam.
  • 1994 - RWANDA - French and Belgian soldiers evacuate Europeans from Rwanda as Hutu hardliners massacre hundreds of thousands, mainly Tutsis. Later in the year some 2,500 French troops, backed by contingents from African countries, launch "Operation Turquoise", described as a humanitarian effort, from Zaire into eastern Rwanda.
  • 1995 - COMOROS - French forces crush a repeat coup attempt led by French mercenary Bob Denard against President Said Mohamed Djohar. About 200 French soldiers forced Denard to leave the Comoros and restored order after president Ahmed Abdallah's assassination by his guard in 1989.

  • 1996/97 - CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - French troops intervene to end army pay mutiny against President Ange-Felix Patasse.
  • 1997 - CONGO REPUBLIC - Some 1,200 French troops rescue French and African nationals during fighting between Congo army and supporters of military leader Denis Sassou Nguesso, now president again.
  • 2002 - IVORY COAST - French forces mount "Operation Licorne" to help westerners trapped by a military uprising which effectively cut Ivory Coast in two. In 2004 they destroyed Ivory Coast's small air force after government forces bombed a French base.
  • 2008 - CHAD - A new French intervention bolsters the regime of Chadian president Idriss Deby and evacuates foreigners during attacks by rebels who crossed from neighbouring Sudan.
  • 2011 - LIBYA - French planes are the first to bomb Muammar Gaddafi's forces in March after the United Nations voted to allow intervention in Libya to protect civilians caught up in a rebellion against Gaddafi's four-decade rule. NATO took command of the overall mission on March 31 which allowed Libyan rebels to defeat government forces and effectively seize power.

  • 2011 - IVORY COAST - French forces tip the balance alongside U.N. forces in the civil war which erupted after the refusal of Laurent Gbagbo to step down and accept the election victory of Alassane Ouattara as president.
  • 2013 - French aircraft pound Islamist rebels in Mali after they tried to expand their power base and headed towards the Malian capital, Bamako. France had warned that the control of northern Mali by the rebels posed a security threat to Europe. At the same time France mounted an unsuccessful commando raid to try to rescue a French hostage held by al Shabaab militants in Somalia, also allied to al Qaeda. The hostage was killed.
All of which leads us to one simple conclusion: expect some very ugly economic numbers out of France now that even Germany is expected to report the first leg of a full blown recession.

and......

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/01/2013112133154249167.html

France launches air strikes on Mali rebels

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters pushed back from key town, as French pilot dies and Hollande increases domestic security.
Last Modified: 12 Jan 2013 19:44
French airstrikes in Mali have halted the advance of Islamist rebels in the key town of Konna, France's president said.
Francois Hollande described the military action on Saturday evening, after West African nations had authorised the deployment of more troops to the country.
As more than 100 people - including rebels and government soldiers - were reported to have been killed in the fighting, Hollande vowed to step up security on French soil.
Earlier, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a French helicopter had been downed on Friday and that the pilot died of his wounds while he was being evacuated to safety.
The al-Qaeda-linked fighters, who have carved out their own territory in the lawless desert region of northern Mali over the past nine months, recently pressed closer to a major base of the Malian army.
"The threat is a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe," said Le Drian.
The fighting involved hundreds of French troops and overnight airstrikes on three rebel targets, said Le Drian, who added that a rebel command centre outside Konna was destroyed.
The French operation, which started on Friday in the former French colony, came after an appeal for help from Mali's president.
"It was only two months ago that [French President] Francois Hollande said there would be no combat troops on the ground," said Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Paris.
"By yesterday evening, he said not only were French troops being sent to Mali, but that they were already there. Things are moving incredibly fast."
A military official in Mali said the fighters had been driven out of Konna, but that the city, which was captured by the rebels earlier this week, was not yet under government control.
"We are doing sweeps of the city to find any hidden Islamist extremist elements," said Lieutenant Colonel Diarran Kone.

"The full recovery of the city is too early to determine as we do not yet control the city, and we remain vigilant."
'Urgency of the situation'
During a press conference on Saturday evening, Hollande said: "I remind you that France in this operation is not pursuing any special interest other than securing a friendly nation - and has no other objective."
Hollande on Friday had said the "terrorist groups, drug traffickers and extremists" in northern Mali "show a brutality that threatens us all". He vowed that the operation would last "as long as necessary".
He has said the operation is aimed in part at protecting the 6,000 French citizens in Mali, seven of whom are being held captive.
Sanda Abou Mohamed, spokesman for Islamist group Ansar Dine, told Al Jazeera: "The terrorist French military bombed Konna. The hospitals are now filled with the injured - women, children and the elderly are the main victims."
"It's impossible to know how many have been killed, but the number is huge," he said. "Only five of those killed were our fighters. The rest are all innocent civilians."
Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) commission president, said on Saturday that the bloc had authorised the immediate deployment of troops to Mali.
Ansar Dine spokesman and analyst comment on Mali
He said they made the decision "in light of the urgency of the situation".
ECOWAS did not say how many troops would be sent to Mali or when they would arrive. It also did not specify which countries from the 15-nation bloc would be providing the forces.
The organisation has been talking for months about a military operation to oust the rebel groups from northern Mali. While the UN approved a plan for deployment, it had not been expected until September.
Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Africa has been a presence for years in the forests and deserts of Mali, a country hobbled by poverty and a relentless cycle of hunger.
"The rebels in the North had decided to make a move," political analyst Sylvain Touati told Al Jazeera. "They had the footprint of soldiers who came back from Gaddafi's [army] to northern Mali ... with the momentum to make an offensive."
"Now the French army is trying to maintain the [previous] situation, and training together with ECOWAS for an offensive in the coming months."

