Hollande gets hero's welcome in a Mali fearful of future
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Malians celebrate on their motorcycles a visit by France's President Francois Hollande in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A woman wearing a dress with the colors of the French national flag, dances on the Independance square during the visit of French President in Mali on Feb 2, 2013, in Bamako. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Malians cheering at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A Malian man painted in the colours of the French flag and with the words Thank you France stands next to a crowd before the arrival of France's President Francois Hollande at the Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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A Malian man painted in the colours of the French flag and with the words reading: "Welcome the savior Francois Hollande" poses for a picture before the arrival of France's President Francois Hollande at the Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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France's President Francois Hollande (left) joins hands with Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore after Traore spoke at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali February 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Malians celebrate on their motorcycles a visit by France's President Francois Hollande in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman wearing a dress with the colors of the French national flag, dances on the Independance square during the visit of French President in Mali on Feb 2, 2013, in Bamako. -- PHOTO: AFP
Malians cheering at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A Malian man painted in the colours of the French flag and with the words Thank you France stands next to a crowd before the arrival of France's President Francois Hollande at the Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A Malian man painted in the colours of the French flag and with the words reading: "Welcome the savior Francois Hollande" poses for a picture before the arrival of France's President Francois Hollande at the Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali, on Feb 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
France's President Francois Hollande (left) joins hands with Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore after Traore spoke at Independence Plaza in Bamako, Mali February 2, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BAMAKO (AFP) - President Francois Hollande received a rapturous welcome in Mali on Saturday as he promised that France would stay as long as necessary to continue the fight against Islamist rebels in the country's north.
As troops worked to secure Kidal, the last bastion of radicals who occupied the vast desert north for 10 months before the French army's surprise intervention, Mr Hollande told Malians it was time for Africans to take the lead but that France would not abandon them.
"Terrorism has been pushed back, it has been chased away, but it has not been defeated yet," said Mr Hollande, whose decision to intervene in Mali three weeks ago won him accolades in the former French colony.
"France will stay by your side as long as necessary, as long as it takes for Africans themselves... to replace us," he told a large crowd in the capital, Bamako, at a monument commemorating Mali's independence from France.
