Chapter 856 Mission Group

By the end of June, the "Defenders of the Faith" used the civil war to completely suppress the Azald National Liberation Movement, and also implemented strict Islamic law in northern Mali.

Then, after a short rest, the "Defenders of the Faith" set off southward from the area they occupied, breaking the confrontation, capturing the important towns of Kona and Jabali in central Mali, and approaching the capital Bamako.

You know, it takes almost two days to drive from Kona to Bamako, so for a while, everyone in Bamako was on tenterhooks.

This also shows that without the involvement of external forces, the Malian civil war will turn from a simple separatist war into a humanitarian crisis.

Under such a dangerous situation, President Traoré of Mali's transitional government (junta) wrote to the UN and the African Union for help.

As early as June 12 this year, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said that the AU has made a request to the UN, hoping that the Security Council can pass a resolution on the Mali issue in the near future, authorizing the formation of a multinational stabilization force. When negotiations failed to resolve the issue, the military intervened in Mali.

Prior to this, officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) standby force met with representatives of the African Union, the United States and France in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire to discuss the details of future ECOWAS troops sent to Mali.

Mali is a French-speaking country, once a French colony, and now a member of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States. Therefore, France is also very concerned about the situation in Mali.

After Hollande came to power, he met with the rotating chairperson of the African Union, the President of Benin and the President of Niger at the Elysee Palace. He made it clear that the initiative to solve the Mali issue lies with Mali, its neighboring countries and ECOWAS, but if The African Union and ECOWAS have made requests to the Security Council under the UN framework, and France will provide full support.

Although all parties have emphasized the importance of resolving the crisis through peaceful dialogue, military intervention has become an alternative or even inevitable option in order to prevent the emergence of a "West African Afghanistan."

But attention is concern, and Hollande never lags behind others in terms of verbal support, but in terms of actual actions, at the beginning, he really didn't want to get involved.

On the one hand, although the anti-government armed equipment in Mali is backward, they have a relatively stable territory, and no matter what, they also have a certain combat effectiveness in the long-term confrontation with the government forces, with a total strength of about 10,000 people.

Facing such an enemy, just relying on fighter jets to drop a few bombs will certainly not solve the problem.

It is definitely necessary to send ground troops to clean up and suppress city after city in order to completely eliminate the opponent.

Because military spending has been declining year after year, the French army at this time simply did not have sufficient transportation capacity to airlift at least one brigade of personnel and equipment from the mainland to the battlefield in Mali, which was thousands of miles away.

This lack of delivery capability completely restricted the French army's desire to participate.

On the other hand, before this, the US military was trapped in a strategic dilemma in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is conceivable that if France intervenes in the Malian civil war, it is likely to end in the same outcome.

Therefore, the safest way for France at present is to let the UN take the lead in organizing a multinational peacekeeping force, or the African Union obtains authorization from the UN to organize troops and intervene in the Malian civil war under the banner of peacekeeping.

After the "Defenders of the Faith" organization moved south to capture the important Malian town of Kona, Niger President Youssef publicly stated:

"In northern Mali, radicals from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places are providing training for terrorists. Terrorism not only threatens the security of the entire region, but also endangers the tranquility of the world."

In addition, countries such as Guinea and Senegal also support sending troops to Mali when necessary to ensure the smooth transition of power and assist the Malian government forces in combating rebels and Islamic extremist organizations in the north.

Niger's Minister of State Bazoum said during relevant negotiations with the new Minister of Defense of Kolo, Errol Brut, who once served as the commander of the Kolo Army:

"We firmly believe that military strikes against terrorists are the only option."

In early July, Burkina Faso President Compaoré Addis Ababa, who attended the 20th African Union (AU) Summit, announced that the AU decided to provide US$50 million in funding for the African-led international support mission to Mali. .

This time, Kolo President Thomas Kabore also attended the African Union summit.

At this meeting, the Chairman of the African Union announced that it had obtained authorization from the UN to organize a peacekeeping mission to support Mali to help the Malian government prevent separatist forces and combat the harm caused by terrorists to civilians.

At present, more than ten African countries have expressed their willingness to participate in the international support mission in Mali. Among them, Burkina Faso will send 650 soldiers and Kolo will send 500 soldiers... The number of this multinational force may reach 5,000 to 6,000. .

Kolo itself has a tradition of supporting the African Union and actively participating in peacekeeping operations of African countries. Therefore, after the civil war in Mali, Kolo President Thomas Kabore also actively responded to the call of the AU - and Mali also Colo is separated only by Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso's economic and political ties with Kolo have become increasingly close, and Burkina Faso's northern border is also facing infiltration and threats from the Malian "Defenders of the Faith" extremist organization.

Therefore, Burkina Faso, Niger and Kolo participated in the AU peacekeeping operation this time, partly based on their own interests.

According to AU officials, it takes $760 million to solve the Mali crisis, of which $460 million is used for the International Support Mission in Mali and $300 million is used for the reconstruction of the Malian army.

In addition to sending a 500-member peacekeeping force, Kolo also promised to donate $25 million to the AU peacekeeping operation, and provide training to the Malian government forces and weapons and equipment worth $10 million - all of which will be manufactured by Kolo's local military production base.

On July 16, after the establishment of the African Union's peacekeeping mission to Mali, a total of 1,800 peacekeeping troops (three battalions) from Kolor, Burkina Faso and Niger entered Mali from the border between Burkina Faso and Mali in the northwest. According to the allocation of the African Union, they established a safe zone in the northwest of Bamali, the capital of Mali, and began to accommodate Malian civilians who fled there to avoid being attacked by various armed factions in Mali.

In order to avoid causing additional trouble, this time the peacekeeping force sent to Mali by the Kolor Corps, except for a 15-member technical team, all other personnel are composed of black people from Kolor, and can be said to be composed of the most elite members of the Kolor Corps.

Just from the equipment of the personnel, it is obvious that Kolor is different from the other two countries.

Not only are the weapons and equipment and individual equipment more complete and advanced, but this battalion of peacekeeping troops of the Kolor Corps is also equipped with two armed helicopters and a transport helicopter, as well as advanced armed vehicles such as armored vehicles and multi-purpose combat vehicles.

In addition, their technical team also brought drones!