Terrorism: Mali seeks Nigerian Army support

The Malian Army on Monday sought the support and cooperation of its Nigerian counterpart in training its personnel, especially in the areas of amour and artillery.

The Malian Army Chief of Staff, Col.-Maj. Abdrahamane Baby, who sought the cooperation when he visited the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai in Abuja, said the call was imperative to enable his country to tackle insurgency and terrorism.

Baby said the visit was to seek the cooperation of Nigerian army in that regard, as both countries were facing insurgency and terrorism.

He added that “the aim of this visit is to explore further cooperation between the Nigerian Army and Malian Army.

“We are facing transnational threat of terrorism and we believe we need to get closer to see what we can learn from each other.”

The army chief said that was why Malian army personnel were sent to Nigeria for training “so as to garner experiences in the areas of armour and artillery.”

Baby said the armies of both countries needed to share experiences and knowledge “as we both fight terrorism.’’

Responding, Buratai assured his counterpart that the Malian personnel would be given slots in armour and artillery training schools in Nigeria.

He also assured that the Nigerian Army would cooperate with Malian Army “in all aspects as both countries tackle similar security challenges.”

Buratai noted that terrorists in both countries adopted same method of attacks, hitting soft targets and government installations.

He added that “Nigeria Army is ready to collaborate with Malian Army in checking attacks.

“This is because the threats of insurgency and terrorism in Northern Mali is also a threat to Nigeria.”