Mali: France Proposes Permanent Force

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/world/africa/mali-france-proposes-permanent-force.html

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France has proposed keeping a permanent force of 1,000 French troops in Mali to fight armed Islamist militants, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday. Mr. Fabius, on a visit to Bamako, Mali’s capital, said France was pushing ahead with plans to reduce its 4,000-member military presence from the end of this month but planned to keep a combat force in Mali to support a future United Nations peacekeeping mission. France’s three-month military campaign has largely swept Islamist rebels out of towns in northern Mali and into remote desert and mountain hideaways. “France has proposed, to the United Nations and to the Malian government, a French support force of 1,000 men, which would be permanent, based in Mali and equipped to fight terrorism,” Mr. Fabius said.