IVORY COAST: Chad's president calls for quick reinforcements to Chadian troops fighting with Islamist rebels on Mali's northern border with Algeria, as he speaks at a regional summit in the Ivorian capital

Record ID: 182294

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Chad's president calls for quick reinforcements to Chadian troops fighting with Islamist rebels on Mali's northern border with Algeria, as he speaks at a regional summit in the Ivorian capital
  • Date: 27th February 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS SINGING ECOWAS ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA75OEQL21U0RWI7ZJPHH5BXCBG
  • Story Text: African troops must deploy more quickly to northern Mali where Chadian and French forces are engaged in fierce fighting with al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants, Chad's President said on Wednesday (February 27).
    Chad, which has now sent about 2,400 troops to Mali, has taken the brunt of fighting in the mountainous region of northern Mali losing 25 soldiers where the most hardline Islamists are believed to have taken refuge.
    France, which said Islamists' seizure of northern Mali last year was a threat to international security, hopes to start withdrawing its 4,000 troops from March but is waiting for the effective deployment of a U.N.-backed African mission, Afisma.
    As the battles on the border with Algeria continue, Chadian President Idriss Deby said the enemy is not waiting and asked for swift reinforcements.

    "We are calling ECOWAS' joint staff to be quicker in sending troops to the freed zones to protect the populations," he said.
    The Chadian death toll rose to 25 on Wednesday after a soldier died from his wounds in fierce fighting at the weekend in the Adrar des Ifoghas. Mali's army, expelled from the region in April by a Tuareg-led revolt subsequently hijacked by the Islamists, has yet to return to the country's far north.

    "To you, my Malian military brothers, your place is on the frontline to defend the integrity of the territory. We are waiting for you at the border with Algeria," Deby said.
    Some 70 percent of the 8,000 troops expected under the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma) have already deployed to Mali, according to its own figures.
    Regional heavyweight Nigeria has deployed some 1,200 soldiers in a bid to snuff out links between the alliance of Islamist groups in Mali, which includes al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM, and its home-grown Boko Haram militant movement.
    But most African units remain in southern Mali, leaving French and Chadian forces responsible for security in the recaptured northern towns and offensive operations in the mountain and desert wilderness near the Algerian border.
    An Islamist raid last week in Gao, the main city in northern Mali, was only repelled thanks to the intervention of French forces, despite the presence of Nigerien and Malian troops.
    Despite this week's casualties, Chad remained committed to the fight and would increase troop numbers if needed, Deby said.

    "The Chadian soldiers will stay as long as there are still jihadis in the area. The Chadian soldiers will stand alongside the African troops to completely wipe out these jihadis and by that I mean in the entire Sahel region," he said.
    The ECOWAS summit, which continues on Thursday, is expected to back calls from France and the United States for the mission in Mali to receive a U.N. peacekeeping mandate.
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