United Nations, Dec 8 (AFP) The UN Security Council is tovote today on a resolution authorizing its Mali peacekeepingmission to support a new Sahel regional force againstjihadists, diplomats said.
If the text proposed by France is accepted, the MINUSMAmission in Mali would provide medical evacuations, fuel,water, rations, and engineering units to assist the G5 Saheltroops provided by Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania andNiger.
The G5 conducted its first operation last month in theSahel region, which has turned into a hotbed of lawlessnesssince chaos engulfed Libya in 2011, Islamists took overnorthern Mali in 2012, and the Boko Haram group became activein northern Nigeria.
France and the United States -- two of five permanentmembers of the Council -- have clashed over internationalsupport for the Sahel force.
French President Emmanuel Macron has complained about thesluggish deployment of the G5 Sahel and said it needed moretroops and military means.
He has called an international meeting in Paris nextWednesday in an effort to address the shortfalls.
In its proposed resolution, France asked United NationsSecretary General Antonio Guterres to conclude "as soon aspossible" a technical agreement between the UN, the EuropeanUnion and the G5 Sahel states "with a view to providingspecified operational and logistical support through MINUSMA"to the new force.
The assistance would apply to the G5 Sahel force "onlywhen operating on Malian territory" and would come at no extracost to the UN because it would "be subject to full financialreimbursement to the United Nations," the draft resolutionsays.
MINUSMA has almost 11,000 Blue Helmets and has beendeployed in Mali since 2013.
France has its own 4,000-strong military presence in theregion, known as Barkhane.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said that thepeacekeeping mission in Mali was already overstretched. Sheraised "serious" reservations about "using UN resources tosupport non-UN activity."Financing of the G5 Sahel force, which Paris says wouldneed 400 million euros (USD 473 million) when it is fullyoperational next year, is not yet assured. (AFP)AQS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.