EU formally launches training mission for Mali

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-2-18 22:20:11

The European Union (EU) on Monday formally launched the training mission to help train and reorganize the Malian Armed Forces.

According to an EU statement, an advance party had arrived in Bamako on February 8 and would formally start the mission in the coming days. Military instructors will be deployed before the end of March, the statement said.

It said the operation, launched in the framework of UN Security Council resolution 2085, was "an integral part of the EU's comprehensive approach to the situation in Mali and the Sahel."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton thanked "the contributing member states and partner countries, whose decisive action has allowed the deployment of the mission."

The mission will provide advice and military training to the Malian Armed Forces, including on command and control, logistics and human resources as well as on international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and human rights. The mission will not be involved in combat operations.

In a statement following the foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, the EU pledged support the implementation of the roadmap for transition in Mali.

It also urged the Malian authorities, in consultation with the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), to take steps to ensure a transition until "free and transparent elections are held this year."

Posted in: Europe

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