Senegal Sends 200 Soldiers to Mali to Support Peacekeeping Operation

SENEGAL SENDS 200 SOLDIERS TO MALI TO SUPPORT PEACEKEEPING OPERATION

Dakar, January 16, 2017. According to the digital portal Metrodakar. net. The Senegalese army sent today about 200 soldiers to support a peacekeeping operation in the center of Mali.

According to the sources consulted, the soldiers are currently in Mopti, a city where the Niger River joins the Bani, between Timbuktu and Ségou, in the central part of the African nation.

According to military spokesmen, the operation will mobilize no less than a thousand soldiers and aims at securing the area before the presidential elections this year.

The mission responds to a call by extremist Islamic elements in the Sahel to unite and confront the joint strength of the five countries of the region (G5), composed of troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad, to confront the terrorist Islamic State in the area.

Senegal is not part of the G5 but will provide its contribution to preventing the spread of violence in the neighboring country, and prevent passage, to cross its borders.