French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced a "permanent" military mission in Mali April 5. Fabius, on a visit to Bamako, the capital, said Paris is moving ahead with plans to reduce its 4,000-strong military force beginning next month, but will maintain a combat presence in Mali to support a future UN "peacekeeping" mission. "France has proposed, to the United Nations and to the Malian government, a French support force of 1,000 men, which would be permanent, based in Mali and equipped to fight terrorism," Fabius said. (Reuters [7], April 5)
Fabius also said that the Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA [8]) must disarm and accept confinement. "When the time comes every group, the MNLA as much as any other armed group, will have to accept being confined [to cantonments] and giving up its arms," Fabius told a press conference. He also reassured that France was not planning an "overnight" withdrawal. (France24 [9], April 4)
