Mali Islamists seize town amid French intervention

[dipsydoodle]

2. Thought to be

Marzouki: Tunisia becoming arms corridor for Malian jihadists.

TUNIS - President Moncef Marzouki said on Saturday Tunisia was becoming a "corridor" for arms to Islamist militants in Mali, as the premiers of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia sealed a pact to secure their borders against arms trafficking.

"The situation in Mali has always worried us because we have begun to understand that our our jihadists, quote unquote, have ties with these terrorist forces," Marzouki told France 24 television on the eve of the second anniversary of his country's Arab Spring revolution.

"We have the impression that Tunisia is becoming a corridor for Libyan weapons to these regions," said Marzouki, whose country borders Libya but not Mali.

He was referring to arms from the arsenal of former Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi that he said are reaching Islamists in northern Mali via Tunisia and Algeria, the latter of which shares borders with Mali.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=56417

Source of arms is one thing : ability to fight is another and the northern Malians , the majority of who are Touregs , seem quite adept that.