President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the immediate deployment of a battalion of about 900 soldiers of the Nigerian Army and other support technical team to Mali, in response to a request to the effect by the Malian government.
In addition to the deployment of a battalion, the approval entails the deployment of a Coy of the battalion in the next 24 while the remainder would be deployed later.
It would be recalled that the United Nations Security Resolution 2085 of December 2012 approved the deployment of ECOWAS Security Force to assist Mali in reclaiming its northern part from Islamic militants.
Col Mohammed Yerima, Director of Defence Information, Defence Headquarters, who announced the development on Tuesday explained that “the degenerating crisis in the Republic of Mali compelled the decision of ECOWAS Heads of Government to intervene with a deployment of their military forces.”
“Following this decision and in line with Nigeria’s acclaimed peacekeeping roles and in spirit of African brotherhood, the president ordered the immediate deployment of Nigerian troops to Mali,” he said.
According to Yerima, the Force Commander, Maj Gen SU Abdulkadir is already on ground in Mali, and the technical team of the Nigerian Army and Air Force is similarly in the troubled country to facilitate the eventual full deployment of Fighter Aircraft and support element
The Nigerian troops, he further disclosed, will work along with troops from other West African countries and some other Western Forces, including French, which is already on ground in Mali.
They will engage Islamist rebels who have seized northern part of the landlocked country and have resisted heavy bombing by the French planes as they advance much closer to the Malian Capital.
Reports from Mali indicate that the al-Qaida-linked extremists overran the garrison village of Diabaly in the centre of the country in a fierce fighting that Malian army could not contain. The Malian military is in disarray and has let many towns fall with barely a shot fired since the insurgency began almost a year ago
