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Mali: African Union to hold donor conference on intervention
The African Union is next week expected to hold a conference with potential donors to raise funds to support the planned African military intervention in northern Mali.
A meeting between the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed that the conference be held in Addis Ababa on January 29 at the end of the upcoming summit.
The UN Security council last December approved sending an African-led military force to liberate northern Mali from Islamist militants giving them the mandate to use all necessary measures to help the Mali government take back the territory.
The International Support Mission in Mali (MISMA), as the African force will be called, will consist of troops from across the continent including Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo and Burundi.
A first contingent of 200 Chadian soldiers sent to help battle the armed Islamists in Mali has arrived in the country’s eastern neighbor Niger, a military source said Thursday.
“Two hundred Chadian special forces left N’Djamena last night,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, adding that the troops were currently at a military base in Niger’s capital Niamey.
First of a 2,000-strong contribution pledged by Chad for the Malian campaign, the troops were to be joined by Burkinabe and Nigerien forces before heading together into Mali.
