State of emergency declared in Mali
By Pierre Meilhan, Joe Sterling and Karen Smith, CNN, 6:40 PM EST, Jan 11, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Mali's defense ministry says government forces have retaken Konna
• Mali is facing a "terrorist aggression" in northern Mali, leader says
• An al Qaeda wing has taken root in the north
• Interim President Traore calls for a "general mobilization" against radical Islamists

France Battling Islamists in Mali
By Adam Nossiter and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, January 11, 2013

BAMAKO, Mali — The international standoff with Islamists controlling northern Mali took a decisive turn on Friday, as French forces engaged in an intense battle to beat back an aggressive militant push into the center of the country [....]

France on terror alert for backlash as air assault on Mali rebels kills 100
By Peter Beaumont, Cass Jones and Kim Willsher in Paris, The Observer, 12 Jan 2013

French pilot among dead as Hollande puts country on terror alert and warns of more fighting to stop Islamist advance  

Militants killed as French fighter jets pound rebel camps
By Afua Hirsch and Nick Hopkins, The Guardian, 13 Jan 2013    

French defence ministry confirms reports of Islamist deaths, together with at least 11 civilians including three children

Mali: high stakes in 'Hollande's war'
By Angelique Chrisafis, guardian.co.uk, 13 Jan 2013   

Unpopular in the polls and accused of dithering on the economy, Mali has shown the French president in decisive mode

Tweets from the U.S. Embassy in Bamako:

https://twitter.com/USEmbassyMali

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Feed for subject hash tag #Mali:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Mali&src=hash

current top one:

British RAF C-17 plane heading for #Mali breaks down in France - not expected to leave until Tuesday bbc.in/100rMhQ

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) January 14, 2013

Mali: al-Qaeda have numerous options for retaliation
When President Francois Hollande launched France's military campaign in Mali, he immediately ordered tighter security in Paris and a failed bid to rescue a hostage as far away as Somalia.
By David Blair in Paris, The Telegraph, Jan. 14, 2013

Those facts drove home the central risk of this venture: al-Qaeda and its allies have numerous options for retaliation. They will have used their 10 months of control over northern Mali to prepare for the moment when their dominance would finally be challenged.

Mr Hollande will be most preoccupied by the fact that "al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM) currently holds seven French hostages. About five other Europeans are also believed to be in their hands, giving them a dozen or so Western captives. Ensuring their safety will be one of a key aim of the campaign.

But AQIM may try to widen the war by opening new fronts inside Mali. An experienced aid worker voiced the fear that operatives have already infiltrated the capital, Bamako, where they could try to carry out attacks.

In a country as vast and as sparsely populated as Mali, front-lines and fixed positions mean little. Guerrillas who have suffered the attentions of the French air force can retreat into the Saharan hinterland, before outflanking their enemies and striking in unexpected locations.[....]

Afghan Taliban condemn French intervention in Mali

Agence France Presse, Jan 15, 2013

[...] The Taliban said in a statement on their website that France should have learned lessons from the "failed" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

When France began its withdrawal process from Afghanistan in recent times it seemed as the French government would likely expand its anti-war stance to other regions of the world," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

"However it broke off its commitment to peace by transgressing militarily on the soil of northern African nation of Mali. [...] "France has launched war against the Muslim nation of Mali without having any legal jurisdiction," the Taliban said, urging governments and global organisations to "stop such transgressions".

The intervention will be "not only disastrous for Mali but also for France", the statement said. [...]

Cross link to thread on Al-Shabab agitprop on the conflict:

Should Twitter allow al-Shabab to post photos of dead French soldiers?

France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
French raids continue on Islamist insurgents, with start of African deployment expected to take at least a week

By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Afua Hirsch in Bamako and agencies, guardian.co.uk, 15 Jan 2013

France is expected to more than triple its troop numbers in Mali as raids continue on Islamist insurgents following overnight air strikes on a small town that had been seized by the rebels.

Sources close to the French defence minister said the number of French troops deployed in the west African country would "gradually" reach 2,500. There are currently 800 French troops in Mali, with hundreds more on the way over the next few days.

France carried out a fifth day of air strikes in a vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance, which combines al-Qaida's north African wing, AQIM, with Mali's home-grown Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mojwa) and Ansar Dine rebel groups.

In a news conference in the United Arab Emirates, the French president, Franç ois Hollande said France had three aims: to stop the rebel advances, to secure the capital, Bamako, and to help the Mali government regain control of the whole country [...]

Mali: who is doing what?
List of what France, West Africa, UK, US, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Denmark are contributing to the operation
 by Julian Borger and agencies @ The Guardian, 15 Jan 2013

Also see the latest news report there:

François Hollande pledges to fight until Islamist rebels in Mali are wiped out

By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Afua Hirsch in Bamako, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 January 2013

Air raids continue 'day and night' in battle with insurgents, but French president dismisses suggestion of colonialism

French troops in direct combat with insurgents 'within hours'
By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Afua Hirsch in Bamako and agencies, guardian.co.uk, 16 Jan 2013 06.56 EST  

French troops will be in direct combat with Islamist militants in Mali "within hours", France's military chief of staff has said.

Admiral Édouard Guillaud said on Wednesday morning that French ground operations had begun overnight – hours after the defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said France's intervention would continue "as long as necessary".

Le Drian had confirmed on Tuesday night that the French intervention in Mali would take the form of both air and ground operations, while preparations continue for the arrival of a west African force."Now we're on the ground," Guillaud said. "We will be in direct combat within hours."

Guillaud accused the insurgents of taking human shields and said France would do its utmost to make sure civilians were not wrongly targeted. "When in doubt, we will not fire," he said. [....]

A column of French armoured vehicles left Mali's capital Bamako late on Tuesday night and headed north towards insurgent frontlines. Military sources said French and Malian government troops had encircled the central town of Diabaly, which was overrun by Islamists on Monday, after advancing to the nearby town of Niono on Tuesday. Diabaly is 220 miles (350km) from Bamako [....]

Al Qaeda Country: Why Mali matters.
BY PETER CHILSON, Op-Ed @ ForeignPolicy.com, Jan. 15, 2013

Read Peter Chilson's gripping new ebook on the lost country of Mali.

In 1893, in West Africa's upper Niger River basin -- what is now central Mali -- the French army achieved a victory that had eluded it for almost 50 years: the destruction of the jihadist Tukulor Empire, one of the last great challenges to France's rule in the region. The Tukulor Empire's first important conquest had come decades earlier, in the early 1850s, when its fanatical founder, El Hajj Umar Tall, led Koranic students and hardened soldiers to topple the Bambara kingdoms along the banks of the Niger. Umar imposed a strict brand of Islamic law, reportedly enslaving or killing tens of thousands of non-believers over a half century. He is said to have personally smashed to pieces captured idols, and once told a French officer he encountered at a well guarded fort to "Go back to your own country, accursed man." Umar traveled widely, prophesying the end of French rule and preaching about the paradise that awaits those who die by jihad. Killed in the explosion of a gunpowder cache in 1864, it still took almost three decades for the French to wrest control over the middle and upper reaches of the Niger River, including Timbuktu and much of the desert to the north.

Now, the jihadists are back and so are the French -- the two sides slugging it out over the same real estate they fought over 120 years ago. An alliance of jihadist groups, [....]