FROM REUTERS

French President Francois Hollande promoted a new military operation being rolled out in West Africa to take on a multi-faceted menace from Islamist groups that he warned threatened France’s interests and citizens.

France led a military intervention in its former colony Mali last year, halting the advance of al Qaeda-linked fighters who had seized control of the northern two-thirds of the country in 2012.

The military operation succeeded in scattering the Islamist groups in Mali, and Paris is in the process of reorganizing its deployment in the region, with its 1,700 soldiers in Mali being folded into a broader counter-terrorism force.

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