The president of France, Francois Hollande visited Timbuktu, a town in Mali, on Saturday. It was a triumphant trip because it was days after France's forces freed this city from control of the Islamist Militants.
France placed the offensive against the military in its former colony about three weeks ago. The campaign's both in the ground and in the air sent many of the Islam's military men, who had taken over the northern region, escaping into the desserts.
Hollande said "We are serving a cause defined within the United nations' framework ... to bring the entire Malian territory under the legitimate authority of the Malian president and then the leaders who will be elected by the Malians." He also said the French troops aren't in Mali to interfere into politics.
He said "I have enough to do with French politics. So we are at the service of a mission which was defined from the call of the Malian president and within the framework of the Security Council Resolutions."BFMTV reported that Hollande landed in Sevare surrounded by security and protection.
Then he joined the President of Mali, Dioncounda Traore for the visit in Timbuktu. Fighters that were led by France freed this city this week after Islam took over it last year. When he landed in Timbuktu, people treated him like royalty by bowing and dancing.
This trip came as fighters from both Mali and France have improved their military. Troops led by France are now in control of the cities of Timbuktu and Gao, as well as a vast in between that was under Islam control for around a year.
France sent many troops over to Mali as soon as Mali had wanted help. This was right after Islamists took control of the important town of Konna on January 10, 2013. As of now, Malians have control of this town.
Islamic extremists had taken out a big portion of the northern region in 2012. This took advantage of a crazy problem after a military coup. Islamists banned many daily activities like smoking, drinking, listening to music, and watching sports on the television. They also destroyed sacred tombs and shrines in the region. Many of the world's leaders feared this because the militants linked to Al Qaueda would end up turing al of Mali into a nation of terrorism. Although now, since there have been many Islamic fighters fleeing, Malians are once again under no Islamic control. The country of France has about 2,150 soldiers in Mali. About 1,000 more troops are in support of the operation from other locations.
Human Rights watch said "Malian government forces summarily executed at least 13 suspected Islamist supporters and forcibly disappeared five others from the Garrison town of Sevare and Konna" in January.
The United Nations also has said that the civilians in Tuareg and Arab in Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao regions are at stake of having another attack.
Analysis: The authors of this article, Faith Karimi and Pierre Meilhan, wrote this article to inform us about the gracious way France helped Mali, and the Malians appreciate this. They are telling us what has been happening in Mali lately, in relation to war and terrorism. This article is mainly about how Islam took control of Mali and how gracious France was for helping Mali. Now Timbuktu os under control of Malian forces. There was a little bit of bias because there were only facts about Mali's and France's standpoint on the issue. Other than that, there were mostly just facts.
I think that it was great of France to help Mali out in its time of need. It is terrible that Islamists just decided that they could and would take over Timbuktu. I can't even imagine how I would feel if everyday things like reading and watching television were banned. I hope Mali doesn't have to face terrible terrorism again. If they do, at least we know that France will be caring enough to help.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/02/world/africa/mali-conflict/index.html
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