British troops to join force countering Mali militants
A mix of updates and with our current political focus unlikely to attract much attention:
1.
Quote:
Three RAF Chinook helicopters and around 100 personnel have been operating with French forces in the north of the country since 2018, in a non-combat role. The Chinooks have provided valuable heavy-lift to the mission, a capability the French don't have.That commitment was recently extended by a further six months to June 2020, viewed as a gesture of Anglo-French goodwill post-Brexit.
Link:https://news.sky.com/story/uk-to-sen...ssion-11767832
Actually this was reported on the 8th July 2019 by a US website:https://thedefensepost.com/2019/07/08/uk-raf-sahel-barkhane-deployment-extended/ and the UK's:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/08/theresa-may-says-britain-will-remain-top-tier-military-nation/
Comment - nothing at all to do with Canada withdrawing its Chinooks.
2.
Quote:
The UK is to send 250 troops to Mali in the biggest peacekeeping deployment since Bosnia and potentially the most dangerous mission for British forces since Afghanistan. The soldiers will form a long-range reconnaissance task group, specifically chosen for their ability to operate in small teams and in violent, contested areas of the country. They will be asked reach parts of Mali that most militaries cannot, to feed on-the-ground intelligence back to the mission headquarters in Gao. They will arrive in the country early next year.
Link:https://news.sky.com/story/uk-to-sen...ssion-11767832
Comment - sounds remarkably like a UK SF mission and why such a delay? Maybe additional desert training is needed and learning French!
Added a week later. A longer commentary by Oxford Research Group, with several comments by serving, if anonymous UK soldiers who have served in Africa.
Link:https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org....f-3db118e6dfcc
Deployment without learning from regional lessons
Several different viewpoints on the now delayed UK deployment to Mali, an announcement that missed me amidst the pandemic media focus. A deployment that I consider unwise, which is more for non-Mali reasons - notably supporting France and others who have a military commitment there (mainly trainers and SOF).
Spotted today a House of Commons Library analyst examines the forthcoming role:https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8903/
An interesting passage within by ex-UK Army officer:
Quote:
General Sir Richard Barrons, a former Commander of Joint Forces Command (UK armed forces), also gave evidence to the Committee. Discussing the events of 2012, when he was UK Director of Military Operations, he concluded “the net effect is that unless you can meet a problem like Mali on the scale and in terms of the nature of the challenges it presents, it will not fix itself”. On the proposed deployment of 250 military personnel, which he described as tokenistic, he questioned the wider thinking within Government towards the Sahel: “these minor contributions to Mali are not in support of a strategy of any kind other than ‘we should do a bit more UN peacekeeping’”.
On 29th April an American viewpoint on the wider lessons available, but seemingly ignored so far and cites what happened in Chad over a long period: https://www.theamericanconservative....rica-strategy/
From RUSI an upbeat view and explanation:https://rusi.org/commentary/building...-security-mali
Then a quite different RUSI view:https://rusi.org/commentary/uk-joins...le-fight-sahel
By a RAND analyst in March: https://wavellroom.com/2020/03/12/the-uk-in-mali/