Chad's leader: Troops to leave Mali guerrilla war
Source: AP-Excite
By KRISTA LARSON and BABA AHMED
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - The war against armed Islamic extremists in Mali will lose some 2,000 Chadian soldiers, the president of Chad said, leaving Malian cities more vulnerable to a resurgence of jihadist attacks.
The news that Chad will pull its troops from Mali could force France to push back its own timeframe for withdrawing its troops from its former West African colony and creates greater urgency for a U.N. force in Mali. The United Nations is set to consider sending a peacekeeping mission, but diplomats have yet to determine its scope and composition.
Since the French-led mission began in mid-January, soldiers from Chad have been involved in some of the fiercest fighting and are credited with some of the biggest successes to date. Among them was killing Abou Zeid, a notorious al-Qaida commander who had kidnapped and terrorized Westerners in the desert for years.
Chad also has suffered heavy troop casualties. Chadian President Idriss Deby announced his forces would not be sticking around for a protracted guerrilla war with the radical Islamic insurgents.
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In this picture taken Monday Jan. 28, 2013, Chadian soldiers patrol the streets of Gao, Northern Mali. Chadian President Idriss Deby in an interview with French journalists that was posted online Monday April 15, 2013 said his country's troops are pulling out of Mali three months after the French-led mission to oust al-Qaida-linked militants began, raising concerns about the future of war in the absence of the fierce Chadian desert fighters. The drawdown of Chadian forces comes days after a suicide bombing killed three Chadian soldiers.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay-File)
