United Kingdom 250 troops to send to Mali for dangerous peacekeeping mission

UNITED KINGDOM 250 TROOPS TO SEND TO MALI FOR DANGEROUS PEACEKEEPING MISSION

The UK is to send 250 troops to Mali in the biggest peacekeeping deployment since Bosnia and potentially the most dangerous mission for British forces since Afghanistan. The soldiers will form a long-range reconnaissance task group, specifically chosen for their ability to operate in small teams and in violent, contested areas of the country.

They will be asked reach parts of Mali that most militaries cannot, to feed on-the-ground intelligence back to the mission headquarters in Gao. They will arrive in the country early next year. "They will do the part of the heavy lifting. They will do the operations in very contentious areas... where we have a great deal of uncertainty. They will do operations where we face threats to us and to the civilian populations," the UN Force Commander Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllensporre explained.

Although wearing the distinctive light blue UN helmets and deployed with a peacekeeping mandate, it's privately acknowledged that they will likely be targeted by extremist groups fighting for power in one of the world's poorest and most dangerous countries.

The British deployment comes as security in Mali and the wide Sahel region has deteriorated rapidly in recent months, causing thousands of people to be displaced and a dramatic spike in deaths. A range of violent factions - some allied to al Qaeda - are vying for influence, and Islamic State in West Africa has successfully established a foothold in Mali.

Such is the concern within the British government that a Joint Sahel Task Group has been established in London to address the potential threats from what is known as the G5: Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. A regional hub has been set up in Dakar and two new British embassies will open in Niger and Chad. Close to £10m will be spent on security and humanitarian initiatives in the region this year.

Albeit relatively small, the deployment has been welcomed by the UN in New York and is being seen in the British government as one of the most significant military commitments since Afghanistan and the fight against Islamic State. Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt travelled to Mali to make the announcement in person.

She said: "In one of West Africa's poorest and most fragile regions it is right that we support some of the world's most vulnerable people and prioritise our humanitarian and security efforts in the Sahel." France, with historical links in Mali, is the biggest military force in the country with more than 4,500 troops fighting Islamist extremists. The Paris government has paid a heavy toll for the five-year commitment, losing 15 soldiers and many more injured.

Three RAF Chinook helicopters and around 100 personnel have been operating with French forces in the north of the country since 2018, in a non-combat role. The Chinooks have provided valuable heavy-lift to the mission, a capability the French don't have. That commitment was recently extended by a further six months to June 2020, viewed as a gesture of Anglo-French goodwill post-Brexit.

BANGLADESHI PEACEKEEPERS GET U.N MEDAL IN MALI MISSION

BANGLADESHI PEACEKEEPERS GET U.N MEDAL IN MALI MISSION

The ceremony was held at MINUSMA's Operational Base at Bamako in Mali Some 139 members of a Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU) working with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) have been awarded the UN medal for their efforts in supporting peace in the West African country.

The ceremony was held at MINUSMA’s Operational Base in Bamako, Mali recently, according to a press release issued on Saturday. Koen Davidse, deputy special representative of the UN secretary general, Brig Gen Jean-Frederic Sellier, deputy chief of the MINUSMA police component, and many other guests, including a high-level delegation from Bangladesh, participated and were present at the event.

Sellier said: “The decorated Bangladeshi police officers have performed their missions properly and with determination and professionalism. On behalf of MINUSMA, I congratulate you and thank you for the work accomplished.” Bangladesh is the second largest contributor of military and police personnel to United Nations Peacekeeping, with more than 7,000 now serving around the world, including more than 1,600 in Mali.

CANADA TO END UN PEACEKEEPING TROOP CONTRIBUTION TO MALI

CANADA TO END UN PEACEKEEPING TROOP CONTRIBUTION TO MALI

Canada will not be sending hundreds of peacekeepers to support a United Nations mission in Mali in the near future, officials said on Wednesday, a move likely to disappoint allies who want Canadians to play a role in the West African country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year promised to contribute up to 600 troops to peacekeeping operations and Canadian defense experts made three trips to Mali, where soldiers under the U.N. are fighting Islamist militants.

Canada said it would split its soldiers among various missions instead, with no more than 200 going to any one spot, and will offer transport aircraft and helicopters in a series of “smart pledge” initiatives. It will also help train peacekeepers. U.N. officials downplayed concerns, saying that if Canada had pledged its troops and equipment to a single mission, like Mali, then those assets could not be deployed to support other missions in the region.

“This is exactly what we need, we need flexibility we need to be able to allocate these resources where we need them the most,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, a U.N. under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told reporters. Lacroix said talks continue on how Canadian assets will be deployed, but added, “I‘m sure there’s a strong determination to turn this commitment into a concrete action on the ground.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a Canadian official told reporters the option of sending forces to Mali one day was still alive, but added the planning process took at least six months, “So you’re not going to going to see some kind of rapid deployment to any mission, let alone a complex one like Mali.”

