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AN AL-QAEDA-linked group has said it is ready for talks to free a French hostage in Mali as French-led troops advanced toward the Islamists’ northern bastions after recapturing frontline central towns.
The surprise offer from the Movement for Jihad and Oneness (MUJAO) came on the 16th day of a military operation led by France in its former west African colony to stop MUJAO and other Islamist groups pushing south towards the capital Bamako.
“The MUJAO is ready to negotiate the release of Gilberto,” said spokesman Walid Abu Sarhaoui, referring to Gilberto Rodriguez Leal, a 61-year-old French national of Portuguese origin who was kidnapped in western Mali on November 20.
“We Muslims can come to an understanding on the issue of war,” he added, without elaborating.
West African defence chiefs meanwhile met to review the slow deployment of regional forces to bolster the French-led offensive against Islamists at an emergency meeting in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan.
Although the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has pledged more than 4,500 soldiers, their deployment has been delayed by financing and logistical problems.
Chad, which neighbours Mali and is not an ECOWAS member, has promised 2,000 additional troops. They are grouping in Niger, Mali’s eastern neighbour, with 500 troops from Niger to open a new front against the Islamists.
The African Union said it would be calling on its members to bolster the strength of the African force.
The AU would also seek support from the United Nations for the operation, in the form of transport, medicine and field hospitals, peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters.
“We definitely know, based on the first assumptions… that the force size will have to be significantly augmented,” Lamamra told reporters.
While a fraction of the African forces have arrived in Bamako and are slowly deploying elsewhere, the French and Malian forces have done all of the fighting.
France has already deployed 2,300 troops to Mali and defence officials acknowledge the force will exceed 2,500 soldiers initially set as the upper limit.
Yesterday, the French and Malian forces captured Hombori, another northern town in their advance on the Islamist stronghold of Gao.
A Malian security source said the troops would press on to Gao. Along with Kidal and Timbuktu, it is one of the three major northern towns where the Al Qaeda-linked Islamists have imposed a harsh form of Islamic law (sharia) for 10 months.
To the centre, French-led forces who on Monday had recaptured the town of Diabaly were pushing northeast towards the town of Lere with the aim of taking control of Timbuktu, still further north.
In April last year, Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal were seized by an alliance of Tuareg rebels — who wanted to declare an independent homeland in the north — and hardline Islamist groups.
The Islamist groups include MUJAO, Ansar Dine, a homegrown Islamist group, and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, of which MUJAO is an offshoot.
The Islamists quickly sidelined the Tuaregs to implement their own Islamic agenda. They imposed a harsh interpretation of sharia law, flogging, stoning and executing transgressors, forbidding music and television and forcing women to wear veils.
But plans for a second front against the Islamists were hit on Friday when the insurgents bombed a key bridge at Tassiga which would have given African troops in Niger easy access to Gao.
Aid agencies have expressed increasing concern about the growing food crisis for civilians in the vast semi-arid north of Mali and the drought-wracked Sahel as a whole.
France has asked several Western countries and others to provide logistical support such as planes to allow aerial refuelling, sources close to Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
Britain, which has already contributed two C-17 transport planes to airlift military equipment, said it had sent a surveillance plane to aid operations.
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So what was the actual problem?!
None, just lazy journalists creating stories.
Scribbled on a 9 to make it look like an 8, the Donegal b@$tards!!!
With the addition of the extra two numbers the odds of winning are eleven million to two so the lotto is only won a maximum of eight times per year, lotto one & two maybe three times per year. So lotto definitely is a tax on people who are poor at maths.
Free publicity for the ailing lottery?
More & more people are doing their numbers in the bookies these days since ownership of OUR national lottery changed hands and they made it even more difficult to win a substantive prize.
Any stats to back that up.
Too true Frank much better payout for 2, 3 and 4 numbers in Ladbrooks i.e. €100 payout for a euro bet for 2 numbers on the Euromillions.
New operator tried to get out of paying. Plain and simple. Hope the winner enjoys it fair play.
On what basis ?
‘issues has arisen surrounding the payment.’
Glad everything has been sorted out. Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose.
Lifes to shrt too bee corecting misteaks one da jurnal.
None of us are immune to grammatical errors, or indeed, typos, as “Puts the incessant grammatical mistakes here into perspective is suppose” would attest to. I assume that you meant “…. into perspective, I suppose?”
Lol. Yip!
Curse of the too-smart everywhere. BUT the mistake has been corrected.
All the same, the standard of writing on The Journal is pretty low all round. The ‘Opinion Pieces’ rarely rise above Junior Cert essay level. The incessant typos and grammatical mistakes compound the impression that the site is not as well organised as it might be and that the quality of the writing isn’t really an issue for whoever runs it.
That aside, the Polls are particularly poor (as is frequently pointed out). Whoever compiles them should take a course in how to put a basic poll together.
To be fair though, these “journalists” earn a crust from writing. I think the expectation that even the headlines of the articles are grammatically correct is not unreasonable. The whole effort seems amateurish..
I agree with everything you type, but at the end of the day I see the journal.ie as a source of comedy ( with an agenda), and that’s ok. Just don’t take everything at face value. Except Mark Zuckerberg – he’s legit.
@ Andrew. Wasn’t expecting a bear to jump in there.
The lotto is a tax on fools.
Yeah, everyone in the know knows that blackjack is where the big money is made.
I’d have to agree. The standard of English is poor. The “journalists” and most of the followers seem to have failed primary level English and confined their post-primary reading to page 3 in the Sun, “mate”. It’s progress of a kind though. 100 years after the 1916 Rising we’re now just illiterate in one language rather than two.
Hope they dont hold out on my € 15 million after tonights draw.
Play the lotto and support Canadian pensioners…
Solicitors = opportunistic parasites
Good luck with making a will or buying a house so
Do it myself mate. ..hate those filth bags
I’m sure solicitor is pleased..maybe “Argues and Fibs” company no pun intended
If there’s anymore problems with paying the money, I’ll gladly accept it.
“Issues” normally equals “crooks”.
There are issues with your tax returns Mister Trump.
This is a private does to the charity. Trying to cut corners and sneeky tactic to not pay the winner. Along with the thousands that have lost out in funding. i.e. social and sports clubs.
have your say