16 January 2013 Last updated at 02:49 ET
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The BBC's Andrew Harding says French troops have been welcomed by people in the capital
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Mali: Divided nation[/h]
French troops are set for their first major ground combat with Islamist rebels in Mali after heading out from the capital, Bamako.
A convoy of about 30 armoured vehicles set out on Tuesday for Diabaly, 350km (220 miles) to the north, a town captured by the rebels on Monday.
The first units of an African force are set to arrive on Wednesday to bolster the French.
France intervened last Friday to halt the Islamists' drive to the capital.
'Determined adversary'Islamists entered Diabaly on Monday, taking the town from Malian forces.
French war planes have since attacked the rebel positions.
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Foreign forces in Mali[/h]
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Wednesday that French troops had headed north.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Bamako says the convoy of armoured personnel carriers set out with guns at the ready; at some points along the road, people gathered to wave at the French soldiers.
Mr Le Drian has admitted that Malian forces around Diabaly have been struggling to combat well-armed rebels.
He also admitted that the central town of Konna had not been recaptured by government forces as had earlier been reported.
He said: "We are up against a determined adversary that is well-equipped and has not given up, but we have hit them hard with our strikes, including those deep in their territory."
Our correspondent says the French or their allies in the Malian army need to take control of both Konna and Diabaly if their campaign is to advance.
France has some 800 troops on the ground in Mali and defence sources said their numbers were expected to increase to 2,500.
However, France has been pushing hard for the deployment of a West African regional force.
Regional military commanders began a meeting in Bamako on Tuesday, agreeing the swift deployment of troops.
A company of 190 Nigerians will be the first to arrive, on Wednesday.
Nigeria will lead the force, with 900 troops. Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged to take part.
The West African force will total about 3,300 under a UN Security Council resolution.
Tuareg offerIn March and April last year, Islamist and secular Tuareg rebels overran the main population centres in northern Mali. Soon the Islamists, some with links to al-Qaeda, took control and imposed a hardline form of Sharia.
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Mali's refugees[/h]
While a West African force was being planned with the aim of bringing the north back under the control of the Malian government, the rebels began moving further south.
It was the rebel capture of Konna last Thursday that prompted France's military intervention.
French air strikes have since blocked the rebels, who have moved back to an area between Douentza and Gao.
Air raids have also reportedly sent the rebels fleeing from two of the main northern towns, Gao and Timbuktu.
On Wednesday, an official of the separatist Tuareg organisation, the MNLA, in northern Mali, said the group was ready to join the fight against their former allies, the Islamist militants.
Speaking to the BBC, Moussa Ag Assarid, did not go as far as saying the MNLA would fight alongside French forces but said his group was against al-Qaeda and terrorism.
The battle for Mali
French forces have bombed rebel bases in Mali, where Islamist rebels have threatened to advance on the capital Bamako from their strongholds in the north. France said it had decided to act to stop the offensive, which could create "a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Europe".
The landlocked area of West Africa was the core of ancient empires going back to the 4th Century. The French colonised Mali, then known as French Sudan, at the end of the 19th Century, while Islamic religious wars created theocratic states in the region.
Mali gained independence in 1960 but endured droughts, rebellions and 23 years of military dictatorship until democratic elections in 1992. In the early 1990s, the nomadic Tuareg of the north began an insurgency over land and cultural rights.
The insurgency gathered momentum in 2007, and was exacerbated by an influx of arms from the 2011 Libyan civil war. Tuareg nationalists, alongside Islamist groups with links to al-Qaeda, seized control of the north in 2012 after a military coup by soldiers frustrated by government efforts against the rebels.
The fighting in the north and the establishment of a harsh form of Islamic law has forced thousands to flee their homes - some estimates say more than half the northern population has fled south or across borders into neighbouring countries.
In January 2013, the Islamists captured the central city of Konna. France, responding to appeals for help from the Mali president, has sent about 550 troops to the Mopti and to Bamako, which is home to about 6,000 French nationals. French jets have also launched air strikes.
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The BBC's Andrew Harding says French troops have been welcomed by people in the capital
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Mali: Divided nation[/h]
French troops are set for their first major ground combat with Islamist rebels in Mali after heading out from the capital, Bamako.
A convoy of about 30 armoured vehicles set out on Tuesday for Diabaly, 350km (220 miles) to the north, a town captured by the rebels on Monday.
The first units of an African force are set to arrive on Wednesday to bolster the French.
France intervened last Friday to halt the Islamists' drive to the capital.
'Determined adversary'Islamists entered Diabaly on Monday, taking the town from Malian forces.
French war planes have since attacked the rebel positions.
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Foreign forces in Mali[/h]
- Some 800 French troops in Mali, 900 troops involved elsewhere in Africa
- French Mirage and Rafale jets, Gazelle helicopters
- Nigeria to send 900 troops; Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo expected to send 500 each, and Benin 300
- Ghana, Guinea and Chad also to send troops
- UK providing two C17 cargo planes for French effort
- Belgium and Denmark also sending transport planes
- US to provide communications help
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Wednesday that French troops had headed north.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Bamako says the convoy of armoured personnel carriers set out with guns at the ready; at some points along the road, people gathered to wave at the French soldiers.
Mr Le Drian has admitted that Malian forces around Diabaly have been struggling to combat well-armed rebels.
He also admitted that the central town of Konna had not been recaptured by government forces as had earlier been reported.
He said: "We are up against a determined adversary that is well-equipped and has not given up, but we have hit them hard with our strikes, including those deep in their territory."
Our correspondent says the French or their allies in the Malian army need to take control of both Konna and Diabaly if their campaign is to advance.
France has some 800 troops on the ground in Mali and defence sources said their numbers were expected to increase to 2,500.
However, France has been pushing hard for the deployment of a West African regional force.
Regional military commanders began a meeting in Bamako on Tuesday, agreeing the swift deployment of troops.
A company of 190 Nigerians will be the first to arrive, on Wednesday.
Nigeria will lead the force, with 900 troops. Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged to take part.
The West African force will total about 3,300 under a UN Security Council resolution.
Tuareg offerIn March and April last year, Islamist and secular Tuareg rebels overran the main population centres in northern Mali. Soon the Islamists, some with links to al-Qaeda, took control and imposed a hardline form of Sharia.
Continue reading the main story[h=2]Mali's refugees[/h]
- 144,500 fled Mali by end of 2012
- 54,100 to Mauritania, 50,000 to Niger, 38,800 to Burkina Faso and 1,500 to Algeria
- Hundreds more left in past week
- 228,918 internally displaced in Mali itself
- 5,000 people fled fighting in Konna
While a West African force was being planned with the aim of bringing the north back under the control of the Malian government, the rebels began moving further south.
It was the rebel capture of Konna last Thursday that prompted France's military intervention.
French air strikes have since blocked the rebels, who have moved back to an area between Douentza and Gao.
Air raids have also reportedly sent the rebels fleeing from two of the main northern towns, Gao and Timbuktu.
On Wednesday, an official of the separatist Tuareg organisation, the MNLA, in northern Mali, said the group was ready to join the fight against their former allies, the Islamist militants.
Speaking to the BBC, Moussa Ag Assarid, did not go as far as saying the MNLA would fight alongside French forces but said his group was against al-Qaeda and terrorism.
The battle for Mali
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