NIAMEY/BAMAKO (Reuters) -
Chadian forces advanced towards the Mali border on Tuesday as an African
troop deployment and a U.S. military airlift swelled international
support for French operations against Islamist rebels occupying the
north of Mali.
The aim of the intervention is to prevent northern Mali from
becoming a launchpad for international attacks by al Qaeda and its local
allies in North and West Africa. Fears of this increased sharply after a
hostage-taking raid by Islamist militants last week on a gas plant in
Algeria.
Military experts say the swift and effective deployment of
African forces is crucial to sustain the momentum of a French air
campaign against the Islamists and prevent them melting away into empty
desert or rugged mountains near the Algerian border.
An armored column of Chadian troops, experienced in desert
operations, rumbled north from the Niger capital Niamey on the road to
Ouallam, some 100 km (60 miles) from Mali's frontier, where Nigerien
units are already poised to cross.
France, which launched air strikes in Mali 11 days ago to stymie a
surprise Islamist offensive toward the capital Bamako, has urged a
swift deployment of the planned U.N.-mandated African force to back up
its 2,150 soldiers already there.
The number of French troops could be boosted to more than 3,000
in the coming days and weeks, a source with knowledge of the matter said
on Tuesday.
An entry into Mali from Niger by part of the African force would
widen the front of operations against the Islamist alliance in the north
that groups al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and the Malian militant
groups Ansar Dine and MUJWA.
On Monday, French and Malian armored columns moved into the towns
of Diabaly and Douentza in central Mali after the rebels who had seized
them fled into the bush to avoid air strikes.
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