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Eric Gaillard / Reuters
A woman waves to French soldiers Thursday as they head toward the recently liberated town of Diabaly. Some Malians are so grateful for the job the French have done routing Islamist insurgents, they say they hope the troops never leave.
DIABALY, Mali — Residents of Diabaly feared for their lives when French airstrikes pounded their small town in central Mali, shaking their homes and turning the pickup trucks of Islamist fighters into burning, twisted metal.
Despite that, they are grateful to France.
Children in bare feet and tattered T-shirts now play among the trucks' charred wreckage — a visible reminder that the town was the focus of the French-led war against al-Qaida-linked rebels bent on carving an Islamist state out of the Sahara.
"I've told the children not to play with the trucks, but I can't stop them," said Adama Nantume, a retired farmer whose home was blackened by the laser-guided airstrikes that landed yards from his door. "Everyone here is happy about what the French have done."
Diabaly, once a buzzing trading and agriculture hub, is now a forward headquarters for French troops piling into Mali since the Islamist rebels launched a dramatic offensive toward the capital in early January.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Manjou Cisse, 13, was wounded by shrapnel during fighting in Diabaly, which was recently liberated by French troops.
French airstrikes halted the Islamist advance and Paris has vowed to rid Mali's north of the militants for fear they will create a base for international attacks.
France has said its military will leave once the Islamists are defeated and Mali is returned to stability, with the aid of an African force.
But many Diabaly residents say they don't want them to go.
"I hope that the French stay for eternity. If they leave, I will leave," said Alou Gindou, a 46-year-old driver. "If it were not for the French, we would not be sitting here today."
Many residents waved and roadside boutiques flew the France's tricolor flag as a column of French armored personnel carriers, jeeps and supply trucks trundled north along the route from the capital Bamako to reinforce Diabaly on Thursday.
'Ground was shaking'
Nantume was sitting beneath his mango tree when the convoy of Islamist rebels first arrived and sped past him toward the center of town on the evening of Jan. 14, extending their reach south from their desert strongholds of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.
"Everybody panicked and people began to flee," he said. "I went into my room and crouched in a corner. Bullets were flying everywhere and hitting the house."
He said the airstrikes began not long afterward as night fell and lasted until the rebels melted away two days later.
"As the planes circled, the jihadists tried to hide their trucks and they hid some here next to my house. The ground was shaking, the air was filled will bullets, and there were explosions," he said, massaging his palms nervously. "The inside of the house was incredibly hot. I thought I would die."
Related:
Jihadists leave trail of destruction, brutality
Analysis: Why France is taking on Mali extremists
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Inb4 they surrender, jk lawl.
Or am I?
"If they leave, I will leave"
Therein lies the problem. They are not willing to stay and defend their own country. They also knew this was coming but put their heads in the sand. Now that it's out of control they EXPECT help from the West and criticise the U.S. for not doing more.
You pooped in your bed now lie in it.
Not only that, the West will bend over backwards to accept them as political refugees. No incentive to defend your country if you know someone else will improve your life merely by running away.
Kind of funny when the traditionally spineless French come to your aid. But, I suppose, under Obama we are destined for eternal marginalism. Where's the civil disobedience when we need it?
Funny if Obama had gotten us involved in Mail you would have been bitching that we should mind our own business.
Thank for your ignorance of the last two thousand years of military warfare, and for being a traditionally conditioned bigot and a disgraceful trash.
What do you base your description of heroic France as "traditionally spineless" come from? I'll tell your form where...traditional American ignorance of history. France did not become one the greatest powers in history by being "spineless" but like a typical dumb American you think world history began in 1776. France is admirable for not sticking its nose in everyone's business and only intervening militarily when the cause is clear and and the danger evident...unlike this pathetic country that thinks the whole world needs and wants them at every turn.
You dear people have no idea what you are talking about.
Robert Fowler, a Canadian diplomat who was kidnapped by al Qaida in the Islamic Magreb in 2009, said his captors told him their hope was to create an Islamic emirate that spanned Africa. Their goal was to spread chaos from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Fowler said: "They would tell me repeatedly that their objective was to extend the chaos of Somalia across the Sahel to the Atlantic coast. They believed that in that chaos their jihad would thrive".
From the military standpoint, the French had to act. More than 8,000 French citizens live in Mali, many of them in Bamako. And those militant groups were on the verge of seizing a militarily vital airfield in the town of Sevare. Had the field been overrun, it would have been enormously difficult for troops from France or UN- mandated West African force to have moved into Mali.
So, Oppan, my friend,
The French have come in hard and fast, with fighter jets flying sorties from southern France over Algerian airspace, helicopters coming in from bases in Burkina Faso, and special forces, navy infantry and Legionnaires from Cote d'Ivore, Chad, Burkina and France.
French officials expressed some surprise at the level of sophistication of the Islamic forces - well-armed, well-trained and experienced. In an early wave of the French intervention, one helicopter took heavy fire from small arms, and a pilot was killed; another French soldier remains missing. Malian casualties were heavy, and likely remain under-reported.
The West should stand behind the French, they face the same enemy that the U.S. is facing.
