[h=3]By DREW HINSHAW[/h] BAMAKO, Mali—International donors pledged $455.5 million for the African mission in Mali as African troops prepared to help hold towns that French forces had captured from al Qaeda-linked rebels.
The African Union, the U.S., France and other donors promised the funding for the African-led Support Mission in Mali, known as Afisma, at a donor conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. In December, the United Nations Security Council approved the African intervention, but didn't determine who would finance the campaign.
The U.S. intends to provide as much as $96 million to support the African mission for the rest of the year ending in September, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said. The pledge is pending congressional approval, said Hilary Fuller Renner, a State Department spokeswoman.
France has pledged €40 million ($53.8 million) to Afisma and €7 million to train Malian forces. On top of that, the French government will pay for a third of the European Union's €50 million donation to the training of the Malian army.
The international funding commitment "is a start," said Nigerian Maj. Gen. Shehu Abdulkadir, the African mission's military leader. "It's better than nothing, but it may not be enough," he said. He declined to estimate the full cost of the mission.
Mali's West African neighbors intend to dispatch 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers to support Mali's army. Those deployments have faced delays, and few troops are on the ground, in part because of funding issues.
Funding for Afisma has gained importance as the conflict appears to move into a new stage. French forces have swept through Mali's north, driving militants from population centers, ahead of a planned handover of campaign's leadership to African troops.
It remains unclear whether the African soldiers expected to arrive in Mali will be deployed to guard major northern towns or conduct a potentially costly and delicate counterinsurgency campaign.
Tensions were running high on Tuesday in recently captured towns. Malian soldiers were working to halt the looting of Arab shops in Timbuktu, Defense Ministry spokesman Diarran Kone said, a day after French and Malian forces retook the historic city from Islamist forces who had held it for months. "Any individual who commits such things will be brought to the doorstep of the Malian institutions," he said.
The French gains have sparked fears of an undisciplined Malian army rampaging the country's impoverished north, after a coup in March brought junior officers into control of the military and, for several months, the government.
"The Malian army, which has a history of abuses and collective punishments, has a chance to break with its past," said Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, speaking from the central Malian town of Sevare.
Mr. Kone, the defense ministry spokesman, said the Malian army had been undergoing human-rights training for conflict situations. "This is a very disciplined army," he said. He declined to comment on alleged abuses committed decades ago.
Human-rights organizations have called for the army to halt any reprisals between Arab and light-skinned residents of the north and the darker-skinned southern population.
The U.S. has provided logistical support to the French-led military campaign and has expanded intelligence sharing to boost the French mission.
The U.S. has signed an agreement with Mali's neighbor, Niger, that could lead to a base for surveillance drones to track al Qaeda militants and for an expanded American military presence on the edges of the conflict. Pentagon officials say putting a drone base in Niger was still in the preliminary discussion phase. A drone base, if approved, could require the deployment of between 200 and 400 American military personnel and contractors, depending on the number and type of aircraft stationed there.
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou has signaled to American delegations his willingness to accommodate a drone base or another temporary facility to counter al Qaeda in Mali and the region, U.S. officials said, but the details of any future U.S. operations in Niger have yet to be worked out.
The officials said Niger shares Washington's concerns about al Qaeda fighters and their allies, and wants to prevent them from crossing the long desert border into Niger.
U.S. officials said any future American base in Niger, if approved, would serve as a temporary "lily pad" for intelligence operations and wouldn't be permanent like the large U.S. base in Djibouti.
Philippe Lalliot, the French foreign ministry's spokesman, said France will insist Malian troops respect all human-rights commitments and will pressure for all violators to be punished. France insisted the EU training mission include specialists on human rights, he said. French officials said Mali is now in a process of a political transition that will lead to a return to democracy. "Time for reconciliation has come," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday in French Parliament.
Britain is offering up to 240 military training personnel to support action against Islamist militants in Mali, according to British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond.
"The role of British troops…is clearly not a combat role and will also not extend, as we envisage it at the moment, to a force-protection role," he told Parliament. "We are very clear about the risks of mission creep."
