Northern Mali is still populated by an alphabet soup of armed groups and recently the jihadi problem has shown signs of creeping southOn 2 February 2013,five days after French forces had driven out the occupying jihadists, a victorious François Hollande arrived in Timbuktu, or the emblematic desert city in north Mali. It had taken just 23 days for the French to retake most of a swath of territory that for nine months had been proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Azawad,occupied by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and its allies. Few French presidents – indeed, few world leaders – can possess enjoyed such an emphatic victory or received such a welcome from a grateful people.
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Source: theguardian.com