Mali: French-led soldiers 'in control of Gao'

French-led troops in Mali have taken control of the northern town of Gao, the French defence ministry has said.

The town was previously a stronghold of Islamist fighters after it was seized by an alliance of Tuareg rebels and Islamists last April.

French-led troops moved into Gao itself after earlier securing the airport and a strategic bridge to the south.

French officials said troops from neighbouring Niger and Chad would now move into the town to help secure it.

They also suggested that government control was already being restored, with the mayor of Gao's returning on Saturday after being ousted by the Islamist takeover.

There was no official death toll from the offensive, but the French army said "dozens" of Islamist fighters were killed in the overnight operations, without any casualties on the French and Malian side.

After a punishing series of air strikes on jihadist positions in Gao, Malian and French forces took first the airport and then the bridge over the river Niger, before being able to confirm they had taken control of the whole of the town.

Malian officials spoke of scenes of joy on the streets of Gao, but also of some looting.

Gao's mayor, who has been in the capital Bamako since the town fell to the Islamists early last year, has been flown back in.

Chadian and Nigerian forces, meanwhile, are poised to pushed up from the Nigerien border - about 200km to the south - in order to reinforce the French and Malians.

French-led troops are also reported to be advancing on the town of Lere to the west.

It all appears to confirm a picture of rolling successes for the French and Malians, as they retake the main population centres of the north, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Air-strikes

The fall of Gao, northern Mali's most populous town, marks a significant advance for French and Malian troops.Islamists seized a vast area of northern Mali last year and have imposed strict Sharia, or Islamic law, on its inhabitants.

France intervened militarily on 11 January to stop them advancing further south.

It has already deployed 2,500 soldiers on the ground in Mali as well as launching air strikes.

With the capture of Gao, the French are increasingly confident of pushing the Islamists out of all the major population centres in the north, says our correspondent.

The other major northern towns of Kidal and Timbuktu remain in Islamist hands. But, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the historic town of Timbuktu - an important symbol which has also been under Islamist control for most of the last year - should also soon be retaken.

The French are confident that this phase of the campaign will soon be over, adds our correspondent, though of course the vast desert hinterland offers the Islamists endless opportunities to retreat and regroup.

The UN refugee agency says more than 7,000 civilians have fled to neighbouring countries since 10 January to escape the fighting.

In a statement earlier, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that 3,700 French troops were engaged in Operation Serval, 2,500 of them on Malian soil.

Gao was one of the first rebel-held areas to be targeted by air-strikes after France decided to intervene in its former colony, a decision which took many by surprise.

Aid pledged

A UN-backed international force had not been expected in the west African state until the autumn.

Several African countries have pledged military aid to help the Malian government win back control of the north.

On Friday the African Union asked the UN Security Council to authorise immediate logistical help to allow the 6,000-strong force to deploy quickly.

It also recommended civilian observers to monitor the human rights situation in the areas which have come back under the control of the Malian government. Human rights groups have accused the Malian army of committing serious abuses.

Malian government says war will be over soon

The Malian government has predicted that the war against rebels in the north will be over in a matter of days after government troops recaptured another town and advanced on the rebel stronghold of Gao.

Malian troops reached the town of Hombori, 100 miles south of Gao, on Thursday following a series of French air strikes against militant targets, officials said.

Sources said the army – which was driven out from the north of the country last March – retook the central town of Douentza on Monday.

"We are winning very rapidly," Manga Dembélé, Mali's communications minister, told the Guardian on Friday. "We are making quick progress." He added: "The rebels have been dispersed. We expect this to be finished in days."

For nearly two weeks, French aircraft have bombarded rebel positions, vehicles and stores in the centre and north of Mali as a ground force of African troops assembles to launch a UN-backed military intervention.

On Thursday, around 160 troops from Burkina Faso deployed in the dusty central Malian town of Markala – the first west African troops to link up with French and Malian forces. France has some 2,150 troops on the ground.

The French have repeatedly warned that the Islamist enclave in north Mali could be a launchpad for attacks on Europe and Africa. Western powers, including the US and Britain, have provided air transport and surveillance for the mission but are not planning to contribute combat forces.

On Friday, Dembélé said Mali would welcome more troops from any friendly country, including Britain. "All friends of Mali are welcome," he said.

France has said it will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, it has called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts.

There are about 1,750 troops from countries in the region, including Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Niger and Chad.

The Malian army, however, has been accused of committing retaliatory violence against civilians who appear to be northerners or those with suspected links to Islamists.

A French-based human rights group, the International Federation for Human Rights, or FIDH by its French acronym, charges that Malian forces have been behind about 33 killings since fighting erupted on 10 January.

The Malian army captain Modibo Traore called the allegations "completely false" but declined to comment further. A government statement issued on Thursday called on the military to respect human rights, saying "the army should be irreproachable".

Human rights groups have long expressed concerns about retaliatory violence against northern Malians or anyone seen as having ties to the Islamists, whose capture of the north has divided the country in two.

Meanwhile, the west African regional bloc known as Ecowas said it was organising an emergency session of defence chiefs from the 15 countries that make up the group. The gathering on Saturday will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Republican leader says Obama must back France in fight against al-Qaida...

A leading Republican called Tuesday for President Barack Obama to support France’s military intervention against the “cancer” of al-Qaida-linked militants in North Africa.

Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he welcomed France’s decision to send troops and warplanes “to combat this serious security threat” in Mali.

“The vast area of northern Mali gives these al Qaeda-linked militants space to operate, and the weapons flowing out of Libya makes them deadly. This cancer could not go unaddressed,” he said in the statement.

"This isn't avant garde for the French. They have shown leadership in working with Ivory Coast and other African governments to improve security.  Paris understands the high stakes,” he added. "I expect the Obama Administration to honor appropriate requests for intelligence and logistics support from France.”

Royce stressed that “we should have our ally's back" when dealing with the “shared threat.”

France has sent about 500 troops to Mali and is sending about 1,000 more along with armored vehicles.

They are taking on at least three Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb, U.S. national security officials told NBC News Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sources added that they were being helped by U.S. military and intelligence operations and that the U.S. would also provide transport and refueling capability for the operation. U.S. drones and spy satellites were also being used.

Panetta: No U.S. 'boots on ground'

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday at a press conference in Portugal that "there is no consideration of putting any American boots on the ground at this time" in Mali, The Associated Press reported.

He added that al-Qaida affiliates in Mali did not currently pose a threat to the United States but stressed "ultimately that remains their objective."

On Monday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that “we share the French goal of denying terrorists a safe haven.”

In a statement released by the U.K.’s Foreign Office, political directors of the G8 group of leading nations said they had discussed the situation in Mali at a meeting in London Tuesday and “expressed grave concern.”

“They noted that it is essential to halt the offensive by terrorist groups towards southern Mali, to prevent the collapse of the Malian state, and to accelerate the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions in all their dimensions: political, security and humanitarian,” the statement said.