Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013

(Updates throughout.) 


 
   By Gabriele Parussini

PARIS--French troops continued their push into Mali's northern territories Wednesday, homing in on Kidal, the last large city under al Qaeda rule in the vast Malian section of the Sahara desert.

French soldiers were deployed overnight and took control of Kidal's airport, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. Their progression toward the city was slowed by a sand storm, he told French lawmakers at a Parliament hearing.

There was no report of combat, suggesting French troops didn't meet resistance from the Islamist militias who had seized the region in April last year.

Since launching a blitz offensive to regain Mali's northern half last week, French forces--followed by less-mobile Malian troops--have taken the cities of Gao and Timbuktu without significant fights. Each time, Islamist militants appeared to have gone into hiding, possibly biding their time to wage a guerrilla war.

French and Malian officials say the militants have sought refuge north of Kidal, in a massif as large as Michigan--the Adrar des Ifoghas--in which they allegedly have amassed fuel, weapons and ammunitions.

"It makes sense for the rebels to retreat," said Jean-Charles Brisard, a Paris-based terrorism expert. "They're taking the conflict where it best suits them: in the mountains."

Although military operations still were under way in the Kidal area on Wednesday, the French government urged Mali's authorities to open up a new, political front in its effort to regain the north.

Taking Kidal effectively would put Mali's central government back in control of all of the north's major cities. But some of these towns were strongholds of breakaway Tuareg groups, some of which are armed and have formed timely alliances with Islamist militias in the past.

"Malian authorities must engage without further delay in discussions with legitimate representatives of Northern populations and non-terrorist armed groups that recognize the integrity of Mali," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement Wednesday. "Only a north-south dialogue will lay the ground for the return of Malian state authority in the north of the country."

On Tuesday, Mali's Parliament approved a "road map" that mentions the need to set up a commission for national reconciliation.

Human rights activists have warned that ethnic tensions could flare up between Mali's Arab and light-skinned residents of the north and the darker-skinned southern population.

"The work for the Malian and foreign troops...is far from over, especially given the dangerously high levels of ethnic tension," Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, said earlier this week. "We've already seen reprisals against alleged collaborators and the flight into exile of thousands who fear for their lives."

Mali's military officials have said they were doing their best to prevent human-rights violations.

"This is a very disciplined army," Diarran Kone, spokesman for Mali's Defense Ministry, said earlier this week.

The French campaign began on Jan. 11 after the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants began to move toward towns in the country's center, closer to its capital, Bamako.

Mali's West African neighbors have pledged to dispatch 3,000 to 6,000 troops to support Mali's army, but their deployment has faced delays, and few troops are on the ground.

The French government has said it engaged troops in Mali because it was the only country in the region with enough troops and equipment to respond to Mali's call for help.

Still, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius repeated that Paris was eager to transfer responsibility of the campaign to the African force.

"Now it's up to African countries to take over," Mr. Fabius said in an interview with French daily Le Parisien on Wednesday. "We'll leave quickly."

Write to Gabriele Parussini at gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

30-01-13 1647GMT