Nigerian President Jonathan orders deployment of war planes to Mali

[MaxShimba]

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Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Alex Barde, said the Nigerian Airforce will commence deployment of Nigeria war planes to check the activities of jihad fighters in Mali on Thursday morning. Barde said the action was in compliance to President Jonathan’s directive that military contingent be sent to assist the country to contain the jihad fighters in Mali.

Said he; “As I speak to you now our air planes have arrived in Port-Harcourt and tomorrow morning we are beginning our deployment to Mali.

“We expect them to do what Mr. President directed that we do; he has directed that we should go and assist Mali in repelling the jihad fighters there because you know that if they finish with Mali the next thing will be to come to Nigeria. “So we are going there to fight them and also protect our borders. (Vanguard)

 

[MaxShimba]

BAMAKO, Mali - The first troops from Mali's neighbors were expected Thursday, nearly a week after French forces launched their military operation to dislodge al-Qaida-linked militants from a harsh desert region the same size as France.

Aboudou Toure Cheaka, special representative for the president of the ECOWAS commission, said that the troops from Nigeria would be arriving sometime Thursday. Forces from Niger also are to be deployed soon along the border between Mali and Niger, he said.

The arrival of the West Africans comes after France began ground operations and pressed north into territory occupied by the radical Islamists.

France already has upwards of 800 troops in Mali, and expects to ramp up to a total of 2,500 that will include French Foreign Legionnaires. It has committed helicopter gunships, fighter jets, surveillance planes and refueling tankers in the fight against the Islamists who seized control of northern Mali last year.

Read more: Mali towns marked by fighting, airstrikes - Houston Chronicle

 

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