Funding: Military hardware left behind in Mali

 

Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim

The Nigerian military has left behind some of its military hardware and support equipment in Mali after the decision to pull out of the United Nations Multi-Dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali.

 Investigations revealed that the Military had not been able to evacuate the military hardware since pulling out the troops in July because of issues relating to funding.

The hardware consist trucks, tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment used by the military at the war front.

It was learnt that the authorities of the Nigerian military discretely pulled out of the Mali operation because of the decision of ECOWAS to appoint a non-Nigerian General to command the regional force in spite of the huge contribution of the country in terms of troops.

Nigeria contributed 1, 200 troops to the operation which was designed to wrest the Northern part of Mali from the grips of Islamic fundamentalists with ties to the Al Qaeda in the Maghreb. The fundamentalists sought to establish an Islamic Republic in the area.

There were reports that Nigeria pulled out of the Mali mission in protest over the appointment of Maj.Gen Jean Bosco Kazura from Rwanda as the Commander of MINUSMA.

But the President of Cote d’Ivoire, Mr. Alhassan Ouattarra, who is the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, told journalists at the 43rd Ordinary session of the organisation that the Nigerian troops were withdrawn because they were needed at home.

His position corroborated the position that the soldiers were needed for internal security operation as shown by the deployment on arrival to operational theatres in North-East Nigeria.

However, almost five months after the decision to pull out of the Mali mission, the military hardware and some equipment of the Nigerian Armed forces that were flown to Mali have not been brought back to the country.

The items said to have been left in Mali were flown to the troubled country in January in the wake of the hurried decision of ECOWAS to deploy troops to complement the effort of the French troops in the campaign against the militants in the North of the Francophone country.