PARIS — After trying for months to organize an international coalition to intervene in Mali, France has suddenly started the job on its own, with only standoff support from Western allies and repeatedly promised but long-in-coming participation by soldiers from Mali’s African neighbors.
The decision to send in French air and ground forces to combat Islamist militias in northern Mali without African or other international partners marked a bold departure for President Francois Hollande. Since taking over in May, France’s Socialist leader had been criticized as indecisive and untutored in foreign affairs and had vowed to end France’s role as policeman in tumultuous African countries.
So far, the unexpected switch has paid off; Hollande has been acclaimed at home and abroad for crisp leadership. But should the operation bog down in the dusty vastness of northern Mali where the Islamists roam, over the months it could become a weight around Hollande’s neck and an easy target for the conservative opposition in Paris, as well as Islamist and anti-colonial elements around the world.
Hollande said Tuesday that French forces have no intention of remaining in Mali. They have been assigned, he declared during a visit to Dubai, to blunt a recent Islamist offensive, secure the capital, Bamako, and prepare the way for an African force that will assist the Malian army in restoring government authority across northern Mali.
France, with a long colonial and post-colonial history in Africa, was uniquely equipped to intervene instantaneously in Mali, itself a former French colony. The French military has built up experience in African affairs with a string of interventions in recent decades. In addition, it has maintained bases in five African countries, with about 5,000 soldiers, arms, vehicles and warplanes pre-positioned and ready to go.
Most of the French airstrikes since the campaign began Friday, for instance, have been flown from an air base at N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, about 1,200 miles to the east, where French Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers were on hand. Similarly, a military unit equipped with ERC-90 Sagaie wheeled armored vehicles, considered important for the broad sweep of the Malian conflict, drove into the country overland from a base in Senegal.
A long-promised African intervention force of 3,300 soldiers, however, has yet to show up. Nigeria, whose Gen. Shehu Abdulkadir is to command the force, said the first elements of Nigeria’s 900-man contribution should be arriving by Wednesday. But Hollande told reporters it would be “a good week” before any of the others would be on hand.
Even after they arrive, it is unclear how long it will take to train Africans from various nations to the point where they can work effectively with Malian, French and other soldiers against the lightly armed but extremely mobile Islamist forces in northern Mali’s untamed, 250,000-square-mile northern sector.
The African governments originally promised to send soldiers as part of a French-led force that was to intervene next fall at the earliest. A senior French security official said recently they were nowhere near trained and ready — or even selected by their governments. Hollande’s decision Friday to intervene immediately to counter an Islamist offensive only added to the uncertainty.
The decision to send in French air and ground forces to combat Islamist militias in northern Mali without African or other international partners marked a bold departure for President Francois Hollande. Since taking over in May, France’s Socialist leader had been criticized as indecisive and untutored in foreign affairs and had vowed to end France’s role as policeman in tumultuous African countries.
So far, the unexpected switch has paid off; Hollande has been acclaimed at home and abroad for crisp leadership. But should the operation bog down in the dusty vastness of northern Mali where the Islamists roam, over the months it could become a weight around Hollande’s neck and an easy target for the conservative opposition in Paris, as well as Islamist and anti-colonial elements around the world.
Hollande said Tuesday that French forces have no intention of remaining in Mali. They have been assigned, he declared during a visit to Dubai, to blunt a recent Islamist offensive, secure the capital, Bamako, and prepare the way for an African force that will assist the Malian army in restoring government authority across northern Mali.
France, with a long colonial and post-colonial history in Africa, was uniquely equipped to intervene instantaneously in Mali, itself a former French colony. The French military has built up experience in African affairs with a string of interventions in recent decades. In addition, it has maintained bases in five African countries, with about 5,000 soldiers, arms, vehicles and warplanes pre-positioned and ready to go.
Most of the French airstrikes since the campaign began Friday, for instance, have been flown from an air base at N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, about 1,200 miles to the east, where French Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers were on hand. Similarly, a military unit equipped with ERC-90 Sagaie wheeled armored vehicles, considered important for the broad sweep of the Malian conflict, drove into the country overland from a base in Senegal.
A long-promised African intervention force of 3,300 soldiers, however, has yet to show up. Nigeria, whose Gen. Shehu Abdulkadir is to command the force, said the first elements of Nigeria’s 900-man contribution should be arriving by Wednesday. But Hollande told reporters it would be “a good week” before any of the others would be on hand.
Even after they arrive, it is unclear how long it will take to train Africans from various nations to the point where they can work effectively with Malian, French and other soldiers against the lightly armed but extremely mobile Islamist forces in northern Mali’s untamed, 250,000-square-mile northern sector.
The African governments originally promised to send soldiers as part of a French-led force that was to intervene next fall at the earliest. A senior French security official said recently they were nowhere near trained and ready — or even selected by their governments. Hollande’s decision Friday to intervene immediately to counter an Islamist offensive only added to the uncertainty.