By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
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Mali Islamists seize town amid French intervention
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Mali Islamists seize town amid French intervention
The BBC's Mark Doyle reports from the Mali capital Bamako, where he is one of the few correspondents on the ground
Islamist fighters in Mali have seized a town in government-controlled territory amid a military intervention by France.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Diabaly, 400km (250 miles) from the capital, Bamako, was taken in a counter-attack on Monday.
Mr Le Drian insisted France's campaign was "developing favourably".
He said Islamists had retreated in the east but admitted French forces were facing a "difficult" situation against well-armed rebels in western areas.
Aid workers said many people had been fleeing areas targeted by the French.
The UN Security Council is due to discuss Mali later on Monday.
France began its military intervention last Friday in an attempt to halt Islamist rebels who took control of northern Mali last year and were advancing towards Bamako.
The Islamists began a counter-attack on Diabaly, home to a key Mali army base, on Sunday night, hours after French warplanes had targeted the town.
Mr Le Drian told BFM television: "They took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army that was not able to hold them off at that moment."
One resident told the BBC that the fighting had lasted for about 10 hours.
"About five [rebel] vehicles entered the town," he said. "Now they're stationed about 200m (650ft) from the military camp but they haven't taken the camp. They've killed a few soldiers."
A Malian military source told AFP news agency that rebels had come from the Mauritanian border area after being attacked by French planes. Rebels 'in retreat'
France intensified its air strikes on rebel targets over the weekend, with its aircraft also bombing the town of Gao in eastern Mali. On Monday witnesses told AFP there had been air strikes on Douentza for a fourth consecutive day.
The threat by a Mali-based Islamist leader to "strike at the heart of France" is not exactly an empty boast, but historically al-Qaeda-linked groups in the Sahel region of north-west Africa have found it easier to operate in their immediate area of Mali, Mauritania and neighbouring countries.
"Their aspirations tend to outstrip their capabilities," is how one British government official put it, adding that there was always the risk of "a lone wolf attack" in Europe by a radicalised individual.
The hardcore of the jihadists in Mali comes from the now-defunct Algerian rebel group the GSPC. Having been largely driven out of Algeria by a long and bloody counter-insurgency campaign they have found sanctuary in the un-policed desert wastes of northern Mali.
They have enriched themselves through smuggling and kidnapping for ransom, and still hold eight French hostages. The most likely way for the Islamist militants to retaliate against France would be against French interests in the region.
"The developments are in line with our expectations," said Mr Le Drian. "The terrorist groups are in effect in retreat."
But he said French forces had encountered "heavily armed militants" in the west, where he described the situation as "difficult".
Rebels of the al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), said that France would pay for its intervention.
Spokesman Abou Dardar told AFP: "France has attacked Islam. We will strike at the heart of France."
Separately, militants in Somalia have published a photograph purportedly showing one of two French soldiers killed during a failed hostage rescue attempt. Friday's raid on town of Bulo Marer, south of Mogadishu, came hours after the French intervention in Mali.
At least 11 Malian soldiers and a French helicopter pilot have died in Mali. More than 100 militants are reported to have been killed.
Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said it had received numerous reports of people being killed or injured in Konna, and that in Douentza, bombardments and fighting were preventing the wounded from making it to hospital.
MSF said at least 200 people had fled to Mauritania by vehicle, with many more heading to the border on foot. 'Won't stay forever'
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France's involvement would last "a matter of weeks" and rejected any parallel with the protracted Western mission in Afghanistan.
"Later on, we can come as back-up, but we have no intention of staying forever," he said.
Nigeria to send 600 troops, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo expected to send 500 each and Benin 300
UK providing two C17 cargo planes for French effort
France says further logistics help from Denmark and US
France has sent about 550 troops to the central town of Mopti and to Bamako.
They are set to be joined by troops from the neighbouring African states of Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Togo, some of which are now expected to arrive in Mali within days.
The UK is offering logistical support, with two cargo planes made available for a week to support French operations.
Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012.
But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, sidelining the Tuaregs.
One Islamist group, Ansar Dine, began pushing further south last week, seizing Konna.
The town has since been recaptured by Malian troops with French aerial support. The battle for Mali
French forces have bombed rebel bases in Mali, where Islamist rebels have threatened to advance on the capital Bamako from their strongholds in the north. France said it decided to act to stop the offensive, which could create "a terrorist state at the doorstep of France and Euro
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By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
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