[CHRON] French President Francois Hollande...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
declared Thursday the war against Islamic bully boyz had been won in Mali, though he vowed to keep French forces in the West African country as long as the threat exists.
Hollande spoke before more than a dozen heads of state at inauguration festivities for Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who overwhelmingly won the election that La Belle France urged Mali to hold only months after the radical jihadists had been largely ousted from power in northern Mali.
"We have won this war; we have chased out the terrorists; we have secured the north and finally ... we have, you have organized an uncontested election and the winner is now the president of Mali," Hollande told the crowd gathered at a sports stadium in the Malian capital.
"If there had not been an intervention, today the gunnies would be here in Bamako," he said.
Later at a news conference held in Mali's capital, Hollande pledged that French forces would continue to aid the Malian military "so long as the threat exists." He also vowed to continue pursuing the six kidnapped Frenchies who are being held by al-Qaeda's North Africa branch.