Mali Islamists Seize Town Amid French Intervention

France has launched military intervention in Mali, a former colony, with the hope of rousting extremists who control most of the northern half the country. France also asked the UN Security Council to convene as the Mali military is flailing to maintain control. Despite strikes by French warplanes, militants took control of Diabaly. “Rebels of the al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), said that France would pay for its intervention,” noted a BBC News report based on reporting of Mark Doyle in the capital. African forces from Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo and Senegal and Benin will support the French mission. The French foreign minister has suggested that the action in Mali will end in a “matter of weeks,” reported the BBC, and he “rejected any parallel with the protracted Western mission in Afghanistan.” – YaleGlobal