French colonel: France better off alone in Mali

A senior French military officer has said France is better off without Nato or EU help to "reconquer" north Mali.

Colonel Michel Goya, a serving officer and an expert at the Institut de Recherche Strategique de l'Ecole Militaire in Paris, told EUobserver in an interview on Thursday (24 January): "We have more freedom of action if we do it alone than if we go through Nato procedures. It would be even worse at EU level. If we do it alone, it's more efficient in military terms."

He ...