EU Sends Military Training Mission to Mali
Szöveg: kormany.hu | 2013. január 20. 6:08The European Union has approved sending military trainers to Mali under the command of a French general, and offering financial support to the several-thousand-strong military mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This was announced at a press conference held after the EU foreign ministers’ Extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council on Mali in Brussels on Thursday, January 17.
military action launched by France in Mali – which has now been officially approved by the
European Union – as well as in the training mission to be set up, Zsolt Németh, the MoFA
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs representing the Hungarian government at the Brussels
meeting told Hungarian journalists.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had
already pledged full support to and expressed solidarity with the military action launched
by France in Mali, which it considers a proportional response to the challenge threatening
the peace and security of the Sahel region caused by the radical terrorist organizations in
Northern Mali.
Zsolt Németh has now added to the above that the ongoing developments in Mali – which
form a characteristic mixture of terrorism, organized crime and Islamic radicalism – may have
serious impact on Europe and Hungary within it.
The staff of the Ministry of Defence has started discussions on the ways and extent of
Hungary’s engagement in the military action and in the training mission, the Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs said.
Zsolt Németh noted that Hungary has, for instance, military aircraft and military medical
capacities. Speaking about the training mission, he said that, presumably, it would not only
include the training of the Mali armed forces but would also provide training for the members
of an inter-African international force which is to be deployed under the aegis of the United
Nations.
