DIABALY, Mali — When France entered the world’s newest war against terrorism, French officials boldly declared that the ragtag radical Islamists they planned to oust from northern Mali would scatter in the face of a modern fighting force.

But two weeks later, reality has sunk in. Even as they bombard Islamist targets, the French troops are facing a military landscape that is far more complicated than it appeared at the outset, raising questions about France’s long-term goals.

With no clear exit strategy, the French are encountering a host of problems: Mali’s interim government is weak, its military is disorganized, and a long-promised African intervention force is far from ready. Even as French troops worry about killing civilians, it is unclear who the civilians are and where their sympathies lie. Ethnic, religious and regional rivalries, as well as old and unsettled vendettas, also are posing obstacles.

The Malian army, which France sought to bolster with its action, has been accused of committing abuses, particularly against the Tuareg ethnic group, some of whose members launched the March rebellion that has divided this West African nation. That could erode popular support for the military intervention here and in France, and it could complicate France’s ability to recruit secular Tuareg militias to battle the Islamists.

On Thursday, a new Tuareg militia emerged as Ansar Dine, one of three groups fighting in Mali, split. The new group, led by Tuareg leader Alghabass Ag Intalla, calls itself the Islamic Movement for the Azawad and says it is ready to negotiate.

French soldiers also could find themselves caught in the middle of growing tensions between the lighter-skinned Tuaregs, who are from the north, and black Malians from the south, who run the government and the military.

“It’s hard for the foreigners to know who is helping the Islamists and who are not,” said Demba Diarra, 82, a tribal leader in Niono, a town near Diabaly. “It’s so complicated.”

Already, French forces have faced immense difficulties in dislodging the Islamist fighters from two central Malian towns, Konna and Diabaly. In both cases, senior French and Malian officials explained away the problems by saying that they wanted to avoid civilian casualties. But community leaders and residents in Diabaly and surrounding areas offer a more complex portrait of the obstacles faced by France, including Islamist sympathizers and enemies of Mali’s military.

The concerns arise as the first criticisms of French President Francois Hollande’s decision to send troops have emerged in Paris, a rupture in what had been unanimous endorsement. Although opinion polls still show 65 to 75 percent support for the move, the political sniping has betrayed doubts about the length of France’s involvement.

Jean-Francois Cope, the conservative opposition’s pugnacious leader, was the first off the blocks. In a National Assembly debate, he said he and his opposition colleagues were worried to see France “so alone” on the ground despite plans for a pan-African force and promises of training by European Union military officers.

SÉGOU, Mali — Ansar Dine, one of the main Islamic militant groups fighting to control Mali, split in two Thursday when one of its leaders said in a statement published by Radio France Internationale that he would form his own group to seek negotiations to settle the country’s crisis.

The new group, which calls itself the Islamic Movement for the Azawad and is led by Alghabass Ag Intalla, a prominent leader of the Tuareg ethnic group, becomes at least the sixth group to be fighting in an increasingly complex battle to control northern Mali.

Azawad is a Tuareg term for the vast desert region.

Mr. Intalla was described on the French radio station as the heir to the traditional ruler of the remote and sparsely populated Kidal region in the northeast of the country.

He was said to have been among Tuareg representatives who met with Malian diplomats in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, late last year. The talks were an attempt to resolve long-standing Tuareg complaints and lure them away from Islamists from other countries, notably Algeria, who are operating in northern Mali.

According to R.F.I., the splinter group said it was prepared to fight its former allies. The split within Ansar Dine came after French airstrikes halted the southward advance of rebel groups trying to push toward the capital, Bamako.

French and Malian troops have retaken the central Malian town of Diabaly, which was briefly occupied by one of the Islamist groups. They also claim to have cleared Konna and Douentza, but have not allowed journalists to visit either town.

The main cities of the north, Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, remain beyond government control.

The latest group to be formed is at least the sixth to join the fray in northern Mali, where Qaeda-linked groups have overrun the secular Tuareg nationalists who initially started the latest rebellion early last year.

The groups include the Algerian-dominated Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa, based in Gao, which is believed to be led by a Mauritanian; and the Malian-led Ansar Dine.

Mali has been in turmoil since early 2012, when the government’s tepid response to the Tuareg uprising prompted junior army officers to topple the government just before scheduled elections. The coup made matters only worse, as the Tuareg rebels took advantage of the disarray to push farther south, capturing half of the country with the help of Islamic militants.

Just two days after the evacuation of the mystery dead bodies that appeared in Ezu River in Awka North Local Government area of Anambra State, four more bodies surfaced yesterday, Thursday.

This development has given indication that more bodies may still surface, or might have been swept by unnoticed.

