AfricaEurope

Imperialist UK to send up to 330 soldiers to Mali

baghestani20130129145426483Britain is to send up to 330 military personnel to Mali and West Africa in order to help France’s war in the African country.

Downing Street announced that up to 200 UK military advisers will be deployed to help train a West African intervention force.

The advisers will be in addition to up to 40 personnel Britain is offering to contribute to a European Union (EU) training mission to the Malian Army.

With some 90 UK personnel already committed in the region with the C-17s and an RAF Sentinel R1 surveillance aircraft operating out of Dakar, Senegal, it could take the numbers involved to over 300.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told French President Francois Hollande that Britain is “keen” to help Paris with its war on Mali.

Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has already provided two heavy-lift C-17 transport planes and a Sentinel surveillance aircraft to assist France’s aggressive operation.

On January 11, France launched its war on Mali, under the pretext of halting the advance of the fighters who control the northern part of the African country.

Chaos broke out in Mali after President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said they mounted the coup in response to the government’s inability to contain the Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country, which had been going on for two months.

However, in the wake of the coup d’état, the Tuareg fighters took control of the entire northern desert region, but the Ansar Dine fighters then pushed them aside and took control of the region.

Back to top button