Canada won't extend peacekeeping mission in Mali: Canada's FM

جهينة نيوز - Canada will not extend its peacekeeping mission in Mali despite a direct appeal from the United Nations for it to stay longer to prevent a gap in the provision of lifesaving medical evacuations.

Speaking to reporters, Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, said Canada committed the military to being in Mali for one year and that is what it will do.

Yet the decision is unlikely to sit well with the UN and some of Canada’s partners in Mali, where Canadian Forces helicopters provide emergency medical evacuations to injured peacekeepers and UN staff since August.

The eight Canadian helicopters and 250 military personnel in Mali are scheduled to cease operations on July 31, but their Romanian replacements won’t be ready to take over until mid-October.