A French soldier from Operation Barkhane rides in an armoured vehicle in Timbuktu, November 5, 2014. REUTERS/Joe Penney
NORTH OF TIMBUKTU Mali (Reuters) - If the French army and its allies are to keep al Qaeda at bay in the desert of northern Mali they must stop them seizing the biggest prizes in the sea of white sand - the wells.
So this month a column of soldiers from France, Burkina Faso and Mali, in armoured vehicles and pick-up trucks, churned towards a village north of Timbuktu where herders water camels and goats.
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