EU to launch Mali security mission
The European Union is poised to approve the launch of a new security mission to Mali, its second in the country.
The decision will be taken by EU foreign ministers without debate on Monday (14 April) if no objections are raised by the British parliament in its scrutiny process.
The EU’s current mission in Mali, which was established in February 2013, is to train Malian soldiers and advise its military command. The new mission would focus on Mali’s police, border guards and national guards. It would also provide managerial and strategic advice to their commanders.
The mission is expected to operate in Mali over the long term, with staff numbers, according to a diplomat, “a little higher” than a comparable 80-member mission in Niger and with “higher ambitions”.
The initial mandate will be for two years, but, in discussions in working groups, diplomats and officials suggested that the mission might ultimately need to stay for four years. Over a nine-month start-up phase, costing €5.5 million, the mission is expected to hire around 40 people, half of whom would be ancillary staff. The commander has not yet been chosen.
The police-training mission is viewed as an extension of the EU’s military-training mission, which was launched after Islamists swept aside the resistance of the Malian army in January 2013 before being halted by French troops. The EU had, though, been planning the military mission before the Islamists launched their campaign.
The mission had a slow start, with problems ranging from mustering personnel to securing medical support, but 23 EU member states, and five non-EU states, now contribute to the mission. Two novelties for an EU security mission in Africa are that the 580-member mission includes soldiers from the Franco- German brigade, an international corps approved in 1987, and also a substantial, 40-strong contingent from the Czech Republic.
Diplomats say that a police-training mission has been on the cards for much of the past year, in part because some of the sources of the Islamist rebels’ funding – drugs and trafficking – pose policing challenges. A report published in March by the European Parliament found that there has been an “expansion of the criminal economy, with implications for Mali’s broader economy, public disillusion with government and armed conflict” since South American drug cartels began using the region as a major transit route to Europe in 2005.
A diplomat suggested that the twin missions in Mali “might just prove to be a showcase of how to deal with” security problems in the region. The situation in the country remains highly unstable, however, with regular reports of violent incidents. The French army says that it has killed around 50 rebels in the past month. The International Crisis Group, a think-tank, has also warned that there are increasing fears for ongoing peace efforts after several armed groups refused to attend meetings co- organised by the United Nations and the central government in March.
Successful parliamentary elections in late 2013 have eased the political situation in the country, which had become critical after a coup in 2012. But the European Commission says that the country’s food crisis remains significant, with “severe acute malnutrition” a major concern in northern Mali.
Click Here: Maori All Blacks Store