Aid groups fail to reach key Mali town
2013-01-18 22:41
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The Mali-unrest appears to be increasing due to the Algerian hostage and the extra France-supporting troops in Mali.
Bamako - Warning that civilians are in danger, aid officials
said they cannot reach a town where Islamist militants and French forces
battled for a week, and a town not far from the capital remained on high alert on
Friday after a reported jihadist sighting.
Doctors Without Borders has been trying to get to the town
of Konna since Monday but all roads leading to the community in central Mali
have been closed by the Malian military, said Malik Allaouna, director of
operations for the group known as MSF by its initials in French.
"Despite our repeated requests, we are still being
refused access to the Konna region," he said. "It is essential to
allow the delivery of neutral and impartial medical and humanitarian aid in the
areas affected by the conflict."
The fate of Konna was unclear on Friday, more than a week
after Islamists first advanced on the town in a move that prompted the French
military to launch its offensive in this vast desert nation in northwest
Africa.
A Malian military official said on Thursday that the country's
forces were in control of the town, but the claim could not be independently
corroborated.
Further to the south, forces remained on high alert in
Banamba, a town just 144km from the capital, Bamako, after a reported sighting
of jihadists in the vicinity. Roughly 100 Malian soldiers sped on Thursday to
Banamba, which would be the closest the extremists reportedly have come to
Bamako.
France has encountered fierce resistance from the extremist
groups, whose tentacles extend not only over a territory the size of
Afghanistan in Mali, but also another 1 000km to the northeast in Algeria,
where fighters stormed a BP-operated plant and took dozens of foreigners
hostages, including Americans.
They demanded the
immediate end of the hostilities in Mali, with one commander, Oumar Ould
Hamaha, saying that they are now "globalising the conflict" in
revenge for the military assault on Malian soil.
A city official in Banamba who insisted on anonymity because
he is not authorized to speak to the press, said they had received reports that
a rebel convoy had left the jihadist-controlled town of Diabaly on the road
headed to Banamba.
On Thursday, France increased its troop strength in Mali to
1 400, said French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
A former French colony, Mali once enjoyed a reputation as
one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15.8
million people practicing a moderate form of Islam. That changed last March,
following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed
Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.
- AP
