France delays Sahel troop deployment due to Mali violence

France has delayed plans to redeploy 3,000 soldiers to fight various armed groups across Africa's Sahel region, saying it first needs to help deal with a fresh outbreak of violence in northern Mali.

Paris had hoped to move the troops from its former colony Mali and other bases to target armed groups operating between southern Libya, northern Chad and northern Niger. It fears the fighters could use the region as a base for wider attacks.

The decision comes on the heels of a summit Saturday in Paris, where French President Francois Hollande convened the leaders of Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Benin to discuss the outlines of a plan that would counter the influence of armed groups such as Boko Haram, which kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls near the increasingly lawless northern Nigeria border.

Hollande said Boko Haram in Nigeria has ample funds and has trained with some of the world's most experienced “terrorists.” He said it is not clear where the group is getting its money, but weapons have come from chaotic Libya and training took place in Mali before the ouster of its Al-Qaeda-linked leaders.

With thousands of French troops deployed in Mali and Central African Republic, more regional Boko Haram influence would be a huge setback to France’s efforts to stabilize the turbulent region.

But France was forced to review the mission to redeploy troops to the Sahel after deadly clashes broke out between Mali government troops and Tuareg insurgents in the northern town of Kidal over the weekend, officials said.

"Given the events of the last 48 hours, the operation to transfer Operation Serval [in Mali] to a Sahel-Sahara French force must be delayed for several weeks," a defense ministry source said Tuesday.

France originally sent troops into Mali after Al Qaeda-linked armed group members took advantage of a Tuareg-led rebellion and seized control of the country's north in 2012. A French-led military operation, known as Serval, drove them back last year.

After that intervention drove the rebels from major cities and towns, Mali's government and separatist groups signed a deal in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou to hold talks about greater autonomy for the north – but little progress has been made since last year, with tensions gradually rising.

A French military source said no new date had been set for the broader West African deployment, originally scheduled to be completed by the end of May.

At least eight Malian soldiers and eight civilians including six government officials were killed when rebels attacked the regional governor's office in the northern town of Kidal on Saturday. The army retook key positions in Kidal on Tuesday without fighting, but rebels remain in control of a military camp and the governor's office, a military source and a witness said.

"All the (army) reinforcements have arrived and they have taken control of all the strategic positions in the town except the governor's office. We are just waiting for a political decision before moving onto the offensive," a senior military source told Reuters.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian postponed a May 25 trip to Mali and Chad, where the new broader operation is to be based. He had planned to outline details of the mission that would operate across the Sahel region along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.

"There is an urgency in the coming days to restore calm in Kidal, because this must not derail the reconciliation process," a French diplomatic source said.

After winning adulation across Mali for its five-month military offensive, France has been caught in the middle of a diplomatic tussle between the government wanting to assert its control over the country and the rebels still demanding some form of autonomy in the north. Both sides have accused France, the former colonial power, of not doing enough to promote their cause and of supporting the other side.

"The situation could deteriorate but not to the extent of 2012, mostly because of the presence of foreign troops," said Jean-Baptiste Bouzard, Africa analyst at risk consultancy Maplecroft.

"At the moment, they (the French) have decided to stay neutral but if France decides that the situation can't worsen anymore, its army has the capacity to put an end to MNLA [Tuareg fighters] action," he said. 

Al Jazeera and Reuters