Chris Boonzaier Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I read with interest that South Africa is sending 400 Soldiers to the Central African Republic, I found this very interesting as I remember a time when foreign soldiers sent to RCA were always French... I guess this is really a shift in interests... Are the French less willing to supply troops in Africa, or dont they like the present Central African President? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishGunner Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I don't think "France" is less willing... I think you have to look to the policies of French President Francois Hollande. You recall he also ended France's role in Afghanistan a year earlier than other NATO countries - and what France agreed under Sarkozy. Hollande seems to be taking a much more measured foreign policy approach than past French presidents, even perhaps "multilateralist" in nature. He also has been called out for his lack of foreign policy experience and this may be in play somewhat as well. And of course, he's much more focused on the Euro zone issues. Not to mention - reduced budgets for military/defense. On the other hand, France is leading the intervention effort in Mali. Of course, that has a multilateralist vent with the UN Security Council approving the French-backed resolution to authorize the deployment of an African peacekeeping force for an initial one-year-mission. But French special forces are likely to lead any military operations agains the Islamists and Tuareg rebel forces looking to establish their control over northern Mali. I think CAR just signals that it's not "automatic" for France to intervene in Francophone Africa has it has in the past... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Strong Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 (edited) There are musings and it has been metioned by the Defense Minister here in Canada of sending troops to Mali to train the army....I am not sure if it is a serious consideration or as some have mentioned elsewhere; Def Min MacKay's statement was along the lines of floating a trial baloon- send it up so that the government communications wonks could gauge and meter the response from the public on a host of issues - what we (Canadians) envision our post-Kandahar military role being, whether Canadians happen to care about Africa at the moment, and whether there's any taste for us getting involved in a more concrete international role. There was a story in yesterday's Ottawa Citizen speculateing that the PM may be asked for some sort of military assistance by the President of the African Union, with whom he will be meeting tomorrow. Larry Edited January 7, 2013 by Laurence Strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Danner Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 France currently has 950 troops in the RCA as part of Opération Epervier and 230 as part of Opération BOALI. There are also 450 in the Ivory Coast as part of Opération Licorne. That's out of a total of 4,750 on foreign operations. I don't think those numbers count troops stationed in Africa not as part of operations, such as the Eléments Français au Sénégal. This seems like a big drop - I recall a few years ago France had 15-20,000 troops overseas - but consistent with developments in most other Western nations, obviously including the US with the drops in troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishGunner Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Guess French military activities in northern Mali today help answer your question... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Strong Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) That did not take long..... From Reuters http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE90912Q20130111?irpc=932 PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian government troops drove back Islamist rebels from a strategic central town after France intervened on Friday with air strikes to halt advances by the militants controlling the country's desert north. Western governments, particularly former colonial power France, had voiced alarm after the al Qaeda-linked rebel alliance captured the town of Konna on Thursday, a gateway towards the capital Bamako 600 km (375 miles) south. President Francois Hollande said France would not stand by to watch the rebels push southward. Paris has repeatedly warned that the Islamists' seizure of the country's north in April gave them a base to attack neighboring African countries and Europe. "We are faced with blatant aggression that is threatening Mali's very existence. France cannot accept this," Hollande, who recently pledged Paris would not to meddle in African affairs, said in a New Year speech to diplomats and journalists. The president said resolutions by the United Nations Security Council, which in December sanctioned an African-led military intervention in Mali, meant France was acting in accordance with international law. In Washington, a U.S. official told Reuters the Pentagon was weighing options in Mali, including intelligence-sharing with France and logistics support. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed France had carried out air strikes against the rebels to prevent them conquering the whole of Mali. He refused to reveal further details, such as whether French troops were on the ground. France's intervention immediately tipped the military balance of power, with Malian government forces quickly sweeping back into Konna, according to local residents. "The Malian army has retaken Konna with the help of our military partners. We are there now," Lieutenant Colonel Diaran Kone told Reuters, adding that the army was mopping up Islamist fighters in the surrounding area. EU SPEEDS UP DEPLOYMENT A military operation had not been expected until September due to the difficulties of training Malian troops, funding the African force and deploying during the mid-year rainy season. However, Mali's government appealed for urgent military aid from France on Thursday after Islamist fighters took Konna. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called on Friday for "accelerated international engagement" and said the bloc would speed up plans to deploy 200 troops to train Malian forces, initially expected in late February. Blaise Compaore, the president of neighboring Burkina Faso which is acting as a mediator in the Malian crisis, said his country would contribute a contingent of ground troops toward the African Union mission to retake Mali's north. Burkina Faso had been due to host peace talks between the Malian government and some of the rebel factions on Thursday, but these have been postponed until January 21 due to the outbreak of hostilities. The capture of Konna by the rebels - who have imposed strict Sharia Islamic law in northern Mali - had caused panic among residents in the towns of Mopti and Sevare, 60 km (40 miles) to the south. Calm returned, however, after residents reported Western soldiers and foreign military aircraft arriving late on Thursday at Sevare's airport - the main one in the region. Military analysts said the Western soldiers may have been the first deployment of French special forces. They voiced doubt, however, whether Friday's action heralded the start of the final operation to retake northern Mali - a harsh, sparsely populated terrain the size of France - as neither the equipment nor ground troops were ready. "We're not yet at the big intervention," said Mark Schroeder, director for Sub-Saharan Africa analysis for the global risk and security consultancy Stratfor. He said France had been forced to act when the Islamists bore down on Sevare, a vital launching point for future military operations. "The French realized this was a red line that they could not permit to be crossed," he said. STATE OF EMERGENCY More than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a reputation as a bulwark of democracy in a part of Africa better known for turmoil - an image that unraveled in a matter of weeks after a military coup last March that paved the way for the Islamist rebellion. Mali is Africa's third largest gold producer and a major cotton grower, and home to the fabled northern desert city of Timbuktu - an ancient trading hub and UNESCO World Heritage site that hosted annual music festivals before the rebellion. Interim President Dioncounda Traore, under pressure for bolder action from Mali's military, declared a state of emergency on Friday. Traore will fly to Paris for talks with Hollande on Wednesday. "Every Malian must henceforth consider themselves a soldier," Traore said on state TV, calling on mining and telecoms companies to contribute to the war effort. He said he requested French air support with the blessing of West African allies. The chief of operations for Mali's Defence Ministry said Nigeria and Senegal were among the other countries providing military support on the ground. Fabius said these countries had not taken part in the French operation. A spokesman for the Nigerian air force said planes had been deployed to Mali for a reconnaissance mission, not for combat. The French foreign ministry stepped up its security alert on Mali and parts of neighboring Mauritania and Niger on Friday, extending its red alert - the highest level - to include Bamako. France has eight nationals in Islamist hands in the Sahara after a string of kidnappings. A spokesman for al Qaeda's north African arm AQIM urged France, in a video posted on the Internet, to reconsider its intervention. "Stop your assault against us or you are digging your own sons' graves," said Abdallah Al-Chinguetti. Edited January 12, 2013 by Laurence Strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 " France, which has posted troops in many locations in Africa, had said it wouldn't send combat troops to Mali and had pledged to scale back on intervening in local politics and conflicts in Africa. For example, it declined a request to intervene in the Central Africa Republic, where an insurgency flared. So the Mali operation underlines the seriousness of France's concern over its former colony. French hostages have been taken in neighboring Niger by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; Paris is trying to contain any further militant expansion in the heart of Africa." http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/11/world/africa/mali-france/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Strong Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Apparantly we are going to be training troops in Niger The Canadian government is in the early stages of providing military training to Niger, a country struggling to cope with the spreading Islamic extremism afflicting neighbouring Mali and the region. This comes as the conflict in Mali escalates. Alarmed by the rapidly growing power of Islamist extremist fighters, France has sent combat forces into the African country to reinforce the crumbling military resistance to the rebel advance...... More to the stroy at the link http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-to-train-forces-in-niger/article7279904/ Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 French forces swooped into Somalia for a rescue mission under the cover of darkness, leading to a fierce gun battle with militants who killed the hostage, the French defense ministry said Saturday. The raid Friday night also left a French soldier and 17 Islamist fighters dead, according to the French ministry. Another soldier went missing. Hostage Denis Allex died at the hands of his captors, the defense ministry said in a statement. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/12/world/africa/somalia-helicopter-raid/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 Somalia as well... maybe they turned down Central Africa because they knew they needed the troops for other things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Apparently it was a DGSE unit that was in Somalia, DGSE elements on the ground in Mali, a Company of the 2nd REP arrived last night apparently, main job evacuating the 6000 French civilians there. Unfortunately for the rest of the Legion it was not a Legion unit on alert Guepard in France, The 2nd Rima from Auvours was the regiment on alert and will be reinforcing the French contingent on Mali, The RIMA are good men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Strong Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Well, I must say the Hollande has really surprised me!! Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishGunner Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Well, I must say the Hollande has really surprised me!! Larry I understand why you say that Larry, But regards Mali, this is not a surprise at all. Well, the timing is a bit of a surprise, but not the action. Hollande declared at the beginning of the New Year, France would not allow the rebels to push any further south and would intervene in Mali to prevent any threat to the capital (contrary to what Chris posted above). It has been well known since the UN authorized intervention by ECOWAS late last year, that France was ready to be involved militarily in Mali as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter monahan Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Today's Toronto Star reports that French air craft attacked Islamicist forces in northern Mali yesterday/last night. Trying to break up formations headed south. I hope they do! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 The unit that carried out the raid in Somalia was the CPIS of the DGSE... apparently one man missing in action, claimed captured by the baddies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Lt Damien Boiteux, 4th Special forces Chopper Regt, The officer killed in Mali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Denis Allex, the hostage they wanted to rescue in Somalia was apparently killed. He was a DGSE agent, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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