AFRICANGLOBE – The UN Security Council has unanimously agreed to send a 12,600-member peacekeeping force to Mali starting in July. The force will be taking over from French and African troops battling Arab/Tuareg terrorists.
The UN peacekeeping force, which will be known as MINUSMA (UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali), will assume authority from a UN backed African force, AFISMA, deployed there to take over from the French.
The UN force will comprise of, at the most, 11,200 soldiers and 1,440 police, most of whom will come from the 6,300 troops from 10 African nations already in Mali. About 150 French soldiers will also join the force.
France intervened in Mali in January, after the al Qaeda-linked militants that controlled the country’s north made a push for the capital, Bamako. French and African troops have since pushed the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists back into the desert and mountain hideouts, from where they are now staging guerrilla attacks.
