PARIS: Swedish troops have embarked on a new European special forces mission fighting militants in Mali, French military sources said Friday.
“The first operations were carried out,” French army Frederic Barbry said of the Swedes, adding that they would remain in Mali until the end of the month.
The Swedish parliament agreed to send up to 150 troops to a so-called Takuba action group in June last year, with up to 100 more confirmed. The mandate expires on December 31, 2021.
Supported by three U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopters and a medical unit, the Swedes are located in the Liptako region, a volatile zone near the border of Mali with Niger and Burkina Faso.
Several extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) appear to be operating in the region.
The Swedish army, questioned by AFP, confirmed that “there are already workers in the region.”
His income is a stimulus to France, which has 5,100 troops stationed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad as part of efforts to stabilize the area plagued by poverty and deprivation.
Paris has been urging its European partners to share this burden.
The Swedish group joins troops from Estonia and the Czech Republic in a French-led elite force, which aims to train and work with Malian soldiers.
The Swedes will have a support space for the whole of Takuba, which currently consists of a Franco-Estonian unit at Gao and a Franco-Czech unit at Menaka, Col. Barbry said.
Sweden is already contributing to a peaceful force of 13,000 of the DAs deployed in Mali since July 2013 after finishers seized much of the north of the country the previous year. .
Takuba is the latest international campaign for the Sahel pushed by France, following attempts to create a regional force made up of African troops known as the G5 Sahel.
The G5 Sahel is experiencing funding and training difficulties and the chief executive has recently expressed concern about the prospect of France reducing its footprint, which would affect the force’s logistics and air power capabilities.
Other European powers Britain and Germany have sent troops to take part in the DA MINUSMA peacekeeping force.