PARIS — France is entering the final phase of its military intervention in Mali after a lightning advance that quickly exposed the weakness of Islamist rebels holding the country's north, experts said.
But while the rebels may be on the run, they still pose a threat and much work remains to be done to flush them out of a vast cross-border desert region.
French forces on Wednesday entered Kidal, the last major town in their drive to rout Islamist fighters from northern Mali, days after the French-led capture of Gao and Timbuktu in a three-week offensive.
With the Islamists being driven from all their major strongholds, Paris is now hoping to wind down its intervention and hand the struggle over to African troops.
Experts said the speed of the French advance into Mali's north -- Kidal is nearly 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako -- has put paid to concerns that France was facing a potentially long and difficult battle against the rebels.
"Those who had exaggerated the Islamist danger in Mali were severely mistaken," said Eric Denece, director of the French Centre for Intelligence Research, a think tank.
"After a few days of fighting they became aware of their weaknesses and hit the road," he said.
Islamist groups took advantage of the chaos following a military coup in Bamako in March to seize the country's north.
France swept to Mali's aid on January 11 after the Islamists advanced south toward the capital, sparking fears the entire country would fall into their grasp and become a haven for extremist militants like Taliban-era Afghanistan.
Islamist insurgents retreating from the ancient Saharan city of Timbuktu have set fire to a library containing thousands of priceless ancient manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th century, in what the town's mayor described as a "devastating blow" to world heritage.
Hallé Ousmani Cissé told the Guardian that al-Qaida-allied fighters on Saturday torched two buildings where the manuscripts were being kept. They also burned down the town hall and governor's office, and shot dead a man who was celebrating the arrival of the French military.
French troops and the Malian army reached the gates of Timbuktu on Saturday and secured the town's airport. But they appear to have got there too late to save the leather-bound manuscripts, which were a unique record of sub-Saharan Africa's medieval history.
"It's true. They have burned them," Ciffe said, in a phone interview from Mali's capital, Bamako. "They also burned down several buildings. There was one guy who was celebrating in the street and they shot him."
He added: "This is terrible news. The manuscripts were a part not only of Mali's heritage but the world's heritage. By destroying them they threaten the world. We have to kill all of the rebels in the north."
The manuscripts were being kept in two different locations – an old warehouse and a new South Africa-funded research centre, the Ahmed Baba Institute. Both buildings were burned down, the mayor said. Asked whether any of the manuscripts might have survived, he replied: "I don't know."
The manuscripts survived for centuries in Timbuktu on the edge of the Sahara hidden in wooden trunks, boxes beneath the sand and caves. The majority are written in Arabic, with some in African languages, and one in Hebrew, and cover a diverse range of topics including astronomy, poetry, music, medicine and women's rights. The oldest dated from 1204.
Seydo Traoré, a researcher at the Ahmed Baba Institute, who fled Timbuktu last year shortly before the rebels arrived, said only a fraction of the manuscripts had been digitised.
"They cover geography, history and religion. We had one in Turkish. We don't know what it said."
Traoré told the Guardian that some rebels had been sleeping in the new institute where some of the manuscripts were kept. He said that they had also destroyed the shrines of more than 300 Sufi saints dotted around the city. "They were the masters of the place," he said.
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.
The number of troops from West Africa and Chad in Mali hit 1,000 soldiers, said French armed forces spokesman Thierry Burkhard on Monday. These troops form the basis of a force to fight Islamist rebels in the country.
The African-led contingent along with 2,150 French soldiers are helping the Malian army to push back al-Qaeda rebels peacefully, the French spokesman said. Meanwhile, the cargo planes from European nations, including the UK, have arrived in the country, as have supplies from the US.
West African leaders have been told they must "pick up the baton" in the military offensive to drive Islamist insurgents out of Mali.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France had been obliged to send in troops "very, very rapidly otherwise there would be no more Mali".
But he has told a meeting in the Ivory Coast that the deployment of African soldiers is now a priority.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara also called for more support for Mali.
