Mali: Government Agrees on Regional Bloc Deployment Plan

Bamako--Mali has agreed on a plan by the West African regional bloc to send troops to help reclaim the northern part of the country seized by Islamic separatists following a March coup.

On Sunday Malian Defence Minister Yamoussa Camara said Mali was now prepared for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) headquarters to be based in its capital, Bamako, following weeks of discussions seeking an end to the Malian crisis.

"Mali is currently in line with ECOWAS, after several clarifications," said Camara,

Paul Koffi Koffi , the Defence Minister of  Ivory Coast that currently chairs Ecowas welcomed the weekend agreement with Mali.

“We can say that Mali and ECOWAS are on the same page for troop operations on Malian territory," Koffi Koffi said.

Earlier interim President Dioncounda Traore had opposed having the 3,300-strong Ecowas regional troops in the country, worrying about foreign troops crowding Bamako, and had wanted them to provide only a supportive role.

Now, Ecowas awaits approval from the UN Security Council for intervention after an earlier call late last week by the Security Council on West African states to come up with a “feasible and actionable” military plan to counter the separatists who have raised fear of northern Mali becoming a potential launchpad for Jihadi actions.

The Tuareg-led MLNA rebels have been advancing through towns in the north since March, declaring the area  which they refer to as state of Azawad independent, where they have implemented harsh Islamic “Sharia laws.”

Renegade Malian troops led by Captain Amadou Sanogo launched a coup the same month against President Amadou Toumani Toure in what they claim was in response to the government’s inability to suppress the Tuareg-led rebellion.

The extremists allied to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been fighting for autonomy in north-eastern Mali since independence, a significant transit and smuggling point in the vast desert.

Mogadishu, Somalia

Kenyan Forces on Kismayu Airstrike  

Kenyan warship planes have carried out air raids at an airport in the Somali southern port city of Kismayo held by the Islamist al-Shabab group in their push for final take over of the last bastion held by the al-Qaeda linked militia.

Kenya army officials said the Tuesday airstrike had targeted an armoury at the airport used by al-Shabab, where no further information concerning the operation was provided.

 "Our forces have reached Kismayo with jets and they have destroyed the armoury and a warehouse used by al-Shabab at the airport," said Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan army spokesperson.

Residents in the area reported at least three heavy blasts near the airport where so far no deaths have been claimed. The al-Shabab has downplayed the impact of the bombing saying it had not resulted in any deaths.

"No one was killed and there was no property damage," Ali Mohamud Rage an al-Shabab spokesman told the AFP news agency. "The Kenyan airforce was maybe trying to boost the morale of its demoralised soldiers."

Kenyan troops who recently were integrated into the 17,000-strong African Union (AU) force launched an incursion inside Somali soil last October in seek of the al-Shabab which it blamed for a string of kidnappings in its territory that had dealt a blow on its tourism industry.

The Kenyan soldiers are still about 40km from Kismayo, as they prepare the final onslaught on the last bastion held by the group. UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has reported since last week hundreds of residents fleeing the port city either towards the capital, Mogadishu, or the Kenyan border.

Elsewhere Kenya Defence Forces and their Somali National Army counterparts have launched an investigation into an incident of killing of seven people in Jana Cabdalla village in the Lower Jubba Area.

The seven civilians all men, were reportedly shot dead by AMISOM troops on Sunday under unclear circumstance, same day after al-Shabab fighters had attacked a well in the village and wounded five civilians and a Kenyan soldier who were providing security to civilians in the area.

The AMISOM force continues to cushion the Somali government under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud from insurgent attacks from the fighters who have vowed militancy against the new government they say was formed by “enemies of Somalia.”

Several fighters from the group have recently denounced their allegiance with the terrorist group and decided to join the government forces following recent mounting attacks and territorial loss on the group.