By: Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA—As the Liberal government contemplates which United Nations peacekeeping mission to join, the Canadian military is gearing up to support a major French counterterrorism operation in northern Africa for the fifth time since 2013.
Defence officials say planning is underway for Canada to send military transport aircraft to help France in its fight against Islamic militant groups in five countries: Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
About 3,000 heavily armed French troops have been hunting al Qaeda-linked fighters in the region, called the Sahel, since August 2014. Code-named Operation Barkhane, the mission has also been recently tasked with supporting UN peacekeepers in Mali if required.
National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier said plans have not been finalized, but Canadian transport planes are expected to move French troops and equipment into the region.
Canadian military aircraft carried nearly 40 tonnes of equipment between France and Africa with three different flights last year. They also flew French armoured vehicles, medical supplies and ammunition into Mali in early 2013. French officials have repeatedly praised Canada’s assistance.
The difference this time is that the Liberal government is considering whether to send Canadian peacekeepers to Mali, where the UN has been conducting a peacekeeping mission in parallel with the French counterterrorism operations.
The peacekeeping mission is intended to stabilize the country after the Malian government and Tuareg rebels signed a peace agreement last year. The Tuaregs, a traditionally nomadic people who live in the north of Mali, had launched an uprising in 2012 aimed at gaining independence.
But the peace deal has been marred by fighting between competing Tuareg groups and by the presence of several Islamist militant groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the related Ansar Dine. Complicating matters is the fact that drug trafficking to Europe is the only source of income for many locals.
The UN Security Council at the end of June agreed to beef up the peacekeeping mission’s mandate to better protect its blue helmets in Mali, where more than 100 have died since 2013. It also opened the door to French forces from Operation Barkhane helping peacekeepers if they find themselves in trouble.
The Liberal government has said it will commit up to 600 troops to UN peacekeeping operations. It has not said where they will be deployed, though officials from National Defence, Global Affairs and the RCMP conducted a “reconnaissance mission” to Mali last month.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan would not say Thursday when the government will make a decision on where to send peacekeepers, but he said addressing terrorism is one aspect of bringing peace and stability to a region like the Sahel.
“If you want to try to bring peace into an area, we can’t have a terrorist organization and radical groups undermining some of those efforts as we try to ease the tensions for various other conflicts as well,” he said. “It has to be addressed.”
Some of the other UN missions that Canada could join are in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Colombia.
Showing posts with label Canada and France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada and France. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
Visiting French leader looking for peacekeeping update from PM Trudeau
Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
When France's leaders look at Canada, they see an oasis in a desert of angry populism that has darkened discussion on the merits of trade and immigration.
In their own country and across Europe, they see a backlash against the waves of immigrants flooding the continent from north Africa and the Middle East, and they hear loud rumblings against liberalized trade, including -- in some pockets, at least -- Canada's free trade deal with Europe.
They also see the ugliness of the U.S. presidential race, where both candidates have cast aspersions on trade, including the massive 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Not so in Canada.
That's why, when French Prime Minister Manuel Valls meets with counterpart Justin Trudeau this week, he will want to discuss why Canada seems immune to all that noise, say French officials, speaking on condition they not be named.
Over the course of meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa and Montreal, Valls wants to engage Trudeau on "the political atmosphere in the Western Hemisphere with the rising of populism, protectionism, and all these questions that we see rising in various countries," said one French diplomat.
"But less so in Canada, so that's why the prime minister is interested to hear about the Canadian situation and Canadian solutions."
While some might see it as philosophical navel-gazing, another French diplomat said that thread runs through the very real issues Valls and Trudeau are facing: the rise of Islamic extremism, especially in Africa, and getting the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement done once and for all.
Canada, France making progress on peacekeeping talks
On the former point, Valls is keen to get an update on Canada's plans for sending peacekeepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.
The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 peacekeepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada hard to join the UN mission in West Africa.
France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several countries that used to be its colonies, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.
"That is one very important subject," said one diplomat who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The two countries are making progress on talks that have been taking place "for quite some time now," the diplomat added.
The two prime ministers won't be in a position to announce anything on this visit, but the two countries are getting closer.
"Frankly, it's really going in the right direction."
Canada has the expertise to play a leadership role in the UN mission, said another source, dismissing concerns that the Canadian Forces are out of peacekeeping practice after a long, deadly decade of war-fighting in Afghanistan.
Valls, who arrived Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, was scheduled to sit down with Trudeau for a private dinner before Thursday's more formal proceedings. Both leaders travel to Montreal on Thursday for a luncheon hosted by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.
