Mali mainly, 2012 coup, drugs & more

[M-A Lagrange]

Radical Islamist in Mali used the same old strategy: vanish to come back and destabilise. This week end combats erupted in Gao.

France bombs Islamist hideout in Mali

GAO, Mali — France bombed Islamist targets in northern Mali on Monday following a string of guerrilla attacks by the extremists a month after Paris launched an offensive to drive them from its former colony.
In a pre-dawn attack, witnesses said a French army helicopter destroyed a central police station in the northern city of Gao from where rebels from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) had opened fire from the station on Malian troops Sunday, sparking an hours-long street battle.

Sunday's attack was the first large-scale urban guerrilla assault on territory reclaimed by French-led forces.
It started early in the afternoon when Malian soldiers clashed with Islamists in the city centre, near the governor's offices and the police station, which the rebels had used as the headquarters of their "Islamic police" until French-led forces recaptured Gao on January 26.
A witness said the gunmen had hidden in the empty police station then attacked Malian soldiers when they arrived, as snipers hidden in surrounding buildings opened fire.
He said that after a fierce gunbattle, French troops had intervened.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...b16cbd985e.4d1

I believe the response was ready since long... I tend to disagree with the idea that european (basically the French) are not ready or facing difficulties as it is said in various news papers. The objective is to reconquere territory, free hostages and pass the ball to the AU and UN. That's most probably were the difficulty is not on the ground.