MALI: French and Malian troops retook Gao and entered Timbuktu over the weekend, pushing out the sharia-observing Islamist rebels who had controlled the towns since last spring

Record ID: 863538

  • Title: MALI: French and Malian troops retook Gao and entered Timbuktu over the weekend, pushing out the sharia-observing Islamist rebels who had controlled the towns since last spring
  • Date: 27th January 2013
  • Summary: CAMP
  • Embargoed: 11th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • City:
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Arts,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAD5ALZYQLRO9RRX31FIXHHTAIT
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  • Story Text: The mood at a displaced persons camp in the central Mali town of Sevare was considerably more upbeat Saturday (January 26) as news arrived that French and Malian forces had retaken the Islamist rebel bastion of Gao.
    Among the more than 500 people who have found refuge at the camp in Sevare, most are from near Gao and Timbuktu, the desert north's two largest towns, where Islamist rebels had seized control last spring.
    France, which dispatched its military to Mali on January 11 at the Bamako government's request, already has 2,500 soldiers on the ground in its former colony. African governments are also readying thousands of troops to join the effort.
    The speed of French progress in a two-week-old campaign suggests French and Malian government troops intend to drive aggressively into the north of Mali in the next few days towards other Islamist strongholds such as Kidal, which has been occupied by al Qaeda-linked rebels since April.
    Residents of Gao were eager to express their appreciation to the former colonial power.
    "Thanks to the country of France, to all and to the President of France, now we are going to pack to go back home. We are so happy, so happy today," said one woman who had fled her home in Gao.
    In Gao, Islamist insurgents had imposed sharia by banning music and smoking, and cutting off the hands of thieves and ordering women to wear veils.
    "It was a humiliating situation when we were there. It was exhausting because of the MUJWA. We couldn't even wear trousers, nothing, and if we were wearing trousers, they would beat us, and so on," said a displaced man from Gossi.
    More than 370,000 people have fled their homes due to fighting, with 150,000 leaving Mali and others displaced within, according to the European Union's human rights commission.
    On Sunday (January 27), French and Malian troops begin to restore government control over Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The third town, Kidal, remains in rebel hands.
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