Mali army gets Qatari armoured vehicles

Doha airlifts 24 armoured vehicles to the West African Sahel country that has been struggling to return to stability amid its fight against militants.

A Malian police officer stationed on an armoured personnel vehicle outside Campement Kangaba, a tourist resort near Bamako, Mali, June 19, 2017. (Representational image)
AP

A Malian police officer stationed on an armoured personnel vehicle outside Campement Kangaba, a tourist resort near Bamako, Mali, June 19, 2017. (Representational image)

Qatar has sent 24 armoured vehicles to Mali, army officials from both countries said on Friday, as Doha pledges closer ties with the West African Sahel country locked in a battle with militants.

Qatari General al Ghaffari said the vehicles would be used by the Malian army operating in areas with mines and improvised explosives.

"There will now be permanent cooperation between our armies in the fields of training, unit equipment and military exchanges between our countries," he told reporters in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday.

Malian general Moustapha Drabo said the vehicles would help "protect our forces against ambushes, which is the tactic used by the terrorists".

Instability in out of control areas

Mali has been struggling to return to stability after militants took control of the north in early 2012, prompting a military intervention by France.

The militants were routed in the French operation in 2013 but large stretches of the landlocked African state remain out of government control.

Mali among allies

Qatar has recently been looking to shore up allies outside its own region, where it is in a bitter feud with its Gulf neighbours.

"With this gesture, Qatar is clearly showing that Mali is among its allies in the Sahel, where Doha will be visibly more present," Malian sociologist Mamadou Samake said.

Qatar has found itself isolated since Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, severed diplomatic ties with Doha in 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran –– charges that Doha denies.

Route 6