Chadian forces advanced towards the Malian border yesterday as an African troop deployment and a US military airlift swelled international support for French operations against Islamist rebels occupying the north of Mali.
An armoured column of Chadian troops, experienced in desert operations, moved north from the Niger capital Niamey on the road to Ouallam, some 100 kilometres from the Malian border, where Nigerian troops are already stationed.
France, which launched air strikes in Mali 11 days ago to halt a surprise Islamist offensive towards the capital Bamako, has urged a swift deployment of the planned UN-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 yesterday.
The aim of the intervention is to prevent northern Mali from becoming a launch pad 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 on a gas plant in Algeria.
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 armoured 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. Diabaly is only 350 kilometres north of Bamako, while Douentza is 800 kilometres away from the riverside capital.
Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou, who visited the troops at Ouallam, condemned the Islamist alliance and an imam said prayers for the troops.
“We are going to war. A war imposed on us by traffickers of all kinds, an unjust war, from which the peaceful citizens of northern Mali are suffering terribly,” Issoufou told the forces.
“I am confident in your burning desire for victory.”
France says its troops will remain in Mali until they have completely dislodged the Islamist fighters from the north and fair elections can be held in its former colony.
In support of France, the United States has started transporting French soldiers and equipment to Mali from the Istres air base in southern France.
Washington yesterday completed the fifth of an estimated 30 flights in an airlift expected to run for about a week.