Britain is demonstrating “Anglo-French solidarity” by providing heavy-lift helicopters for France’s anti-terror mission in the Sahel, a visiting British minister said on Monday.
“We regard the French as our closest military ally in Europe,” Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said during a trip to a base in Gao, central Mali.
“Heavy-lift helicopters is one of these areas where our capability is complementary to the capability the French do not have, and we are able to provide that,” he said.
“Being here to show Anglo-French solidarity through Barkhane is really important to us.”
Three Royal Air Force (RAF) twin-rotor Chinooks are in Mali, where they have been providing crucial airlift support for France’s Barkhane mission.
But questions have been raised as to whether the aircraft, first deployed in July 2018, will be diverted to support 300 British troops who joined the UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, in December.
Heappey, speaking by phone to AFP in Bamako, said the helicopters could exceptionally be used to evacuate British troops who need urgent medical care.
But, he said, they otherwise “are 100 percent, very, very clearly a Barkhane asset and here exclusively to serve the Barkhane mission.”
France is urging its European allies to help out more in the Sahel, where it has 5,100 troops on an eight-year-old mission to fight jihadists threatening fragile states.
The 300 British troops with MINUSMA, as well as the 100 military personnel with the three helicopters committed to Barkhane, are based in Gao, in Mali’s flashpoint central region.
Heappey also added to an escalating debate about MINUSMA’s scope of action, saying its mandate “is written in a certain way that means it can be interpreted in any way it pleases.”
With 15,000 personnel, 12,000 of whom are troops, MINUSMA is one of the UN’s biggest and costliest peacekeeping missions.
But its mandate — which comes up for renewal in June — has been criticised in some quarters as too passive and falling short in defending Malian civilians.
“What is crystal clear is that it is not a counter-terrorism mandate — that is not up for debate,” Heappey said.
“But exactly what securing the population looks like and how passive you must be in doing that, I think it is very obviously a point to debate.”
He added: “I think contributing nations like the UK and others will want to help (at UN headquarters) in New York to rectify (the mandate) so people can be a bit clearer on what the mission is going to do here.”