Nigeria Deploys 1,200 Troops To Mali

Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada, has said in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’voire, that Nigeria has completed the deployment of 1,200 troops to Mali.

Obada said this in an interview with the newsmen on the sideline of the on-going 42nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Yamoussoukro.

President Goodluck Jonathan arrived in Yamoussoukro last Wednesday morning to join other ECOWAS leaders for the meeting.

Obada, who was on the President’s entourage, said that she was pleased that the Nigerian government had successfully deployed the troops promised to AFISMA.

Nigeria’s participation in the peace keeping operation in Mali was part of the ECOWAS African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA).

“I am very happy to let you know that Nigeria has completed deployment.

“Even s we speak today, the last batch of 138 men have gone to Mali and we have only 20 left who are protecting and guiding equipment on ground; and of course today, our Chally (Military Airplane) that is our C130 has already landed today in Bamako with the equipment of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

“I also want to let you know that even the British Government has been very kind. They have provided us with transportation to also move our equipment to Mali. I think the aircraft will be on ground by 5 oc’clock in Mali.

“So, our Air Force troops are fully deployed, 300 of them, they were deployed to Niamey.

“So, you can see that we have fulfilled our international obligation to assist in the recovery of the sovereignty of Mali.’’

Our correspondent recalls that the Senate in January approved Jonathan’s request to increase the number of troops for the military expedition in Mali from 776 to 1,200.

The 1,200 contingent for the operation in Mali were drawn from the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Army.

Speaking in a separate interview, the Nigerian Ambassador to Mali, Alhaji Iliya Nuhu, said the Nigerian troops were already on ground and putting their logistic in order.

Nuhu said that the troops were at the moment consolidating before their deployment to the various areas of operations.

Speaking on the reported human right abuses in the war prone areas in Mali, Nuhu said that the ECOWAS and the UN were dispatching global human rights observers to monitor the situation.

He said the observers would play important role in assessing the human rights situation and would profer measures to be taken to address the abuses.

Nuhu also said that that there was no report of any Nigerian casualty in Mali and that the embassy had taken measures to protect the Nigerian population in Mali.

The ambassador ruled out the possibility of evacuating Nigerians in Mali, adding that the situation of threat to civilian population had wane since the French troop moved into Mali.