Malian government troops drove back Islamist rebels from a strategic central town right after France intervened on Friday with air strikes to halt advances from the militants controlling the country's desert north.
Western governments, specifically former colonial electrical power France, had voiced alarm following the al Qaeda-linked rebel alliance captured the town of Konna on Thursday, a gateway in the direction of the capital Bamako 600 km (375 miles) south.
President Francois Hollande stated France wouldn't stand by to observe the rebels push southward. Paris has repeatedly warned the Islamists' seizure on the country's north in April gave them a base to assault neighboring African nations and Europe.
"We are faced with blatant aggression that is definitely threatening Mali's incredibly existence. France are unable to accept this," Hollande, who just lately pledged Paris wouldn't to meddle in African affairs, stated within a New Year speech to diplomats and journalists.
The president stated resolutions from the United Nations Protection Council, which in December sanctioned an African-led military intervention in Mali, meant France was acting in accordance with global law.
In Washington, a U.S. official informed Reuters the Pentagon is weighing selections in Mali, such as intelligence-sharing with France and logistics assistance.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed that France had carried out air strikes against the rebels to stop them conquering the entire of Mali. He refused to reveal additional facts, including irrespective of whether French troops had been within the ground.
France's intervention straight away tipped the military stability of electrical power, with Malian government forces immediately sweeping back into Konna, based on neighborhood residents.
"The Malian army has retaken Konna with all the enable of our military partners. We're there now," Lieutenant Colonel Diaran Kone informed Reuters, including the army was mopping up Islamist fighters inside the surrounding region.
EU SPEEDS UP DEPLOYMENT
A military operation had not been anticipated until eventually September on account of the complications of instruction Malian troops, funding the African force and deploying through the mid-year rainy season. Nonetheless, Mali's government appealed for urgent military help from France on Thursday soon after Islamist fighters took Konna.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton referred to as on Friday for "accelerated global engagement" and mentioned the bloc would speed up ideas to deploy 200 troops to train Malian forces, at first anticipated in late February.
The capture of Konna through the rebels - that have imposed stringent Sharia Islamic law in northern Mali - had brought about panic between residents from the towns of Mopti and Sevare, 60 km (40 miles) on the south. Calm returned, even so, immediately after residents reported Western soldiers and foreign military aircraft arriving late on Thursday at Sevare's airport - the primary a single while in the area.
Military analysts explained the Western soldiers could are actually the very first deployment of French unique forces.
They voiced doubt, nevertheless, irrespective of whether Friday's action heralded the commence in the last operation to retake northern Mali - a harsh, sparsely populated terrain the dimension of France - as neither the tools nor ground troops have been prepared.
"We're not nonetheless with the large intervention," stated Mark Schroeder, director for Sub-Saharan Africa examination for your international threat and protection consultancy Stratfor. He mentioned France had been forced to act once the Islamists bore down on Sevare, a very important launching point for long term military operations.
"The French recognized this was a red line they couldn't permit to get crossed," he mentioned.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
Greater than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a track record being a bulwark of democracy within a a part of Africa improved identified for turmoil - an picture that unraveled within a matter of weeks following a military coup final March that paved the way in which for that Islamist rebellion.
Mali is Africa's third greatest gold producer in addition to a important cotton grower, and property to your fabled northern desert city of Timbuktu - an ancient trading hub and UNESCO Globe Heritage web site that hosted yearly music festivals ahead of the rebellion.
Interim President Dioncounda Traore, beneath stress for bolder action from Mali's military, declared a state of emergency on Friday. Traore will fly to Paris for talks with Hollande on Wednesday.
"Every Malian should henceforth take into consideration themself a soldier," Traore stated on state Television, calling on mining and telecoms corporations to contribute towards the war hard work. He mentioned he requested French air assistance using the blessing of West African allies.
The chief of operations for Mali's Defence Ministry stated that Nigeria and Senegal have been amongst another nations supplying military assistance around the ground. Fabius explained these nations had not taken portion within the French operation.
A spokesman to the Nigerian air force stated planes had been deployed to Mali for any reconnaissance mission, not for fight.
The French foreign ministry stepped up its protection alert on Mali and elements of neighboring Mauritania and Niger on Friday, extending its red alert - the highest degree - to incorporate Bamako. France has eight nationals in Islamist hands from the Sahara right after a string of kidnappings.
A spokesman for al Qaeda's north African arm AQIM urged France, inside a video posted on the net, to reconsider its intervention. "Stop your assault against us or you happen to be digging your personal sons' graves," stated Abdallah Al-Chinguetti.
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