Climate change and the Canada-U.S. free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeau's office as being among Canada's top priorities.
"The visit will also allow us to promote greater trade and innovation flows -- particularly though CETA -- to help grow the middle class and strengthen our economies," Trudeau said in a statement.
In their own country and across Europe, they see a backlash against the waves of immigrants flooding the continent from north Africa and the Middle East, and they hear loud rumblings against liberalized trade, including -- in some pockets, at least -- Canada's free trade deal with Europe.
They also see the ugliness of the U.S. presidential race, where both candidates have cast aspersions on trade, including the massive 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Not so in Canada.
That's why, when French Prime Minister Manuel Valls meets with counterpart Justin Trudeau this week, he will want to discuss why Canada seems immune to all that noise, say French officials, speaking on condition they not be named.
Over the course of meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa and Montreal, Valls wants to engage Trudeau on "the political atmosphere in the Western Hemisphere with the rising of populism, protectionism, and all these questions that we see rising in various countries," said one French diplomat.
"But less so in Canada, so that's why the prime minister is interested to hear about the Canadian situation and Canadian solutions."
While some might see it as philosophical navel-gazing, another French diplomat said that thread runs through the very real issues Valls and Trudeau are facing: the rise of Islamic extremism, especially in Africa, and getting the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement done once and for all.
Canada, France making progress on peacekeeping talks
On the former point, Valls is keen to get an update on Canada's plans for sending peacekeepers to West Africa to join the fight against Islamic militants.
The Trudeau government has said it will commit 600 peacekeepers to UN missions, and France has been pushing Canada hard to join the UN mission in West Africa.
France has 3,000 troops fighting a separate counter-insurgency mission in several countries that used to be its colonies, under the banner of Operation Barkhane.
"That is one very important subject," said one diplomat who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The two countries are making progress on talks that have been taking place "for quite some time now," the diplomat added.
The two prime ministers won't be in a position to announce anything on this visit, but the two countries are getting closer.
"Frankly, it's really going in the right direction."
Canada has the expertise to play a leadership role in the UN mission, said another source, dismissing concerns that the Canadian Forces are out of peacekeeping practice after a long, deadly decade of war-fighting in Afghanistan.
Valls, who arrived Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, was scheduled to sit down with Trudeau for a private dinner before Thursday's more formal proceedings. Both leaders travel to Montreal on Thursday for a luncheon hosted by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.
Climate change and the Canada-U.S. free trade deal have been singled out by Trudeau's office as being among Canada's top priorities.
"The visit will also allow us to promote greater trade and innovation flows -- particularly though CETA -- to help grow the middle class and strengthen our economies," Trudeau said in a statement.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Reconnaissance mission sent to study peacekeeping operations in Mali
By:Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The federal government is sending a "reconnaissance mission" to take a closer look at the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali.
Officials insist the fact-finding mission, a small group of diplomats, military personnel and RCMP officers, does not mean the government has decided to send Canadian peacekeepers to the west African country.
But one expert says it does suggest that, despite its dangers, Mali is at the top of the list of peacekeeping missions that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could announce as early as mid-September.
The Liberal government said last week that it will make up to 600 troops available for UN peacekeeping operations, including specialized units and equipment such as engineers, medical personnel and military aircraft.
Yet noticeably absent was any indication of which countries or UN missions the government was considering. Trudeau said the government would discuss the matter with the UN and other nations and decide based on where Canada could best contribute.
Defence Department spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier would not provide specific details about the reconnaissance mission to Mali, citing security concerns.
But he said the delegation will meet counterparts from the Malian government as well as commanders of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, as it is known.
"The purpose of this reconnaissance mission is to develop our knowledge and understanding of MINUSMA in order to provide advice to the government," Le Bouthillier said in an email. "The overriding objective is to provide appropriate guidance and advice to the government."
Le Bouthillier said federal departments are working with the UN "to best assess where we can contribute military assets."
Aside from Mali, the government is also believed to be looking at missions in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan visited at the beginning of August.
But Walter Dorn, an expert on peacekeeping at the Royal Military College of Canada, said Sajjan's visit to the DRC was different because it was political.
"This is more operational and planning," he said. "Sending a recon mission to Mali is a strong indication that Canada is putting it high on a list of possible deployments."
The government has not said when a decision will be made. However, Dorn is among those who feel the most likely scenario would be when the UN General Assembly opens in New York in mid-September.
