.. the US has appeared slow in its response to French requests for military help, reflecting considerable unease in Washington at what some officials say is the ill-defined nature of the military operation. According to some US officials, French troops could be left waiting for weeks or months inside Mali before a planned international force made up of troops from African states arrives. As of Tuesday no African troops had arrived, although Nigeria promised some would arrive this week.

According to Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank: “The US does not want to tell an ally to stand down, but by starting an operation they might not be able to finish, the French risk exacerbating the crisis.”

A senior British official told the Financial Times that French forces could be vulnerable to attacks from Islamist rebels in central Mali as they wait for African states to provide military support.