France24 has the story:
Latest update: 29/01/2013
A day after French and Malian troops gained control of Timbuktu from rebels, tensions were rising in the historic northern Malian city as hundreds of people broke into shops owned by ethnic Arabs and Tuareg on Tuesday in a backlash against perceived collaborators.
“After Timbuktu fell yesterday, the situation is now very different,” said FRANCE 24’s Matthieu Mabin, reporting from the centre of Timbuktu. “It’s a time of revenge here and we can see people – everybody, children, old men, women – attacking Arab shops in a misguided idea that those shops were linked to Islamist fighters, which is absolutely not true in many cases.”
According to Mabin, French and Malian troops around the city were stretched thin.
“At the moment, most of the Malian troops and all of the French troops are around the city to secure the battlefield,” said Mabin. “The war is not over around the region of Timbuktu. Hundreds of pickups [bearing rebels] left the city a few days ago. Some left just yesterday [Monday] morning. So, the Malian and French troops are very busy at the moment securing the area around the city.”
Human rights concerns mount
A vast, multi-ethnic West African nation, Mali is home to a variety of ethnic groups, including the Tuaregs and other ethnic groups of North African Berber origins, which comprise about 10 per cent of Mali’s total population of 14 million.
Signs of a backlash against the Tuareg and other lighter skinned groups – commonly called Arabs – were evident nearly 10 months ago in the capital of Bamako shortly after northern Mali fell to a motley mix of Tuareg and Islamist rebels.
In the wake of the French-led military intervention this month, there have been concerns of human rights abuses by the poorly trained Malian military.
Earlier this week, FRANCE 24’s Mehdi Chebil documented a case of Malian soldiers targeting an elderly man mistakenly assumed to have Islamist links in the central Malian city of Diabaly.
The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) is currently investigating cases of alleged summary executions by Malian soldiers of individuals believed to have links with the Ansar Dine Islamist group.
Responding to reports of looting and targeting of civilians in the newly liberated areas, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said France was in favour of rapidly deploying international observers to ensure that human rights are respected in Mali.
“Our troops have been told to show extreme caution in responding to acts of violence,” Ayrault told parliament on Tuesday. “I point out though that the International Committee of the Red Cross has not so far confirmed acts that have been reported on this subject by some non-governmental organisations,” he added.
But in a sign of the difficulties facing troops trying to secure northern Mali, Mabin noted that in some Timbuktu shops, he saw “some ammunition and weapons” being removed by Malian troops.
It was not known if the weapons confiscated from the Arab-owned shops were used or stored by Islamist militants.
International community issues pledges for Mali
The tensions in Timbuktu came as French President François Hollande called on African troops to be on the forefront of the mission to secure northern Mali.
“It is time for the Africans to take over,” Hollande told a news conference in Paris on Monday.
Hollande’s call came a day before an international donors conference opened at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tuesday.
According to a senior AU official, attending nations pledged $455.5 million for the United Nations-authorised, African-led Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA). The AU says AFISMA requires an initial budget of $461 million.
The pledges came from African nations such as Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Gambia, as well as developed countries such as the US, Japan, Germany and the UK.
In terms of force deployments, there are currently around 3,500 French troops and 1,900 African soldiers – including Chadians and troops from Niger – deployed alongside the Malian army. In total, some 8,000 African soldiers are expected, but their deployment has been hampered by funding and logistical problems.
Speaking in Addis Ababa Tuesday, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, head of the African Union Commission, noted that the situation in Mali requires a “fast and efficient” response because it “threatens Mali, the region, the continent and beyond”.
[...]
Meanwhile in Timbuktu, order was somewhat restored by Tuesday afternoon when Malian troops finally moved in.Electricity had not returned and residents said there was no water supply since water-pumps were not working. The telephone network has also not been in service over the past few days and there were still food shortages.
[...]
Video, photos, and much more coverage here.
BBC: French forces take Mali’s Kidal
31 January 2013 Last updated at 09:23 ET
French forces have secured the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last main stronghold of Islamist rebels in the region, military officials say.
Militant Islamist fighters had already left the town, near the Algerian border, and are believed to be hiding in the surrounding mountains.
The capture of Kidal came days after French and Malian forces retook the provincial capitals Gao and Timbuktu.
Nick Childs reports.
Also see:
a little pay back against the muzz. and so it is on the front line of the counter jihad in a language that the muzz understand.
You can absolutely be certain however, that those who did collaborated with the Jihadists were… Arabs. Islam is the AIDS virus of political systems.
Sorry for the early O/T, islam in it’s glory.
I won’t post more than the headline, which is horrible enough
Celebrity Saudi preacher who ‘raped’ and tortured his five-year-old daughter to death escapes with light sentence
.
This has got to be so conflicting for Obama.
He digs him some Arab Muslims, but he is not into “lighter skinned
groups.”
You know, “oppressors and white devils”and all of that.
Haven’t we seen this show before?
Chilling Video: Thousands of Neo-Nazis March Through Athens
It is interesting to note that confiscating weapons is viewed with alarm here, where they are possibly confiscating the weapons of potential terrorists, but Obama’s aims of strictly regulating who may and may not possess weapons isn’t viewed similarly skeptically.
