With the French doing everything they can to bugger up a rational Brexit departure in January with a trade deal it makes absolutely no sense for the British to send 300 troops and lots of money to support French colonial ambitions in Mali. France is broke and unable to continue its colonial pursuits on its own. It has conned the Europeans to support the French effort. On January 1, 2021 the British should stop all further payments to the French for their Mali venture and bring the 300 soldiers home.

In early December 300 UK troops arrived in Mali as part of the UN’s peacekeeping mission, primarily drawn from the Light Dragoons alongside the Royal Anglian Regiment and supported by specialist trades from across the Armed Forces. The UK Task Force provides a highly specialised reconnaissance capability and conducts patrols to gather intelligence. The main body of troops arrived on 2nd December.  They flew from RAF Brize Norton by A400M aircraft to the UN camp in Gao. They are based in the newly formed Camp Bagnold.

The UK is one of the largest humanitarian donors to the Sahel - in 2020 the UK gave £14.65m in humanitarian aid to Mali and is currently in the process of increasing the size of the UK embassy in the country. Alongside this, the MoD currently has 3 Chinook helicopters and 100 personnel in a logistics role supporting the French-led Counter-Terrorist mission, Operation BARKHANE. This is entirely separate from the UN mission, but they will be operating in the same region.

Why on earth are the Brits contrbuting men and money to keep the French hold over their neo-colonial entreprises?