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U.S. may give $32M to train African troops in Mali


Auburn85

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http://www.usatoday....s-mali/1866131/

SEVARE, Mali (AP) — The Obama administration is seeking an additional $32 million to train African troops to fight Islamic extremists in Mali.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday the request had been made to Congress.

The United States is not providing any direct aid to the Malian government because the democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup last year.

However, it has been providing aid to the French-led mission, transporting French troops and equipment to Mali.

France has some 2,400 forces in the West African nation but says it wants African nations to take the lead in fighting the extremists who rule northern Mali.

The U.S. has also decided to provide additional support to the French military in its war against Islamic militants in Mali by conducting aerial refueling missions.

The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has told the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, that U.S. Africa Command will provide the aerial refueling support. A Pentagon spokesman says the two defense officials discussed the refueling missions and other topics during a phone conversation Saturday.

U.S. aerial refueling planes would be a boost to air support for French ground forces as they enter areas of Mali that are controlled by al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

The French-led operation began on Jan. 11 after the militants surged southward from their strongholds and took the town of Konna, later recaptured by government forces.




As the War on Terror increasingly shifts to Africa it is going to be interesting to see how we approach each situation. Not that nations in the Middle East have welcomed US involvement, but the relatively fresh memories of brutal European colonialism in so many African nations is going to make it more difficult to directly intervene.

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