Trudeau sidestepped questions about the likely international reaction at a news conference, saying the varied measures Canada was proposing would serve the U.N. better. Unhappy allies this year said Canada’s bid for a U.N. Security Council seat could suffer unless Trudeau lived up to his promises.

“This approach will be a disappointment to some, and the Canadian government will have to work hard to overcome the credibility it has lost in not following through on its initial pledge,” said Jane Boulden, a security studies expert at Queen’s University in Kingston. Government insiders said enthusiasm for the Mali mission faded as the extent of likely casualties and the complex nature of the conflict became clear. More than 80 members have been killed since 2013, making Mali the world’s deadliest peacekeeping operation.

AL-QAEDA-LINKED JIHADISTS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR MALI RESORT ATTACK

AL-QAEDA-LINKED JIHADISTS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR MALI RESORT ATTACK

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance claimed responsibility Monday for an attack on a tourist resort near Mali's capital that left five people dead, including members of a European Union mission to the country.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims, a fusion of jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links, said in a statement three of its "martyrs" had killed Westerners in Sunday's assault on the Kangaba Le Campement resort. The group, also known as Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, said the attackers were from the Fula ethnic group and battled for "many hours" at the popular eco-lodge near Bamako, which it termed a site of "debauchery".

Their statement was quickly picked up by extremist monitor SITE and two Mauritanian news agencies known for reporting on the region's jihadist activity, after being posted on the group's Telegram channel. Three foreigners, a Malian civilian and a Malian soldier were killed in the latest high-profile assault in north and west Africa targeting locals and tourists, including in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

Witnesses said EU and UN staff raised the alert to speed up the deployment of Malian and French special forces when the shooting began at Kangaba. Some assailants had shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), according to other witnesses interviewed. EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, speaking in Luxembourg, confirmed two of the victims were EU staff, a Portuguese soldier who was training troops in the Malian army and a Malian woman.

- INVESTIGATION OPENS -

Prosecutor Boubacar Sidiky Samake said other victims were a Chinese man, a Malian woman and a Portuguese man who died from bullet wounds, while a man from Cameroon died of a heart attack at the scene. Samake also announced that a criminal investigation has been opened and that Kalashnikovs, a pistol and ammunition had been retrieved from the site of the atttack.

At least four suspected jihadists have been placed in custody while four attackers were killed during the incident, Security Minister Salif Traore told. Traore said 36 hostages, mostly French and Malian, were freed, but around 20 members of Mali's Special Forces remained at the eco-lodge Monday.

Kangaba is known to be popular with expatriates. The Portuguese soldier who died was among off-duty members of the EU's army training mission in Mali, and of MINUSMA, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country. A Kangaba employee described ushering clients into a hiding place, a possible explanation for the relatively low death toll compared with the lives lost in previous assaults on tourist targets in west Africa. Among those saved Sunday were two Spaniards, two Dutch and two Egyptian nationals, according to the security ministry.

- US WARNING -

Domestic and foreign forces deployed in Mali's troubled north and centre have been repeated targets of jihadist forces, but attacks on civilians in and around the capital are rare, with the last major incident in November 2015 when gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. Samake said Monday that the Kangaba attack "bore all the hallmarks" of the Radisson Blu assault.

That siege, which left 20 people dead, led to the government imposing a state of emergency which has been in place more or less ever since. Earlier this month, the US embassy in Bamako had warned about "a possible increased threat of attacks against Western diplomatic missions, places of worship" and other places frequented by Westerners. In January, Kangaba's owner Herve Depardieu had complained about the "alarming security information" issued by foreign consulates. In a sign of Mali's ongoing instability, one soldier was killed and three wounded on Monday in the northern town of Bamba, in what the armed forces said was yet another "terrorist attack".

- NEW ANTI-TERROR FORCE -

In 2012, Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda who hijacked an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013. Since then, jihadists have continued to mount numerous attacks on civilians and the army, as well as on French and UN forces stationed there.

The unrest has continued despite a 2015 peace deal between the government and Tuareg-led rebels that aimed to tackle some of the grievances held by separatists in the north. Despite the presence of the 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and French troops serving in a separate counter-terrorism force operating across the Sahel region, instability is growing.

France is pressing the UN Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution to fund and support a new African anti-jihadist force in the Sahel, comprising troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. But Washington says the resolution is too vague. As the leading financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, it also wants to tighten spending.

After paying homage to victims, African Union Commission (AU) Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat on Monday described "the crucial importance of the Security Council's support to the collective efforts of the countries of the region," referring to the proposed resolution. Mogherini, who has promised 50 million euros ($56 million) to back the new force, said Monday that Europeans and Africans were "brothers and sisters" in the fight against terror.