—Adam Entous in Washington, Nicholas Winning in London
and Inti Landauro in Paris
contributed to this article. Write to Drew Hinshaw at [email protected]
The African Union, the U.S., France and other donors promised the funding for the African-led Support Mission in Mali, known as Afisma, at a donor conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. In December, the United Nations Security Council approved the African intervention, but didn't determine who would finance the campaign.
The U.S. intends to provide as much as $96 million to support the African mission for the rest of the year ending in September, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said. The pledge is pending congressional approval, said Hilary Fuller Renner, a State Department spokeswoman.
France has pledged €40 million ($53.8 million) to Afisma and €7 million to train Malian forces. On top of that, the French government will pay for a third of the European Union's €50 million donation to the training of the Malian army.
The international funding commitment "is a start," said Nigerian Maj. Gen. Shehu Abdulkadir, the African mission's military leader. "It's better than nothing, but it may not be enough," he said. He declined to estimate the full cost of the mission.
Mali's West African neighbors intend to dispatch 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers to support Mali's army. Those deployments have faced delays, and few troops are on the ground, in part because of funding issues.
Funding for Afisma has gained importance as the conflict appears to move into a new stage. French forces have swept through Mali's north, driving militants from population centers, ahead of a planned handover of campaign's leadership to African troops.
It remains unclear whether the African soldiers expected to arrive in Mali will be deployed to guard major northern towns or conduct a potentially costly and delicate counterinsurgency campaign.
Tensions were running high on Tuesday in recently captured towns. Malian soldiers were working to halt the looting of Arab shops in Timbuktu, Defense Ministry spokesman Diarran Kone said, a day after French and Malian forces retook the historic city from Islamist forces who had held it for months. "Any individual who commits such things will be brought to the doorstep of the Malian institutions," he said.
The French gains have sparked fears of an undisciplined Malian army rampaging the country's impoverished north, after a coup in March brought junior officers into control of the military and, for several months, the government.
"The Malian army, which has a history of abuses and collective punishments, has a chance to break with its past," said Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, speaking from the central Malian town of Sevare.
Mr. Kone, the defense ministry spokesman, said the Malian army had been undergoing human-rights training for conflict situations. "This is a very disciplined army," he said. He declined to comment on alleged abuses committed decades ago.
Human-rights organizations have called for the army to halt any reprisals between Arab and light-skinned residents of the north and the darker-skinned southern population.
The U.S. has provided logistical support to the French-led military campaign and has expanded intelligence sharing to boost the French mission.
The U.S. has signed an agreement with Mali's neighbor, Niger, that could lead to a base for surveillance drones to track al Qaeda militants and for an expanded American military presence on the edges of the conflict. Pentagon officials say putting a drone base in Niger was still in the preliminary discussion phase. A drone base, if approved, could require the deployment of between 200 and 400 American military personnel and contractors, depending on the number and type of aircraft stationed there.
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou has signaled to American delegations his willingness to accommodate a drone base or another temporary facility to counter al Qaeda in Mali and the region, U.S. officials said, but the details of any future U.S. operations in Niger have yet to be worked out.
The officials said Niger shares Washington's concerns about al Qaeda fighters and their allies, and wants to prevent them from crossing the long desert border into Niger.
U.S. officials said any future American base in Niger, if approved, would serve as a temporary "lily pad" for intelligence operations and wouldn't be permanent like the large U.S. base in Djibouti.
Philippe Lalliot, the French foreign ministry's spokesman, said France will insist Malian troops respect all human-rights commitments and will pressure for all violators to be punished. France insisted the EU training mission include specialists on human rights, he said. French officials said Mali is now in a process of a political transition that will lead to a return to democracy. "Time for reconciliation has come," Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday in French Parliament.
Britain is offering up to 240 military training personnel to support action against Islamist militants in Mali, according to British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond.
"The role of British troops…is clearly not a combat role and will also not extend, as we envisage it at the moment, to a force-protection role," he told Parliament. "We are very clear about the risks of mission creep."
—Adam Entous in Washington, Nicholas Winning in London
and Inti Landauro in Paris
contributed to this article. Write to Drew Hinshaw at [email protected]