(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called off a planned trip to Mali next Sunday after a major clash with Tuareg rebels in the north of that country and the need to re-evaluate planned redeployments of French forces in the region, Defence sources confirmed Wednesday.
Le Drian had announced several weeks ago that about 3,000 French troops currently deployed in Mali for "anti-terrorist operations" and to contain Tuareg rebel activity, initially, were being moved to other countries in the region.
France still intended to leave a force of 1,000 troops in Mali to back up predominantly African forces serving with the UN deployment and to combat any resurgence of Islamist rebel groups.
But in view of an attack by Tuareg rebels against government targets and Malian troops in the northern town of Kidal last weekend, there is now "a rethink" about moving 75 percent of France's forces out of Mali.
This is particularly the case because the UN forces are not yet up to strength and Mali is asking for an expanded UN mandate to tackle insurgency.
The source said that the re-evaluation of the French redeployment could take several weeks.
At least eight Malian troops and 28 rebels were reported to have been killed in the Kdal violence, which has been broadly condemned in Paris and in the UN Security Council.
But the reappearance of heavy-weapons and rumors of "Jihadist" fighters again on the streets of Kidal spooked authorities here.
Foreign Ministry sources said that France only had 40 troops in Kidal but had also provided security for Malian Prime Minister Moussa Mara who was in Kidal when the attacks were initiated by the Tuareg MNLA separatist group.
France intervened in Mali in January 2013 to stop the country being overrun by several extremist Islamist groups, some linked with Al-Qaeda, and by Tuareg militants who had an alliance of convenience with the Islamists but which broke down later.
At the height of the deployment, France had over 4,000 troops in Mali and has lost eight men in the fighting.
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