MALI: Muslims in Bamako prayed for peace on Friday as French, Malian forces retake front-line town from Islamists

Record ID: 861081

  • Title: MALI: Muslims in Bamako prayed for peace on Friday as French, Malian forces retake front-line town from Islamists
  • Date: 18th January 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF GRAND MOSQUEE DE BAMAKO
  • Embargoed: 2nd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • City:
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA621H6DWSJTXD56ZTHAV41W7LY
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Prayers rang through Bamako on Friday (January 18) afternoon as French and Malian soldiers wrestled control of the central town of Diabaly from al-Qaeda-linked rebels.
    France, warning that Islamist control over Mali's vast desert north threatens the security of Africa and the West, had targeted Diabaly in an eighth day of air strikes aimed at dislodging hardened al Qaeda-linked fighters there.
    Armed with weapons seized from Libya after the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, the Islamist alliance of al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and home-grown Malian groups Ansar Dine and MUJWA has put up staunch resistance.
    The progress of French and Malian troops has been slowed also because insurgents had taken refuge in the homes of civilians, residents said.
    Muslims in Bamako urged insurgents to stop fighting.

    "Our brothers in the north should drop their weapons and come to negotiations. Really we are all human beings and Malians together, there's no point in fighting. It's finished now, we must put an end to this situation. I would like to thank France and Hollande, I thank them deeply," said Idi Yaya Kouyate, a man from Bamako.

    "Our country is undividible. Malians are together as one. Here there's no difference, we want peace whether you are from the north, south, or west. We don't want what's going on, we don't want any differences. We've never seem something like this happen before either with our grandparents or our parents, so we must stay united. We don't want foreigners come and abuse our country. All Malians are brothers," said Mohamed Fofana, another man from Bamako.
    French President Francois Hollande ordered the intervention on the grounds that the Islamists could turn northern Mali into a "terrorist state" radiating threats beyond its borders.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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