French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said on Monday that the situation in Mali was "rapidly deteriorating" but ruled out sending French soldiers to the former colony.

"/> French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said on Monday that the situation in Mali was "rapidly deteriorating" but ruled out sending French soldiers to the former colony.

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ALAIN JUPPE

Military intervention ruled out in Mali

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said on Monday that the situation in Mali was "rapidly deteriorating" but ruled out sending French soldiers to the former colony.

Military intervention ruled out in Mali
MEDEF

“The situation is dangerous, that is why I have asked all citizens whose presence is not essential to leave the country,” Juppé told journalists in Dakar.

He said with six French hostages currently being held by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the region “we are clearly a target”.

“We can help with logistics or training but there is no question of putting French soldiers on Malian soil.”

France, which has soldiers in the region stationed in Dakar and Ivory Coast, has twice attempted to intervene to save their hostages in the region with disastrous results.

In July 2010 a French hostage was killed in retaliation for a botched rescue bid, and in January 2011 two Frenchmen were killed in the Malian desert as French special forces and Niger troops attempted to save them.

Juppé expressed concern over the role of armed Islamist groups fighting alongside the Tuareg rebels in an ambiguous relationship which has the various groups controlling northern Mali since fabled Timbuktu fell on Sunday.

“It appears that this extreme Islamist/Jihadist faction is taking the upper hand among the different Tuareg factions,” he said.

Juppé is in Dakar for the inauguration of new Senegalese President Macky Sall.

The ceremony will be followed by a meeting of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States who will rule on whether to hit Mali with heavy sanctions as a 72-hour deadline for the junta to restore democracy ran out.

“There is reason to believe the political side can be resolved. Then there is the military question because it seems the Tuareg offensive is moving south,” said Juppé.

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MILITARY

Denmark to deploy special forces to Mali in 2022

Denmark plans to deploy about 100 special forces to Mali early next year to boost the elite anti-jihadist European task force Takuba headed by France, the government announced Thursday.

Denmark to deploy special forces to Mali in 2022
A UN aircraft about to depart Denmark for Mali in 2019. File photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

“The terrorist threat posed by the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda remainssignificant,” the foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement.

“They want to create a hub in West Africa for their extremist regime… and we cannot allow that to happen,” they added.

The Danish contingent, which apart from the special forces will also include top level military officers and surgeons, will be deployed at the beginning of 2022, the ministries said.

Copenhagen also plans to send a military transport plane to assist the UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA.

The French-led Takuba multinational force, launched in March 2020, has already seen Czech, Swedish and Estonian troops deployed in the region but France has struggled to obtain significant support from its larger EU partners.

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