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Uninvited foreign troops must leave, African nation says

RT | January 24, 2022

Denmark must “immediately withdraw” some 90 troops it deployed to Mali last week “without [the government’s] consent and in violation of the protocols” allowing European nations to intervene in that African country, the government in Bamako said on Monday.

Some 91 Danes from the Jaeger Corps special forces arrived in Mali on January 18, as part of Task Force Takuba, a French-led counter-terrorism mission in the West African country. According to the Danish defense ministry, their job will be to reinforce the border with Niger and Burkina Faso, train Malian Armed Forces, and provide medical services to the peacekeepers.

While the government of Mali is grateful to “all its partners involved in the fight against terrorism,” it stressed “the need to obtain the prior agreement of the Malian authorities” before sending any troops to the country, says the communique signed by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, spokesman for the Ministry of Administration and Decentralization.

Announcing the deployment of the force last week, the government in Copenhagen said it had been scheduled in April 2021, as France sought to withdraw some of its troops from Mali.

Their objective was “to stabilize Mali and parts of the border triangle between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and to ensure that civilians are protected from terrorist groups,” the Danish military said.

The Jaegers are also experienced in “training and educating” local militaries, a job they have previously performed in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were sent shortly after Sweden withdrew its contingent from Mali. The French-led operation also involves forces from Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

Task Force Takuba has operated in Mali since March 2020, when Paris decided to wrap up the previous Operation Barkhane. France has maintained a military presence in its former West African colony since 2013, to help the government in Bamako deal with a Tuareg rebellion in the northwest of the country and subsequent terrorist insurgency loyal to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

Relations between Bamako and Paris have grown chilly since the latest military takeover in Mali in 2021, and France has since closed three of its military bases there, in Kidal, Tessalit, and Timbuktu.

January 24, 2022 - Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , , , , , , , ,

2 Comments »

  1. I’ve merely spun through this without depth, but: has any UN body been involved?

    Mali’s position seems reasonable to me….

    (I do of course vaguely recall the unintended consequences associated with the West’s dismembering of Libya…inter alia, weaponry and malign fighters flooding north from Mali will ill intent….)

    Like

    Comment by roberthstiver | January 25, 2022 | Reply

  2. It is never clear what they mean with fighting terrorism. This is my own reconstruction of the facts (it happened in Syria):
    – The Americans give explosives to the moderate rebels
    – The moderate rebels sell the explosives to the not so moderate rebels
    – The not so moderate rebels place the explosives in a building at the centre of a village
    – The Americans give the location of the building to the Dutch
    – The Dutch throw a bomb at the location
    – The explosives go off, destroy half the village and kill tens of people.
    – Nobody is quitly.
    – The press brags about ‘fighting terrorism.’

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by Balthasar Gerards | January 26, 2022 | Reply


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