Several Nations Say They Will Support The War Effort In Mali

Several Nations Say They Will Support The War Effort In Mali

Several African countries have promised to support the war effort in Mali and have pledged to send troops to help the Malian Government recapture towns in northern Mali currently held by al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups.

As the cost of the military operation into the desert will be quite high, the funding is still a problem. A problem that seems to be solving itself slowly as The African Union, raised $455.5 million at a donor conference in Ethiopia, making a small, but important step forward.

With the French led effort to recapture the urban centers in northern Mali proving quite successful, the helm of the operation will be handed to African led peacekeeping troops. The question that concerns both U.N. and Malian citizens is if the newly trained and deployed troops can handle the task and successfully protect the cities from terrorist reprisals.

The U.S. might contribute close to $100 million to the Malian anti-terrorist war, but that decision is still waiting to be approved by the congress.

In the meantime, the U.S. have worked tightly with the French army, providing logistic support, and exchanging information.

The U.S. is also considering building a drone surveillance base, in Niger, a country that neighbors Mali to help improve stability in the region, while helping UN and African forces track al-Qaeda activity.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday January 30 2013, 7:48 AM EDT. Ref: The Wall Street Journal. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0