TIMBUKTU, Mali, Jan 29, (AFP): Hundreds of Malians looted Arab-owned shops Tuesday in Mali’s fabled Timbuktu, newly freed from Islamists, as global donors pledged over $455 million for a French-led drive to rout the radicals from the north.
Life in the ancient desert city freed from Islamist control on Monday started returning to normal as soldiers patrolled its dusty streets, but soon large crowds began pillaging.
They plundered stores they said belonged to Arabs, Mauritanians and Algerians who they accuse of supporting the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists during their 10-month rule over the ancient centre of Islamic learning.
The looters took everything from arms and military communications equipment to televisions, food and furniture, emptying shops in minutes.
In the suburb of Abaradjou, a man living in a former bank converted by the Islamists into a “comittee of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice”, was dragged out by a hysterical crowd who then pillaged the building, taking even office chairs.
The bearded middle-aged man was arrested by Malian troops. “He is an Islamist”, one soldier said, as other troops turned their weapons towards the crowd to prevent them from lynching the man. The mob yelled: “He is not from here, he is a terrorist!”
Malian soldiers put an end to the looting in the middle of the morning.
“We will not let people pillage. But it is true that weapons were found in some shops,” an officer said on condition of anonymity.
African leaders and international officials meanwhile pledged over $455 million (340 million euro) at a donor conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for military operations in Mali and humanitarian aid.
“I am glad to report that the overall amount that was pledged here reached the amount of $455.53 million,” African Union peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said, after the conference in the AU headquarters in Ethiopia.
A woeful lack of cash and logistical resources has hampered deployment of nearly 6,000 west African troops under the African-led force for Mali (AFISMA) which is expected to take over the offensive from the French army.
So far, just 2,000 African troops have been sent to Mali or neighbouring Niger, many of them from Chad whose soldier contribution is independent from the AFISMA force. The bulk of fighting has been borne by some 2,900 French troops.
Lamamra said Monday the African force will cost $460 million, with the AU promising to contribute an “unprecedented” $50 million for the mission and Mali’s army.
The International Monetary Fund has agreed to provide an $18.4 million emergency loan to Mali. Japan said it would give an extra $120 million to help stabilise the Sahel region, days after 10 Japanese nationals were killed in the Algerian hostage siege.
The far northern town of Kidal is the biggest goal remaining for the troops, and many of the Islamists who fled their strongholds before the soldiers arrived are believed to have melted away into the hills surrounding the town, 1,500 kms (932 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako.
Britain said Tuesday it is ready to boost the number of military personnel helping the French-led mission in Mali to over 300, adding that it was necessary to deny al-Qaeda the chance to attack the West.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain had offered to contribute up to 40 personnel for a European Union training mission in Mali, and up to 200 for a separate training force in neighbouring English-speaking West African nations.
Playing down fears in Britain of being drawn into another Afghanistan-style quagmire, Hammond denied there was “mission creep” and told parliament that none of the troops would be deployed in a combat role.
A further 20 British personnel have already been deployed to operate a Royal Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft supporting the French mission in Mali, while 70 are deployed outside Mali, in Senegal, to operate a Sentinel surveillance plane.
Britain has also offered France the use of a roll-on roll-off ferry to transport vehicles and equipment from France, Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman said, without saying how many personnel that would involve.
“The UK has a clear interest in the stability of Mali and ensuring that its territory does not become an ungoverned space available to al-Qaeda and its associates to organise for attacks on the West,” Hammond said.