EU approves its mission of training soldiers in Mali

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) on Monday formally approved the deployment of amission to train Malian soldiers , with the participation of around 450 European soldiers, sources Community. The operation, which takes months to prepare and which accelerated after the French intervention, will be deployed in the African country in the coming weeks and plans to start training the Army of Mali in early April. The European mission , he will not participate in combat , will be under the command of General Francois Lecointre and has an initial term of 15 months. About a dozen countries, including a non-member of the European Union (EU) and Norway will participate in the operation, for whichSpain has prepared up to 50 soldiers. The final number of Spanish soldiers traveling to Mali, however, isyet to be decided , said Monday the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo. "is something that has to decide the Government as a whole, because we are more concerned departments," said García-Margallo on arrival at the meeting with European counterparts. The foreign minister argued that, in his view, Spain should do within its means "every effort" in its contribution to the mission. Garcia-Margallo said that since he took office as Minister has warned that " the situation in Mali was extremely worrying , it was dangerous for all of Europe and particularly in Spain, which is the southern border." He stressed the importance of resolving the crisis Malian because " can infect all neighboring countries and destabilize all North African countries that have embarked on a democratic transition." The European mission to be deployed in Mali Bamako invitation of the Government , assisted in reforming its military and training to help several Army battalions. The aim of the EU is that the Malian military are willing to ensure state control over the entire territory of the country and deal with terrorist groups for months became strong in northern Mali. To this end, the mission EUTM baptized Mali have about 200 trainers, who will be accompanied by about 150 troops as protection force, a contingent which, according to diplomatic sources, could participate Spain. The rest of the operation is completed with administrative and logistical support to be installed in Bamako and in the area where the training take place, northeast of the capital. The EU has allocated a budget of 12.3 million euros for the mission , which will add to the costs incurred by the participating countries.