On Wednesday, French military took control of Kidal airport. The town is said to be the last one held by the al-Qaeda rebels. They are planning to hand the airport over to a large African force whose main task will be rooting out insurgents. According to U.N envoys, sending the peacekeeping force is going to offer certain advantages that cannot be offered by a force that is African led. This is because it is going to make it easy to monitor human rights and ensure that there is compliance.
In addition to this, the U.N is also going to choose the national contingents that are going to be part of the force. Le Drian said that the move was a positive development and that it will help restore peace in Mali. So far, France has deployed 4,500 troops in an air offensive attack which was set to flash out rebels.
