Brussels, 19/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The details of a military CSDP mission to help a future African force in its reconquest of North Mali, in coordination with the African Union, ECOWAS and the UN, is taking shape. In Brussels on Monday 19 November, the Council of the EU gave its agreement in principle to the launch of a support mission for the reorganisation and training of 650 Malian soldiers by some 250 instructors, in line with the draft crisis management concept jointly debated by the defence ministers and their foreign affairs colleagues (EUROPE 10731).
In its conclusions, the Council called on the competent bodies to examine, as a matter of urgency, this plan, so that it can adopt it in December and expressed the hope that an "African operation will soon be authorised by the United Nations Security Council".
France is to be the largest contributor, but Italy, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and Finland may also contribute to this mission. The instructors may in early be deployed on Mali soil (near Bamako) in early 2013. (AN/transl.fl)