Mali's foreign affairs ministry said that Chad planned to deploy 1,000 additional soldiers to Mali to reinforce its troops battling insurgents there, as France scales back its military presence in Africa's Sahel Region. The upcoming deployment will reinforce those and other Chadian troops as former colonial ruler France scales back its 5,000-strong regional counterterrorism mission known as Barkhane, Mali's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement late Friday. President Emmanuel Macron on Friday canceled a December 20-21 trip to Mali to visit French troops amid concerns over the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant. Chad government spokesperson Azem Bermendoa told Reuters Saturday that additional troops would soon be sent to Mali, but he declined to specify the size of the contingent or a deployment timeline. Chad deployed some 1,000 soldiers to the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali in February to reinforce national armies after France first publicly mulled reducing its regional presence.

Source: Ethiopian News December 18, 2021 22:24 UTC