Mali has long been seen as among the top candidates for a Canadian mission in Africa. MINUSMA was established in April 2013 after French and African Union forces pushed back rebel and Islamic militant forces that had taken control in the north of the country.
The current peacekeeping force numbers about 13,000 troops and 2,000 police and while it includes contributions from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, most of the contingents are from countries in Africa and South Asia. The mission is extremely complex and includes everything from training local forces to protecting civilians, to counter-insurgency operations.
It is has also become the most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission in the world, with 105 peacekeepers killed over the last four years, including 31 this year alone. One peacekeeper from Chad was killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle hit a mine in northern Mali on Aug. 7.
Those dangers may cause some Canadians to shy away from Mali.
But a UN official in New York pointed out that Canada's recent experience in complex theatres of operation such as Afghanistan, combined with the Canadian military's advanced technical and operational capabilities, would prepare their units for deployments into challenging missions such as MINUSMA.
The Canadian military's francophone skills would also be important in a country such as Mali, the official said.
- Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The federal government is sending a "reconnaissance mission" to take a closer look at the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali.
Officials insist the fact-finding mission, a small group of diplomats, military personnel and RCMP officers, does not mean the government has decided to send Canadian peacekeepers to the west African country.
But one expert says it does suggest that, despite its dangers, Mali is at the top of the list of peacekeeping missions that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could announce as early as mid-September.
The Liberal government said last week that it will make up to 600 troops available for UN peacekeeping operations, including specialized units and equipment such as engineers, medical personnel and military aircraft.
Yet noticeably absent was any indication of which countries or UN missions the government was considering. Trudeau said the government would discuss the matter with the UN and other nations and decide based on where Canada could best contribute.
Defence Department spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier would not provide specific details about the reconnaissance mission to Mali, citing security concerns.
But he said the delegation will meet counterparts from the Malian government as well as commanders of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, as it is known.
"The purpose of this reconnaissance mission is to develop our knowledge and understanding of MINUSMA in order to provide advice to the government," Le Bouthillier said in an email. "The overriding objective is to provide appropriate guidance and advice to the government."
Le Bouthillier said federal departments are working with the UN "to best assess where we can contribute military assets."
Aside from Mali, the government is also believed to be looking at missions in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan visited at the beginning of August.
But Walter Dorn, an expert on peacekeeping at the Royal Military College of Canada, said Sajjan's visit to the DRC was different because it was political.
"This is more operational and planning," he said. "Sending a recon mission to Mali is a strong indication that Canada is putting it high on a list of possible deployments."
The government has not said when a decision will be made. However, Dorn is among those who feel the most likely scenario would be when the UN General Assembly opens in New York in mid-September.
Mali has long been seen as among the top candidates for a Canadian mission in Africa. MINUSMA was established in April 2013 after French and African Union forces pushed back rebel and Islamic militant forces that had taken control in the north of the country.
The current peacekeeping force numbers about 13,000 troops and 2,000 police and while it includes contributions from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, most of the contingents are from countries in Africa and South Asia. The mission is extremely complex and includes everything from training local forces to protecting civilians, to counter-insurgency operations.
It is has also become the most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission in the world, with 105 peacekeepers killed over the last four years, including 31 this year alone. One peacekeeper from Chad was killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle hit a mine in northern Mali on Aug. 7.
Those dangers may cause some Canadians to shy away from Mali.
But a UN official in New York pointed out that Canada's recent experience in complex theatres of operation such as Afghanistan, combined with the Canadian military's advanced technical and operational capabilities, would prepare their units for deployments into challenging missions such as MINUSMA.
The Canadian military's francophone skills would also be important in a country such as Mali, the official said.
- Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
All signs point to UN mission in Africa
By: Matthew Fisher, The Ottawa Citizen
Getting logistics right will be priority No. 1
LIKE THE FRENCH, THE CANADIAN MILITARY NEEDS TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT BECOMING OVERSTRETCHED. — COLUMNIST MATTHEW FISHER
Colombia and South Sudan are the longshot options for Canada’s first major UN military operation since Jean Chrétien sent troops to East Timor 16 years ago.
A reasonable case can be made for Colombia, where the government and rebels have just signed a peace accord that may end a war that has gone on for years. But Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan have made it clear the government has its heart set on a mission in French West Africa to further Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambition to gain a seat on the UN Security Council.
