West African leaders headed to a special Mali summit in Ivory Coast yesterday to discuss how to step up their role as the French-led military intervention to oust Islamic extremists from power entered its second week.
Neighboring countries are expected to contribute about 3,000 troops to the operation in Mali, aimed at preventing militants from advancing further south toward the capital.
While some initial contributions from Togo and Nigeria have arrived, concerns about the mission have delayed other countries from sending their promised troops so far.
Ivory Coast Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Koffi Diby said that Mali’s neighbors must “face up to the weight of our responsibilities in conducting and coordinating military operations in Mali.”
At yesterday’s meeting, the big issue was to be sorting out a central command for the African force, a French official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive security matters.
Nigerian General Shehu Usman Abdulkadir is expected to be named the force commander.
As the military intervention entered its second week, Malian forces had reclaimed the key town of Konna whose capture prompted the French action, French and Malian military officials said. However, telephone lines to the town were still down, making it difficult to independently corroborate the claim.
France said it was keeping up the pressure around another key town, Diabaly, which was taken by the Islamists on Monday.
French forces have moved around Diabaly to cut off supplies to the Islamist extremists, said a French official who spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss sensitive security matters.
The UN’s refugee agency said on Friday that the fighting in Mali could force as many as 700,000 people to flee their homes in the coming months.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from