and.....

http://www.france24.com/en/20130112-france-hollande-orders-tighter-security-mali-operation



President François Hollande has ordered security in France to be tightened following the launch of French military operations in Mali to combat Islamist rebels. A French special forces helicopter pilot was killed in the fighting on Saturday.

By FRANCE 24  (text)

  • Hundreds of French troops join Mali's fight against Islamist insurgents
  • France tightens domestic security in wake of Mali intervention
  • French helicopter pilot killed during operation to destroy Islamist command centre
  • Mali's army retakes control of the strategic central city of Konna
  • Militant group warns France that it will "pay the price" for its actions
  • Interim President Dioncounda Traoré to meet Hollande for talks next week in Paris
President François Hollande on Saturday ordered security to be tightened in France, including increased protections at public buildings and on transportation networks, following the launch of French military operations in Mali to combat Islamist rebels.
Mali’s militants warned France on Friday that it would seek revenge for its military involvement in the country.
“France will pay the price for this action,” a spokesman for the Islamist militants told FRANCE 24. “We are not weak. We have crushed France in Afghanistan. (...) We don’t have aircraft or missiles but we have our religious beliefs, which will guide us to victory, God willing.”
Hollande said on Saturday that France's mission in Mali – dubbed "Operation Serval" after an African wild cat – was to prepare the ground for a subsequent intervention led by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to oust the Islamists.
The Malian army was attacking the "last pockets of resistance" from Islamist insurgents in Konna after recapturing the town the day before with the backing of French air power, military sources said.
Konna, some 700 kilometres (400 miles) from the capital Bamako, fell on Thursday into the hands of insurgents who control the north of the vast West African country.
At least 100 rebels have so far been killed in the fighting, a Malian military spokesman said on Saturday.
A French helicopter pilot died of wounds sustained in an overnight operation that destroyed a rebel command centre.
Human Rights Watch said that at least 10 civilians had also been killed.

Syndicate contentFRENCH TROOPS JOIN MALI FIGHT

France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was compelled to act quickly to stop the Islamist offensive, which he said could allow “a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe”.
Hollande has said that France would not stand by to watch the rebels push southward. Paris has repeatedly warned that the Islamists’ seizure of the country’s north in April gave them a base to attack neighbouring African countries and Europe.
“We are faced with blatant aggression that is threatening Mali’s very existence. France cannot accept this,” Hollande, who recently pledged Paris would not meddle in African affairs, said in a New Year speech to diplomats and journalists on Friday.

“There’s absolutely no other major power who could act in the region on such short notice,” said Douglas Yates, a political science professor and Africa analyst at the American University of Paris. “France has prepositioned troops in this region; that has enabled France to act decisively – it stopped the advance.”


But Yates said the hundreds of French troops involved in the operation are not sufficient to retake the Islamist-held north. “This is a holding operation,” he said.
State of emergency
More than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a reputation as a bulwark of democracy in a part of Africa better known for turmoil - an image that unravelled in a matter of weeks after a military coup last March that paved the way for the Islamist rebellion.
Mali is Africa’s third-largest gold producer and a major cotton grower, and home to the fablednorthern desert city of Timbuktu – an ancient trading hub and UNESCO World Heritage site that hosted annual music festivals before the rebellion.
Interim President Dioncounda Traoré, under pressure for bolder action from Mali’s military, declared a state of emergency on Friday. Traoré will fly to Paris for talks with Hollande on Wednesday.


He said he requested French air support with the blessing of West African allies.
The chief of operations for Mali’s Defence Ministry said Nigeria and Senegal were among the other countries providing military support on the ground. Fabius said those countries had not taken part in the French operation.
The French Foreign Ministry stepped up its security alert on Mali and parts of neighbouring Mauritania and Niger on Friday, extending its red alert – the highest level – to include Bamako. France has eight nationals in Islamist hands in the Sahara after a string of kidnappings.

The families of the hostages said they feared for their loved ones. Jean-Pierre Verdon, father of a hostage, told FRANCE 24: “We are petrified. Actions are being taken very fast and the situation is extremely intense. We are sitting in front of the TV all the time.”


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