Mali: French Warplanes Assault Rebel Northern Town

Bamako---French warplanes have conducted air strikes in Mali’s far north region near the Algerian border in the push to reclaim the rebel stronghold of Kidal.

France launched its military intervention in Mali three weeks ago at the request of Mali government to beat back Islamist rebels controlling the northern part of the country, whose incursion southwards had raised security concerns for the wider region.

On Sunday, some thirty jets targeted the rebel training and communication centres around the mountainous town of Tessalit bordering Algeria.

Tessalit, about 200km north of Kidal is one of the main escape gateways into the Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains where the rebels have been hiding after being pushed out of major towns.

It is believed that seven French nationals Kidnapped in Algeria last month are being held hostage in the region, making the situation more elusive.

Thierry Burkhard, a French army spokesman in Paris said on Sunday that the air strikes targeted to destroy the bases and training camps reportedly used by the Islamists.

Last Wednesday the French troops captured Kidal’s airport from the Tuareg-led MNLA fighters who are still in control of the town. The separatist MNLA rebels want the creation of an independent state in northern Mali they call Azaward, a significant transit and smuggling corridor in the vast Sahara Desert.  

Malian interim leader Dioncounda Traore has offered MNLA in order to secure Kidal.

French President Francois Hollande has pledged to help rebuild mali once the military campaign to root out rebel operations in the north is over.

Mr Hollande said this following his Saturday tour of the northern city of Timbuktu, where he pledged more French support to Mali and vowed to help restore cultural sites in the town, destroyed by the rebels.

Timbkutu was recaptured by the joint Malian and French troops last week and is expected to be handed over to the African forces in Mali as soon as possible.

About 2000 troops from Chad and Niger have been deployed as part of the UN-backed regional led mission to Mali under the acronym AFISMA. A further 6,000 troops are expected to be deployed as part of the African force. Currently there are 3,500 French troops in Mali.

Kampala, Uganda

DR Congo Rebels say Peace Deal Possible by End of February

Rebels fighting in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo have said they expect to sign a peace deal with the government by end of this month in a bid to end conflict in the resource rich region.

The M23 rebels have been fighting government troops in eastern DR Congo since they deserted their ranks in the Congolese army over failed promises by the President Joseph Kabila government.

Bertrand Bisimwa, a spokesman for the M23 and a participant in the negotiations being held in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, said the talks have made substantial progress and they [M23] were “satisfied with the speed of negotiations.” 

"We still have a lot of business to cover, but if we keep this speed I think it's possible by end of February we'll have finished talks and signed an agreement," Bisimwa told the Reuters news agency in Kampala.

A spokesman of the DR Congo government in the talks Lambert Mende said was happy with the progress but expressed optimism over emergent demands by the rebels.

"We were hoping to have things finished by the end of February but M23 have made lots of capricious extra demands, which is slowing down the process," Mende said.

The Kampala negotiations were aimed to settle the wider economic, political and security concerns that were seen to divide rebels with the Kinshasa government.

The M23 movement comprised mainly of Congolese Tutsis, derive its name from the March 23 2009 peace deal that ended rebellions in eastern DR Congo and saw its fighters among those of other rebel movements integrated into the national army.

Led by General Bosco Ntaganda, the renegade soldiers deserted their ranks in the Congolese FARDC army in April over claims that the government had failed to honour the March 23 deal. This saw them advance through towns in the east and eventually capturing the regional capital of Goma

Calls for negotiations by east African regional group and mounting international pressure saw the group pull out of Goma and sit down for the talks which began in December. Over 500,000 people are believed to have been displaced in the recent fighting in eastern Congo that has threatened dragging back the region into war.

A dossier by the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts, accuses both Rwanda and Uganda of backing the M23 movement, claims that both countries strongly deny.