France begins Mali withdrawal

FRANCE: As France begins withdrawing its troops from Mali, a top US defence official has said a UN-mandated African force was "incapable" of taking over the battle against Islamist fighters. Paris, which sent 4,000 troops to Mali in January to block a feared advance on the capital Bamako by Islamist fighters, said Tuesday it had pulled out its first batch of soldiers preparing to hand over to an African force of 6,300 in the coming weeks.

However, a senior Pentagon official told a congressional hearing in Washington Tuesday that troops from the Economic Community of West African States were not up to the task.

"Right now, the ECOWAS force isn't capable at all. What you saw there, it is a completely incapable force. That has to change," said Michael Sheehan, assistant secretary of defence for special operations.

At the same time, he praised the French troops which "very rapidly" pushed Al-Qaeda's north African branch "back across the Niger river and took control of the major cities" innorthern Mali, he said.

AFP