Chad: More 1000 Troops To Mali

Chadian authorities have announced the deployment of 1,000 troops to Mali in the fight against jihadist groups. The additional UN peacekeepers according the foreign affairs ministry, is to reinforce its troops in Mali, “The deployment is part of a bilateral framework at the request of the Government of Chad for reinforcing its contingent in Northern Mali following the reconfiguration of the Barkhane force.”

Chadian soldiers make up nearly 1,400 of the UN’s 13,000 peacekeeping force in north and central Mali, where an armed rebellion has escalated despite a nine-year effort by an international coalition to subdue it. The upcoming deployment will reinforce those and other Chadian troops as France cuts down its 5,000-strong regional counter terrorism mission known as Barkhane. This follows an announcement in June 2021, by French President, Emmanuel Macron to scale down after a military takeover in Mali in August 2020 that overthrew the elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Earlier this week, French troops left the city of Timbuktu bringing to three the number of cities the French troops have handed back to Malian government. By next year, it is set to have about 3,000 soldiers in the Sahel, down from 5,1...