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For now, the region is cheering France’s launching of a war on many fronts against the jihadists although it is likely to drag on for many more months

As France pours men and money into the battle against jihadists, the contours of Mali’s crisis are rapidly changing. Bombing raids may have ended the militants’ hegemony over the people of Timbuktu and Gao, but their campaign is far from over. Restoring some security across the Sahara will be a slow and painful business, with many reverses. Pounded by French air strikes near Leré, fighters led by Al Qaida’s Algerian commander Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid quickly hit back, attacking Diabali. Then, half a desert away, on 16 January Moulathmine Islamist militants took 41 foreign oil workers hostage at In Amenas, south-east Algeria....

(This article contains approximately 1281 words)

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Keywords:

France, Algerian, Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid, Iyad ag Ghali, Burkina Faso, France flies to war, François Hollande, Dioncounda Traoré, Jean-Yves le Drian, The future campaign, Power games, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Yahya Abou el Hamame, Omar Ould Hamaha, Al Haji ag Gamou, Niger, Bamako fallout, Amadou Sanogo, Oumar Mariko, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Diango Sissoko, Ousmane Sy, Al Qaida, Moulathmine, Ansar Eddine, Mouvement national de libération de l’Azawad, Mouvement pour l’unicité et le jihad en Afrique de l’ouest, Ganda Isso, Ganda Koy, Bérabiche, Ansar el Charia