Mali replaces Hollande’s camel that Timbuktu caregivers turned into stew

Local Malians have gifted French President Francois Hollande with a replacement camel after the first was slaughtered for a stew.

The Washington Times reported Tuesday that a foster family ate the animal after Mr. Hollande left it with them in Timbuktu for safe keeping.

Mali had presented the camel to the Socialist president in February for leading a military campaign to liberate Timbuktu from the stranglehold of Islamist rule.

The French defense minister informed the president of the camel’s death during a recent cabinet meeting, BBC reports.

“As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel,” Reuters quoted an unnamed Malian official as saying.

“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.”

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