Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 14, 2007
Pg. 5
BAMAKO, Mali, Sept. 13 (Reuters) — Tuareg rebels fighting government troops in Mali’s far northern desert have fired on an American military plane, Malian officials said Thursday.
The attack occurred early Wednesday when the plane was delivering food to a Malian Army garrison at Tin-Zaouatene in a desolate mountain region bordering Algeria and Niger, where the rebels have staged raids in recent weeks.
The United States Embassy in Mali said the aircraft returned safely here to the capital, after being hit by gunfire but denied a report by Malian officials that an American service member was wounded.
“Shots were fired at the plane,” an embassy spokesperson said. “It was resupply drop of food done to help our partner nation. There was minimal damage and they were able to successfully complete the mission.”
The United States views Mali as a staunch military ally in its global campaign against terrorism, but it was believed to be the first time that the American military had actively supported a continuing Malian military operation against Tuareg insurgents.
The attack on the plane came after a joint counterterrorist exercise in the Malian desert that involved American troops and the armies of several states in the Sahel region, the band of nations just south of the Sahara.
“We had the plane in country, and when the government requested assistance to resupply food, we were able to do it,” the embassy spokesperson said. “The Malians provided the food.”
The Tuaregs, a nomadic light-skinned people in northern Niger and Mali, have long complained of being neglected and marginalized by black-dominated governments ruling far away in the south, and they demand more autonomy and a greater share in their region’s wealth. But the governments of Niger and Mali have dismissed them as renegades and bandits involved in trafficking arms and drugs.
The Tuaregs staged an uprising in the 1990s that ended with a treaty in 1995; a new uprising began this year. Mali’s armed forces have been hunting Tuareg insurgents led by Ibrahima Bahanga.
In recent weeks the rebels have carried out several attacks and ambushes in the remote Tin-Zaouatene region. The insurgents have taken several dozen soldiers prisoner and seized vehicles and ammunition. The government also blames them for laying mines that have killed at least 13 people. Mali has appealed for international help.
Tuareg rebels across the border in Niger have also carried out attacks on military posts, and officials from both countries say they see links between the insurgencies.
The embassy spokesperson did not say whether the United States military would make more resupply flights for Mali’s army.
The American military has been active in Africa, particularly just east of the Sahel, in the Horn of Africa. The military used an airstrip in Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants who had taken control of much of neighboring Somalia.
The counterterrorism effort was described by American officials as a qualified success that disrupted terrorist networks in Somalia, led to the death or capture of several Islamic militants and involved a collaborative relationship with Ethiopia that had been developing for years.
September 14, 2007
Pg. 5
BAMAKO, Mali, Sept. 13 (Reuters) — Tuareg rebels fighting government troops in Mali’s far northern desert have fired on an American military plane, Malian officials said Thursday.
The attack occurred early Wednesday when the plane was delivering food to a Malian Army garrison at Tin-Zaouatene in a desolate mountain region bordering Algeria and Niger, where the rebels have staged raids in recent weeks.
The United States Embassy in Mali said the aircraft returned safely here to the capital, after being hit by gunfire but denied a report by Malian officials that an American service member was wounded.
“Shots were fired at the plane,” an embassy spokesperson said. “It was resupply drop of food done to help our partner nation. There was minimal damage and they were able to successfully complete the mission.”
The United States views Mali as a staunch military ally in its global campaign against terrorism, but it was believed to be the first time that the American military had actively supported a continuing Malian military operation against Tuareg insurgents.
The attack on the plane came after a joint counterterrorist exercise in the Malian desert that involved American troops and the armies of several states in the Sahel region, the band of nations just south of the Sahara.
“We had the plane in country, and when the government requested assistance to resupply food, we were able to do it,” the embassy spokesperson said. “The Malians provided the food.”
The Tuaregs, a nomadic light-skinned people in northern Niger and Mali, have long complained of being neglected and marginalized by black-dominated governments ruling far away in the south, and they demand more autonomy and a greater share in their region’s wealth. But the governments of Niger and Mali have dismissed them as renegades and bandits involved in trafficking arms and drugs.
The Tuaregs staged an uprising in the 1990s that ended with a treaty in 1995; a new uprising began this year. Mali’s armed forces have been hunting Tuareg insurgents led by Ibrahima Bahanga.
In recent weeks the rebels have carried out several attacks and ambushes in the remote Tin-Zaouatene region. The insurgents have taken several dozen soldiers prisoner and seized vehicles and ammunition. The government also blames them for laying mines that have killed at least 13 people. Mali has appealed for international help.
Tuareg rebels across the border in Niger have also carried out attacks on military posts, and officials from both countries say they see links between the insurgencies.
The embassy spokesperson did not say whether the United States military would make more resupply flights for Mali’s army.
The American military has been active in Africa, particularly just east of the Sahel, in the Horn of Africa. The military used an airstrip in Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants who had taken control of much of neighboring Somalia.
The counterterrorism effort was described by American officials as a qualified success that disrupted terrorist networks in Somalia, led to the death or capture of several Islamic militants and involved a collaborative relationship with Ethiopia that had been developing for years.
