Acceso usuarios
Panos Koutrakos
The French daily Le Monde published recently a cartoon by its most distinguished cartoonist, Plantu, depicting President François Hollande as Tintin ready to wade in battle in Mali on an army jeep. Sitting on a sofa behind him with the EU flag waving, the two incompetent policemen Dupond and Dupont state that �we are all with you�.
At the time of writing, France has approximately 3,000 soldiers in Mali aiming to prevent Islamist jihadists from advancing towards Bamako, the Malian capital. This is an operation which is undertaken independently from the European Union in a country with traditional links with France. It is carried out in anticipation of an African-led mission, organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) in accordance with United Nations Security Resolution 285 (2012).
