UK troops 'must not get bogged down' on Mali training mission

 
French soldiers leave a hangar at the Malian army air base in Bamako January 14, 2013. France, which has poured hundreds of troops into the capital Bamako in recent days, carried out more air raids on Monday in the vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance grouping al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM alongside Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine militant groups. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Ministers are to pave the way for British troops to train the army in Mali amid warnings that they should not become “bogged down” in a long conflict.

Europe minister David Lidington will ask MPs who are scrutinising the proposed mission to back the Government’s decision to give it the green light.

At the same time, he will also push ahead with plans to extend an EU training mission, involving British officers in war-torn Somalia, to 2015.

But the European Scrutiny Committee is demanding reassurances that the Mali deployment will not “morph into something long-term and become bogged down ... or lead on to a peace-making mission”.

The EU is drawing up plans to send a 150-strong training team to Mali, with a security force of 250 to protect it. Britain is set to deploy a small number of trainers as well as security personnel. The National Security Council, chaired by David Cameron, was discussing the Mali crisis this afternoon. Islamic extremists linked to al Qaeda are pushing south from northern strongholds against a weak Malian army.

France is to send thousands more troops to boost its 750-strong force in the north-west African country to repel the militants’ advances towards the capital Bamako.

A convoy of 40 to 50 tanks and armed trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali from Ivory Coast, where they were stationed, as France prepares for a possible land assault. Despite France’s five-day-old aerial assault, the Islamist fighters have succeeded in gaining ground, most notably taking the garrison town of Diabaly yesterday, which puts them roughly 250 miles from Bamako.

Residents in Diabaly said they were cowering inside their homes after an all-night bombing campaign by French special forces.

Africa minister Mark Simmonds told the Commons how the extremists were raping women and abducting children to force them to join militias. “Stoning, amputations and other participation in extreme Sharia law are also taking place,” he added.

A British C-17 transport plane landed early this morning in Bamako carrying French military vehicles and other kit, with a second RAF aircraft, which had suffered a technical fault, expected to head to Mali today.

French president François Hollande said that overnight strikes by fighter jets had “achieved their goals” and that his troops on the ground would increase to around 2,500 over the next few weeks. Mr Cameron has ruled out sending British combat troops to Mali.

Both Britain and France have warned that the country could become a haven for terrorists unless action is taken against the extremists. The UN Security Council last night unanimously backed the West’s intervention. Nigeria is to supply 600 troops, as part of an African-led force of around 3,000.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “As the Government has made clear, there are certainly no plans for any UK combat role forces on the ground in Mali. As part of a process pre-dating the current French military action, we continue to scope the possibility of the UK contributing to a future EU training mission in Mali.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in