Agreed, the West needs to be more involved to keep the "disease" from spreading.
With all due respect to the well presented argument by Rafal, my final decision would have been to abandon Mali to whatever fate awaited it and let the Africans learn about the value of standing your ground and fighting whomever for your country.
The Palestinians have had to learn that lesson after having wiullfully accepted their fate as "refugees" for CENTURIES ... You do not see anyone abandoning their homes in Gaza or the west bank anymore no matter how many massacres are commintted against them.
What I'm trying to say is that this cultural development for the Malians is a necessary lesson and its eventuality is a free and safe Mali as opposed to "french interests" in Mali survivng intact and remaining "protected".
In its simplest form, leave Africa to the Africans and don't interfere for the saker of your financial interests. Remove your 6000 citizens and leave. Staying on the ground and protecting your interests is a clearly colonalist stance and the Malians will defeat the french long term because of this exact weak moral low ground.
Oh and finding the ONE Malian "driver" to say god bless the french in this "report" does not convince me. I know how the press works. They look and look for the ONE guy that they can use and in the process, WE are missing information that the reporter here decided to omit
I'm willing to bet that the majority of Malians want thye french OUT instead of what this report is trying to convince us....
What kind of lame army must you have if you're getting your butts kicked by the French?
France has one of the best military track records in the world.
What France are you talking about? Napoleon has been gone for a long time.
Frans, are those the tracks left when they flee?
Don't underestimate the French!
nyteshade!
So is it your too lazy, stupid or scared to defend your own home?
What is it with these third world countries who fail to raise up and fight for democracy, but expect others to die for them? Reminds me of NOW Vietnam that is ruled by one of the worlds worse dictatorships, but during the war so many Vietnamese supported the communists.
Maybe its that they are too poor? If anything its nice to see for once when one of these Western Armies decides to go into a country that the people actually want them there!! Oh and everyone ripping the French army just know that without the French there would be no USA and we would still be brittish!
Muslims killing Muslims. Muslims wanting the west in this case the French to stay and save them. If the French manage to free the Mali people of the "jihadists" the French should then watch their backs. Muslims don't mind using the west and then back stabbing them when they no longer need them. Remember Libya? Ever ask yourself why Saudi Arabia is connected to Al Quaida? Ever watch the videos on Muslim kids stoning Christians who dared to carry signs into their Dearborn Michigan Muslim day celebration. Watch and learn. If the west is wise they will draw the line and not let further expansion into countries not yet Muslim dominated and deport ten Muslims for every non Muslim that has been run off or murdered in a Muslim dominated country. Enough is enough.
I am tired of France-bashing by ignorant bigots. There would not BE a USA without French intervention against the British. The French navy saved our butts in the war of independence. Read a little history (assuming you can read) and educate yourselves.
France is the one European power that has never made war on the U.S. France suffered devastating loss of population and infrastructure in the first World War as much of it was fought on French soil. Germany set about building another war machine afterwards, France set about rebuilding their country. Thirty years later, the Krauts came over the border again and France could not sustain another apocalypse on their soil, especially once the Brits pulled their support. So the government capitulated--against the wishes of many citizens--and suffered grievously under Nazi occupation. There was absolutely some collaboration, but also a lot of enormous French intelligence and support. Not to mention the Allied soldiers behind enemy lines who were healed and returned to their outfits. Did you know that Paris had been re-taken by the French by the time the Allies arrived, b the way? Or would you rather just keep repeating what other morons have told you?
Did you know that the President of France was the first international head of state to visit the US after 9/11? Did you know that Parisians held a memorial for the American victims of 9/11 just days after the event?
Tea party nutjobs whine that France did not support us going into Vietnam or Iraq. Yeah. And both of those adventures turned out so well. Maybe we should have listened to them. Bush & Cheney & co had a better idea, didn't they?.
So STFU and stop crapping on our allies. Especially one that is right now fighting AQUIM thugs who are coming after YOU.
AMEN! You put into words exactly what I was thinking. It never ceases to amaze me how utterly ignorant Americans are about even countries that are undeniably US allies with so much common history. Its precisely the arrogance and ignorance of the typical American that makes them so disliked around the world and why I, though born and raised in this country, will NEVER call myself an American!
The main issue here is that Mali has not allowed its citizens to arm themselves against terrorist attacks, and essentially has no army of its own. The terrorists are opportunists and will attack any place where they know they will not meet resistance. This is the same situation as the US would be in if guns were outlawed. Then only criminals and terrorists would have guns, and we would have to rely on our own government to defend us, personally. It just cannot work that way.
These so-called "Jihadists" are leaving a bloody trail of misery across Mali and other parts of Africa - Just ask the Malian people!!
The spineless french ? You should read a few volumes on world history France has one of the top military forces for centuries.They got the job done and they can do it again ! And for the poor souls that can't discuss a subject from A-Z without degrading President Obama on every local,national or global event get a life.
The spineless french ? Read some volumes of history before making such a literally groundless statement the French have one of the best Military forces in history.They got the job done and they can do it again.And for the poor souls who can't write a line without bashing President Obama give us a break and get a life !