Mali Crisis: 'War will be over in days'

A Chadian army convoy heading to join Mali force.

The Malian government has predicted that the war against rebels in the north will be over in a matter of days after its troops recaptured another town and advanced on the rebel stronghold of Gao capturing it's airport.
"We are winning very rapidly," Manga Dembélé, Mali's communications minister, told the Guardian on Friday. "We are making quick progress … The rebels have been dispersed. We expect this to be finished in days."
For nearly two weeks, French aircraft have bombarded rebel positions, vehicles and stores in the centre and north of Mali as a ground force of African troops assembles to launch a UN-backed military intervention.
The reaction came as French-led troops yesterday seized the airport and a key bridge serving the Islamist stronghold of Gao in a major boost to a 16-day-old offensive to rout al-Qaeda-linked rebels from Mali's sprawling desert north.
The stunning advance came as the extremist Muslim group controlling Gao since June said it was ready for talks to free a 61-year-old French hostage kidnapped in November.
France yesterday confirmed the capture of the airport and the Wanbary bridge at Gao but said fighting was continuing in Gao itself.