He said "the hour has come for a broader commitment by the major powers and more countries and organisations... to show greater solidarity with France and Africa in the total and multi-faceted war against terrorism in Mali".
France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday that 2,000 troops were now on the ground in Mali, and the final total could top the 2,500 originally pledged.
The troops will stay in Mali for as long as necessary "to defeat terrorism" in West Africa, President Francois Hollande has said.
Islamist fighters on Friday withdrew from two towns in central Mali following French air strikes.
Officials say the Islamists have now left the southern town of Diabaly, which they took on Monday, while Mali's army has also recaptured Konna, which was seized by rebels triggering the French intervention.
BAMAKO, Mali — Khaira Arby, one of Africa’s most celebrated musicians, has performed all over the world, but there is one place she cannot visit: her native city of Timbuktu, a place steeped in history and culture but now ruled by religious extremists.
One day, they broke into Arby’s house and destroyed her instruments. Her voice was a threat to Islam, they said, even though one of her most popular songs praised Allah.
“They told my neighbors that if they ever caught me, they would cut my tongue out,” said Arby, sadness etched on her broad face.
Northern Mali, one of the richest reservoirs of music on the continent, is now an artistic wasteland. Hundreds of musicians have fled south to Bamako, the capital, and to other towns and neighboring countries, driven out by hard-liners who have decreed any form of music — save for the tunes set to Koranic verses — as being against their religion.
The exiles describe a shattering of their culture, in which playing music brings lashes with whips, even prison time, and MP3 and cassette players are seized and destroyed.
“We can no longer live like we used to live,” lamented Aminata Wassidie Traore, 36, a singer who fled her village of Dire, near Timbuktu. “The Islamists do not want anyone to sing anymore.”
In Malian society, music anchors every ceremony, from births and circumcisions to weddings and prayers for rains. Village bards known as griots sang traditional songs and poems of the desert, passing down centuries-old tales of empires, heroes and battles, as well as their community’s history. In this manner, memories were preserved from generation to generation, along with ancient African traditions and ways of life.
In current times, lyrics serve as a source of inspiration and learning, a way to pass down morals and values to youths. They have also been used to expose corruption and human rights abuses, and have helped eradicate stigmas and given a voice to the poor.
“In northern Mali, music is like oxygen,” said Baba Salah, one of northern Mali’s most-respected musicians. “Now, we cannot breathe.”
In March, amid a military coup that left the government in disarray, Tuareg rebels who once fought for Libyan autocrat Moammar Gaddafi joined forces with secessionists and Islamists linked to al-Qaeda. They swept through northern Mali, seizing major towns within weeks and effectively splitting this impoverished nation into two. Soon afterward, the Islamists and al-Qaeda militants took control.
They have installed an ultraconservative brand of Islamic law in this moderate Muslim country, reminiscent of Afghanistan’s Taliban and Somalia’s al-Shabab movements. Now, women must wear head-to-toe garments. Smoking, alcohol, videos and any suggestions of Western culture are banned. The new decrees are enforced by public amputations, whippings and executions, prompting more than 400,000 people to flee. The extremists also destroyed tombs and other cultural treasures, saying they were against Islamic principles.
The death of music was inevitable. It is, perhaps, Mali’s strongest link to the West. Musicians such as the late guitarist Ali Farka Toure, the Tuareg-Berber band Tinariwen and singers such as Salif Keita exported their music to the United States and Europe. They often collaborated with Western musicians.
Arby knows she could easily travel outside Mali for work. Her 2010 album, “Timbuktu Tarab,” was widely acclaimed in the West. She had opportunities to settle in the United States, she said.
But Mali is where she is most inspired, specifically in Timbuktu, she said.
“When I think of Timbuktu, I am lost,” said Arby, wiping a sudden tear that trickled down her cheek. “When I dream of Timbuktu, I wake up. When I think of Timbuktu when I am speaking, I stop speaking. My heart is broken. Timbuktu is everything to me.”
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