In mid-July 2018 the UK deployed three RAF Chinooks to support the French in Mali, for a year; they became operational a month later and this all was publicly announced. One RUSI expert expressed concern at the commitment, cited in part:
They may have thought the commitment of a few helicopters meant 'we've done our thing', without realising it was potentially putting our fingers in the mangle...It may have looked like an easy win to the politicians, but it comes with a significant amount of risk....It is an apparently limited commitment but with a potentially large bill in the future.
Link:http://https://www.telegraph.co.uk/n...ect-european/.

Yesterday via Twitter based on a French MoD statement we learnt that:
So far the Chinooks have made 51 sorties, transporting over 1155 French troops, supplies and 83 tons of equipment across Mali.
Link in French:https://www.defense.gouv.fr/operatio...des-operations