In what world do the Malian government forces think this will work?
Malian troops seized a village after heavy fighting with Tuareg separatists on Wednesday and are advancing towards the town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold, the army said.
It was the first combat between the MNLA separatists and the Malian army since a French-led military offensive launched in January against Islamists in northern Mali.
As I've written, we don't have a dog in the fight between the northern Tuaregs and southern Mali majority that rules them. Our only interest is in keeping jihadis from setting up a sanctuary. The Tuaregs drew us in only because they initially sided with jihadis to defeat the central (southern controlled) government. I've begged the Mali government to work out an autonomy deal with the Tuareg to achieve that goal.
In many ways, the Tuaregs have valid complaints and reason to separate. If the Tuaregs pledged to fight jihadis, I'd be perfectly willing to support a Tuareg independence movement against those idiots from the south who pay no heed to our reasons for helping them in the first place. And if the Mali government is determined to provoke a resurgence of jihadi support in the north, we have every reason to oppose them.
Let's see how France handles this. Nuance is their first language, after all.
UPDATE: Dumbassery subsides:
Mali's government and Tuareg separatist rebels began talks on Saturday that both sides said they hoped would lead to a ceasefire ahead of national elections next month and pave the way for a permanent peace deal.
For now.
The French say that if the talks fail, a military campaign would be "legitimate." Is that to pressure the Tuaregs? Or is it to pressure the Mali central government to negotiate or have the French removed as an excuse for why Mali's army doesn't pound the Tuaregs? I think the Mali army would get beaten and the French are a convenient excuse for why the Mali troops don't teach the Tuaregs a lesson.
