Paris, July 3, (dpa/GNA) – France has resumed its military cooperation with the crisis-ridden West African state of Mali after a month-long pause.
Paris remains committed to the fight against terrorism in the entire region, the Ministry of Defence in Paris announced in the early hours of Saturday.
France had temporarily suspended its joint military operations with Mali at the beginning of June, demanding guarantees for a political transition after the recent coup there. The ministry now made it clear that these assurances were in place.
France wants to significantly reduce the number of soldiers deployed in the fight against Islamist terrorist groups in the vast Sahel region.
Some of the terrorist groups have sworn allegiance to Islamic State or al-Qaeda.
The former colonial power is mobilizing up to 5,100 soldiers in the current mission, dubbed Barkhane.
The German Bundeswehr is also involved in a UN stabilization mission in Mali as well as in the EU training mission EUTM.
Operations in Mali are considered particularly dangerous. Only at the end of last month, a suicide bomber attacked a patrol north-east of the city of Gao with a car bomb. Thirteen UN soldiers were injured, 12 Germans and one Belgian.
GNA