Nigeria promised to send 1,200 troops to the neighbouring Mali to assist in getting rid of Islamists in the northern part of the West African country.
An officer in the Office of the Director, Defence Information, Wabi Mohammed, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, said that more troops were deployed in Mali on Tuesday.
He said the Nigerian troops had moved from Bamako, the Malian Capital, to Bambara, a town in the northern region of the country. The town is to be their operational base as they move up north.
It was learnt that the Chief of Defence Staff was scheduled to visit the troops at their Bambara base on Thursday.
Mohammed said, “They (the soldiers) have been preparing for this deployment. They have been training; the ECOWAS put their deployment for September but when events changed and the President gave the directive for immediate deployment. They have been standing by for the deployment. It is not only artillery, we have signal corps. infantry and artillery corps.”
“So far, we have 768 troops. Even yesterday (Tuesday), they took key staff for the Force Commander, like the Military attaché and the ACD to the force commander’s personal aides.”
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