Just two days after three Chadian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Kidal in northern Mali, Chad’s president said the country’s troops would be withdrawn from Mali as they are not trained to fight a “guerrilla-style war.” From Reuters:
“Face-to-face fighting with the Islamists is over. The Chadian army does not have the skills to fight a shadowy, guerrilla-style war that is taking place in northern Mali,” [President] Deby told French media, including TV5 Monde, RFI and Le Monde.
“Our soldiers will return to Chad. They have accomplished their mission. We have already withdrawn a mechanised battalion,” he added in the interview.
Deby said Chadian troops, selected to accompany the French as they are among the region’s best, would be available for an eventual 10,000-strong United Nations force to be deployed once combat operations wind down.
Only last month, and citing an earlier suicide attack, Chad’s foreign minister warned France and African allies against hastily withdrawing troops from Mali even though much of the country had been cleared of rebels.
About 10 days ago, Chadian forces redeployed forces from the Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains after fighting alongside French forces against jihadists from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The jihadists had withdrawn to the mountain range in northern Mali following the launch of the French-led offensive against the terror groups in January. At the time the offensive began, the jihadists had controlled the north for nearly one year and were advancing southward.
France is also seeking to withdraw its forces from Mali. President Hollande indicated that France will reduce its forces from 4,000 troops to 1,000 by the summer, and has claimed that the Mali is nearly secured and combat operations are ending.
Meanwhile, the jihadist alliance continues to launch guerrilla and suicide attacks against French, Malian, and Chadian forces in the north. There have been eight suicide attacks in Mali, including the attack last night in Timbuktu, since France intervened to halt the takeover of Mali by AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine, according to a count by The Long War Journal. Before the French invasion, the three groups did not conduct such attacks in Mali.
Prior to the suicide attack on April 12 that killed three Chadian soldiers in Kidal, jihadists conducted two suicide assaults in Timbuktu. On March 21, jihadists, likely from AQIM, launched a suicide assault on the airport in Timbuktu. And on March 31, an Algerian suicide bomber detonated at a checkpoint in Timbuktu as a team of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters infiltrated the town and then battled security forces for two days.