@ coldwarrior:
It’s Sabra and Shatila all over again. It’s the Jews fault for pulling out so suddenly, and leaving the Muslims unprotected against the Christians who had been so systematically victimized by the Islamofascists who used them as fodder for their evil plans. This isn’t the first time in history that the tables have been turned on the Jihadists and we heard them screaming about human rights and all. People remember, and once they feel secure that the worm has turned, all bets are off.
@ Flyovercountry:
Before making any claims based on “human rights,” they should be required to prove that they are, in fact, human.
@ citizen_q:
These people grow in times like these like bacteria on a shower floor.
If the criteria is harboring a soul & basic decency,then they fail.
On the other hand, if the test is being grievance whores,perpetuating
& cheering atrocities and scaring Liberals to death to gain their
support, then they are super human.
@ Flyovercountry:
the world would be a very different place if the lebanese kateb were left to finsish off the muzz that time
@ Flyovercountry:
i have a sneaking suspicion that the foreign legion is purposely turning a blind eye if not encouraging this payback
Rodan won’t know who to cheer for here:
Heh! I agree no more Akins. It wasn’t so much his views (abortion is a homicide, even in the case of rape) as his ham-handed way of expressing them. But I am not so keen on Rove being the keeper of the keys here. I tend to agree that it is a cure worse than the disease. Akin needed to go, but Rove needs to go even more.
@ Iron Fist:
rodan’s head just exploded
Another reason to disdain on Paul.
@ coldwarrior:
Didn’t you read? They’re busy securing the battle field
MacDuff wrote:
Well said!
waldensianspirit wrote:
indeed!
coldwarrior wrote:
I am going to guess that the locals have a pretty good idea of who is who and what is what…
waldensianspirit wrote:
Just taking territory is not going to win this war if the French and their Allies are not killing great numbers of bad guys in the process.
RIX wrote:
i have to agree with the doctor in this last sentence:
“Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn’t make sense”
seriously, it makes no sense at all. in fact it seems downright foolish. i need to see some real hard data on this sort of treatment before i believe it works and is not in fact detrimental.
brookly red wrote:
NO!!!! really?
bbl, off to lowes…because home depot is too lefty.
its a buycott!
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
Wonder if Israel will complain about disproportionate use of force? ///////
coldwarrior wrote:
Curious, please explain when you get a chance.
coldwarrior wrote:
just a guess…
Funny of the day:
Next years Superbowl is going to be held at Motel 6. They will keep the lights on for us.
SciFiGuy wrote:
Incandecent bulbs? Stone the heretic!!!11ty!!
It does seem odd & it was a tragic mistake in this case.
But Ron Paul was gloating.
@ RIX:
Iwouldn’t think it’s the firing range so much as being around those with similar experiences and understand each other.
We don’t know the why’s yet and motive may be coming from something other than PTSD
Hmmmm, http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/biden-praises-french-militarys-incredible-competence-and-capability_699359.html
not sure what to make of this…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57567499-504083/chris-kyle-murder-eddie-ray-routh-iraq-war-vet-accused-in-shooting-death-of-ex-navy-seal-on-suicide-watch/
That’s true. There was a guy with some expertise on this morning.
His opinion was that the range makes sense because it is a shared experience.
This just went wrong.
darkwords wrote:
there will always be some paulbots, but this effectively ends his career
@ 13 Iron Fist: Rove is out of touch. If he was in touch he would be finding a touting a Tea Party candidate that represents a good candidate to him. He’s got that institutional thinking that is a few steps behind Obama’s institutional thinking. His days are done. I told myself if the GoP can’t get their s**T together this year then i need to invest my political time elsewhere. And they did much worse than I expected. I don’t expect they will do any better in 2016. Unless some grassroots change occurs and that is essentially tea party thought.
It should.
RIX wrote:
the guy was a seal sniper, not a mental health doc. of course the range seems an obvious place to go for him, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
his heart was in the right place. his brain? not in the right place.
Good on Tammy Bruce
@ coldwarrior:
There are reports the guy’s mother called on Chris Kyle to help her son
RIX wrote:
this is going to force politicians to speak up on military and veteran’s issues. Unfortunately much will be lip-service.
and the race begins. buh-bye argies.
this wont end well
@ brookly red:
The problem is that what’s not lip service will probably turn out to be counterproductive, since we’re talking about government.
waldensianspirit wrote:
that doesnt change the questionable treatment venue. just because the guy was doing the right thing doesnt mean he was doing it the right way
coldwarrior wrote:
just wait till it happens here…
New Thread.
lobo91 wrote:
True that but the notion that we need to spend our money on those that serve this country and not those who break into it is a worthy one.
Rodan wrote:
u need to see comment 13
@ brookly red:
i cant wait. let the mass lesson in economics begin!
@ Iron Fist:
A pox on both their houses.
@ coldwarrior:
Argentina did this back in the 80′s and it was a disaster. It’s such a shame, that nation should not be the mess its in. That means more Argies moving to Chile or Colombia.
Rodan wrote:
some peeps will never learn
@ Rodan:
The guy was a real dinger. He once hit his target at 1,100 yards!
citizen_q wrote:
I have that story blogged here too.
RIX wrote:
Yup.
brookly red wrote:
I’m old enough to remember when Nixon tried that.
Epic fail.
@ 1389AD:
I also remember Nixon’s ‘wage & price freeze’. It was a disaster. Businesses were quick to freeze wages and ignored the price freeze part…