Canadian armed forces officially launched their peacekeeping mission in restive northern Mali Tuesday, marking Ottawa’s return to the blue helmets after more than a decade. While Canada originated the concept of peacekeepers in the 1950s, it has not deployed troops on UN peacekeeping missions for more than a decade. The Malian mission also marks the return of the Canadian military to Africa for the first time since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when Ottawa lead the UN mission there. The UN mission, MINUSMA, deployed to Mali in 2013 in the wake of the French anti-jihadist operation and comprises some 14,000 military personnel and police. It is currently the most deadly UN peacekeeping mission, having lost about 170 members including 104 killed in hostile acts — more than half the UN soldiers killed during this period around the world.

Source: The Guardian August 01, 2018 11:15 UTC