Germany to Send Military Doctors to Mali
Germany announced Tuesday it would send around 40 military doctors to Mali in addition to personnel it already promised last week, Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a newspaper report to be published Wednesday.
"Germany has agreed to send around 40 military doctors as no other state said it was ready to do so," Maiziere said in an extract of the interview in the daily Tagesspiegel.
The decision was taken during talks on Mali in Brussels Tuesday with representatives from the United Nations, African Union and a number of governments and aid groups.
Berlin said last week it would support the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) by sending around 40 personnel to help train and strengthen Malian forces.
As Germany's army is under control of the parliament, the Bundestag must first approve the deployment. It is expected to do so by early March.
Berlin has also sent two Transall military transport aircraft to Mali, and has a third on standby.
EUTM will run conjointly with the slowly deploying African regional force AFISMA, which is set to take over Mali's battle against Islamist insurgents from former colonial power France who launched its military intervention on January 11.
Source: Agence France Presse
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