French Troops - France To Increase Troop Numbers - Mali Conflict - Bbc News

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Continue reading the main story Mali: Divided nation

President Francois Hollande says more French troops are to be deployed in Mali to support the 750 in the country countering an Islamist insurgency.

Mr Hollande said new air strikes overnight had "achieved their goal". One target was the town of Diabaly, which rebels entered on Monday.

West African military chiefs will meet in Mali on Tuesday to discuss how an alliance with the French will work.

France began its intervention on Friday to halt the Islamists' advance south.

Late on Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously backed the intervention.

'Really scared'

Mr Hollande, on a visit to the French regional military base known as Peace Camp in Abu Dhabi, said: "For now, we have 750 men and the number will increase. New strikes overnight achieved their goal."

Continue reading the main story Analysis

Interim President Dioncounda Traore knows that the presence of the French means that he and his troops have failed to contain the insurgency.

True, the spill-over from the war in Libya was not Mali's fault. Former Gaddafi loyalists returned here after the Libyan strongman was killed. Many well-armed men swelled the Islamist ranks.

The spill-over from the conflict in Algeria was not Mali's doing either. Many of the Islamists are Algerian or linked to violent anti-Algiers campaigns.

But geopolitics doesn't concern the homeless in Mali. They're half a million and counting. They want their government and their army to take charge.

He said that assembling an African military force to work with the French troops could take a "good week".

Mr Hollande told RFI radio: "We are confident about the speed with which we will be able to stop the aggressors, the enemy, these terrorists."

The French contingent is expected to rise to 2,500 in the coming weeks.

Witnesses in Diabaly, 400km (250 miles) north-east of Mali's capital, Bamako, said there had been heavy air strikes overnight to try to dislodge Islamists who had taken the town from Malian forces on Monday.

However, Mr Hollande said the Islamists had not captured it, but were merely hiding there "to protect themselves", adding: "They will be chased out."

One visitor, Ibrahim Toure, told Associated Press: "They bombed the town all night long. I am hiding inside a house. It only stopped at around 06:00."

One Malian security source told Agence France-Presse news agency that "at least five Islamists were killed and many injured".

Some 30 French tanks and armoured troop transport vehicles also crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast on Monday, with a helicopter escort, witnesses said.

The BBC's Mark Doyle in Bamako says the French want ground reinforcements from West African allies as soon as possible.

Continue reading the main story Foreign forces in Mali

Some 750 French troops in Bamako and Mopti

French Mirage and Rafale jets

Nigeria to send 600 troops; Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo expected to send 500 each, and Benin 300

UK providing two C17 cargo planes for French effort

France says further logistics help from Denmark and US

He says regional military commanders are meeting in the Malian capital on Tuesday to discuss equipment needs and how a military alliance with France would work in practice.

UN support Continue reading the main story Mali's rebels

One spokesman for the Ansar Dine militant group, Senda Ould Boumama, said the withdrawal was a "tactical retreat" to reduce civilian casualties.

The battle for Mali

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