Under the mandate of the UN, the French forces are acting with the logistical support of the British to support Malian troops against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, fighting for independence for the provinces of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, and against the Salafists under Ansar Dine, who are fighting to establish an Islamic regime in this part of Mali.
“François Hollande can be happy to have stopped the Taliban of the sands,” writes *Libération*, [which nevertheless wonders](http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2013/01/13/gendarme_873766) where Operation Serval is headed –
Faced with the rise of the Islamists, French President François Hollande has “chosen the lesser evil,” [writes *Le Monde*](http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2013/01/14/serval-ou-le-choix-du-moindre-mal_1816600_3232.html).
By intervening in Mali, “François Hollande has taken a risk,” writes *Süddeutsche Zeitung*, adding it's a risk he must not be left to take alone.
“The problem with the French intervention is that it is French,” [says *Tageszeitung*](http://www.taz.de/Kommentar-Mali-und-Frankreich/!108906). The alternative daily from Berlin deplores a “colonialism of the left” and notes that –
Furthermore, warns *The Independent*, intervening in Mali may “fuel radical Islamists' narrative of yet another… assault on Islam.” For columnist Owen Jones –
In Bucarest, [*Adevărul* is worried about](http://adevarul.ro/international/europa/europa-noua-ofensiva-terorismului-1_50f2af2156a0a6567e78bc9a/index.html#) “the major consequences for a vast swathe of Africa” of Operation Serval, and about “the security of the EU and its citizens, inside or outside the community space.” Despite this, the paper notes, “the intervention was necessary due to the unprecedented increase in the number of Islamic cells […] both north and south of the Sahara.” It adds, however –
“The question now is whether and how the EU will mobilise,” [adds *European Voice*](http://www.europeanvoice.com/page/3607.aspx?LG=1&&blogitemid=1634). The Brussels-based weekly inquires about the state of European defence and asks