Mali to give French president another camel after first one is eaten
Original camel presented to François Hollande in thanks for helping repel Islamist rebels eaten by family he left it with
The authorities in Mali are to give France's president another camel after the one they gave him in thanks for helping repel Islamist rebels was killed and eaten by the family he left it with in Timbuktu, said a Malian official.
A local government official in northern Mali said on Tuesday a replacement would be sent to France.
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate."
François Hollande was presented with the first camel when he visited Mali in February several weeks after dispatching troops to the former French colony to help combat Islamist fighters moving south from a base in the north of the country.
He joked at the time about using the animal to get around traffic-jammed Paris. But he chose in the end to leave it with a family in the town on the edge of the Sahara desert.
France's defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was tasked with giving Hollande regular updates on the camel's status and had to inform him of its death last week, French media said.
French leaders have received many gifts of exotic or wild animals from Africa and further afield over the years.
Last week a robber used a chainsaw to remover a tusk off the skeleton of an elephant offered to Louis XIV by a Portuguese king in 1668. Police caught the man as he fled, tusk under his arm.
The Guardian
The authorities in Mali are to give France's president another camel after the one they gave him in thanks for helping repel Islamist rebels was killed and eaten by the family he left it with in Timbuktu, said a Malian official.
A local government official in northern Mali said on Tuesday a replacement would be sent to France.
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate."
François Hollande was presented with the first camel when he visited Mali in February several weeks after dispatching troops to the former French colony to help combat Islamist fighters moving south from a base in the north of the country.
He joked at the time about using the animal to get around traffic-jammed Paris. But he chose in the end to leave it with a family in the town on the edge of the Sahara desert.
France's defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was tasked with giving Hollande regular updates on the camel's status and had to inform him of its death last week, French media said.
French leaders have received many gifts of exotic or wild animals from Africa and further afield over the years.
Last week a robber used a chainsaw to remover a tusk off the skeleton of an elephant offered to Louis XIV by a Portuguese king in 1668. Police caught the man as he fled, tusk under his arm.
The Guardian