According to the traditional ruler of Amansea, Igwe Kenneth Okonkwo, the community closest to the river whose subjects were worried of the health hazard the putrid stench from the streams, tributaries of the Ezu River serves as means of drinking and domestic uses, the community had thought that the bodies have finished only to be shocked that more bodies are surfacing.

Senator Chris Ngige who paid a sudden visit to the area yesterday has therefore called on the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA to the location.

Ngige calmed down the people over what happened, assuring that NEMA would soon come to their aid with medical attention and other forms of assistance. He said, “have also discused with the State Police Commissioner and State Director Security Services, I also came to find out of any awka north person was indentified among the corpses in the River. However this is an indication of a security breach, and it is not good for our people”

The senator also donated 6,000 cartons of water to the affected community in Amansea, lamented that “For people at this time to be drinking and depending on Ezu River for water is in proper and it is against the set goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the policy of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and for a town like Amansea that falls within the Awka Capital territory it is indeed shameful that it has no water bore hole until this incident”

Ngige flagged off the sinking of a fresh bore hole at Ngige square in Amansea to provide alternative to water, adding that a the 2013 fiscal way would witness sinking of bore holes in Ebenebe, Ugbenu Ugbenu, Awba Ofemili, Amanuke and Mgakwu respectively with each reciving transformers this year.

A community leader and former councilor in Amansea from Amaowelle clan where the river is located Chief Alphosus Nwene noted that the may several others dead bodies in the water and once the decomposed sufficiently it would come afloat.

The Jihadist influenced violence may appear spiraling out of control in the northern part of Nigeria of recent days – following the failed attack on the Emir of Kano’s convoy along Ribadu road at Hawusawa community of Kano State.

Information available to 247ureports.com indicates that following the attack on the Emir by gunmen on motorbikes, the governor of Kano State, Malam Rabiu Kwankwaso who took the decision to ban the operators of Okada [motorbikes] from operating within Kano State, appeared to have unsettled the beehive. With only hours after the announcement of the banning, a group of unknown gunmen on motorbike armed with AK47s shot and killed seven [7] people along Zango road in Dakata town in Kano.

According to the information gathered, the shooting incident occurred on the evening [6pm] of Tuesday January 22, 2013 – as traders and civil servants had returned home for the day – and have begun settling into the various ‘hang out’ joints around Dakata.

The attack came sudden. They were said to have come with two or three motorbikes – as they shot directly at people gathered near an ongoing game of draught [checkers]. At the end of the shooting incident which lasted about 7-10minutes, 7 bodies lay dead in their pool of blood.

Three of the dead were immediately identified as being Igbo – one Anambra, one Imo and one Abia State. One was identified as being Yoruba and the other from Kogi State. The remainder of the two were not immediately identified. The Abia State man was identified as Ezekiel Ogbanje from Isikwuato. He was the Vice Chairman of the Isikwuato community union in Kano.

Their corpse were deposited that the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

The Kano State police public relations officer, Malam Magaji, was contacted but he declined to comment.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West has described the Appeal Court judgment declaring illegal, the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s sack of elected Local Government chairmen and councillors, in the State as a further confirmation of the governor and his party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) dictatorship, contempt for democracy and rule of law.

The party, which also frowned at the directive by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, mandating political office holders in the State to take permission from the Ministry of Information before granting press interview, said; “It is worrisome that a governor, who is a senior lawyer would be behaving like a dictator by giving directives that Nigerians fought against during military rule.”

Zonal Publicity of the PDP, Hon. Kayode Babade said in a statement issued today that Nigerians must take note of the autocratic acts of the ACN governors, in relation to what they would turn Nigeria to if the country has the misfortune of falling into their hands.

“Yesterday, the Appeal Court, siting in Ado-Ekiti declared Fayemi’s sack of duly elected local government chairmen as illegal and undemocratic.

“That judgment is a further exposure of Fayemi and his party, ACN’s disregard for the rule of law.

“With the judgment of yesterday, Ekiti State will have to pay over N2 billion to the sacked chairmen and councillors and that is almost two months federal allocation of the local councils.

“Nigerians, especially Ekiti people must  therefore take note of the huge debts Fayemi’s reckless abuse of power is plunging Ekiti State into and prevail upon the governor to rule according to the laws of the country,” Babade said.

On Fashola’s ban of political office holders from speaking to the press, Babade said; “As a party, we are worried that this is coming from a governor, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

“The other time, a request for information made to the governor by a citizen was turned down, under the excuse that Freedom of Information Act was not operative in Lagos State.

“Now in Fashola’s Lagos State, Nigerians are being barred from talking to the press just because they are political appointees. Even during the military rule, that never happened.

“Simply put, these ACN people are worse than military dictators and Nigerians must be mindful of their deceitful antics.”