Nigerian army Major General Shehu Abdul-Kadir:

 

　　"The planning needs a lot of thinking because a lot of logistics are required and unless and until the planning is done properly, the mission will fail, the operation will fail; and we don't want to fail in this case."

 

　　French President Francois Hollande said in Dubai on Tuesday that the al-Qaida-linked rebels would be "destroyed."

 

　　"The goals are the following; firstly to stop terrorist aggression which we will do by gaining control of the country including Bamako. The second goal is the secure Bamako where, I'll remind you we have several thousand French nationals. The third goal is to allow Mali to recover its territorial integrity and that mission has been given to an African force that will have our support and that will soon be on the ground to achieve this task."

 

　　France launched an attack on Mali's rebels last week after the insurgents began advancing south.

 

　　US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that the US would not put any American troops on the ground in Mali.

 

　　France is tripling the number of troops deployed to Mali to 2,500.

 

　　Despite facing increasing pressure, al-Qaida-linked insurgents grabbed more territory in Mali on Monday.

 

　　Meanwhile, foreign ambassadors of the US, Russia, Britain and China have held talks in Algeria over the Mali situation.