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Africa North
EU FMs Approves Military Mission to Mali
2013-02-19
[An Nahar] European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
 foreign ministers on Monday formally approved the launch of a 500-strong EU military mission to train the Malian army, which has already begun work on the ground.
This is good. I'm very happy to see the EU get some real skin the game, unlike in Afghanistan where most of them stayed in the safe places 'training' the ANA while we, the Brits and the Danes did the hard work. Now we need to get the EU blooded, as opposed to more 'training'.
A first group of 70 EU military arrived in the west African nation 10 days ago, and Monday's ministerial greenlight was the final phase in setting up the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), which has a 15-month mandate to shape up the ramnshackle Malian army.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the mission "is going to be of enormous importance in support of the Malian army," a poorly equipped and trained force without the capacity to maintain the country's territorial integrity.

The 27 EU nations first approved the notion of a training mission in December to boost the army's ability to fight Salafist tough guys who last year seized control of the country's vast arid north.

But its launch was accelerated after the surprise intervention of La Belle France in its former colony on January 11, to stop the hard boyz marching south on the capital.

Some 16 countries from the EU as well as Norway have agreed to take part in the EUTM, which will have a 12.3-million-euro budget, with each contributor nation financing its own troops.

Around half of the troops will be trainers, the remainder providing protection and administrative and medical backup.
Posted by:Fred

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