Only time will tell whether it was worthwhile in Canadian blood and treasure to deploy on an open-ended mission to Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo or other options equally fraught with danger, such as Niger or Burundi. Factored into the equation when that reckoning comes will be the true value to Canada of the UN appointment when, like the other 10 non-permanent members, it would only be admitted to the inner sanctum for two years and would be powerless to do anything there in the face of the veto powers of the five permanent members.
As it is almost certain Canada will become involved in French West Africa, Ottawa has been keen to begin that mission with French-speaking troops. This makes sense, but could seriously complicate the training and readiness regimes of the country’s three combat brigades.
Since early August, the Canadian Army’s high-readiness brigade has been built around the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. But the first force to be deployed to Africa may have to be drawn from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, the Vandoos, some of whom returned only weeks ago from a deployment to eastern Europe.
Not much has been heard from Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, about the potential perils of a mission in a region where Canadian deployments to Rwanda and Somalia have had difficulties and where the UN’s current peacemaking operations have been so rife with allegations of grave sexual misconduct, incompetence and cowardice, they can only be described as a total disaster.
Once the Canadians’ destination is revealed in September, Vance, who is a famously straight shooter, is likely to begin making it clear to the troops and the public what lies ahead.
Among the unspoken military concerns is that this is an open-ended mission and little or no help can be expected from the Americans. That may sound great to some Canadians. But if things go south, as they might, nobody except perhaps the French, who are already badly stretched by combat operations in Africa and the Middle East and in dealing with the terrorist threat at home, may have our backs.
One of the reasons Canadian forces would prefer to go to Mali may be because that is where the French have the most troops and the most robust military capability. It is also where Germany and the Netherlands have quietly sent about 1,000 troops over the past year, although those countries do not see their contributions as part of a bid for a Security Council seat.
Like the French, the Canadian military needs to be careful about becoming overstretched. As African operations involving about 600 ramp up, it must also sustain about 800 troops in Kuwait and the Kurdish part of Iraq. It will soon send about 450 combat troops on a new NATO mission to Latvia to to try to contain Russia’s irredentist impulses on its western borders.
With only five C-17 heavylift aircraft and oceans between these disparate missions and Canada, getting the logistics right will be job No. 1. Much of the planning will fall to Maj.-Gen. Chuck Lamarre.
The logistician responsible for the massive undertaking of bringing all Canada’s equipment back from Kandahar, he is now Vance’s director of staff and his right arm on operations.
Given that the Trudeau government intends to keep Canadian Forces in Africa for many years and that those troops will require scores of heavy armoured personnel carriers, weapons, a field hospital and helicopters, something to look for soon may be an announcement Canada intends to establish a regional logistics hub, most likely in the Senegalese port of Dakar. It would be something akin to the ones that already exist in Kuwait and Cologne.
Identifying personnel and assembling the tens of thousands of nuts and bolts required to deploy to a part of the world where infrastructure is almost totally lacking will take time and patience. That will give Canadians the opportunity to ponder whether the African mission is an altruistic endeavour to do good in a deeply troubled part of the world or a grand bid to enhance Canada’s chances of winning the Security Council seat.
Getting logistics right will be priority No. 1
LIKE THE FRENCH, THE CANADIAN MILITARY NEEDS TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT BECOMING OVERSTRETCHED. — COLUMNIST MATTHEW FISHER
 |
| CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILESThe Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, the Vandoos, some of whom returned weeks ago from Europe, may be the first force to be deployed to Africa, writes Matthew Fisher. |
A reasonable case can be made for Colombia, where the government and rebels have just signed a peace accord that may end a war that has gone on for years. But Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan have made it clear the government has its heart set on a mission in French West Africa to further Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambition to gain a seat on the UN Security Council.
Only time will tell whether it was worthwhile in Canadian blood and treasure to deploy on an open-ended mission to Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo or other options equally fraught with danger, such as Niger or Burundi. Factored into the equation when that reckoning comes will be the true value to Canada of the UN appointment when, like the other 10 non-permanent members, it would only be admitted to the inner sanctum for two years and would be powerless to do anything there in the face of the veto powers of the five permanent members.
As it is almost certain Canada will become involved in French West Africa, Ottawa has been keen to begin that mission with French-speaking troops. This makes sense, but could seriously complicate the training and readiness regimes of the country’s three combat brigades.
Since early August, the Canadian Army’s high-readiness brigade has been built around the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. But the first force to be deployed to Africa may have to be drawn from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, the Vandoos, some of whom returned only weeks ago from a deployment to eastern Europe.
Not much has been heard from Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, about the potential perils of a mission in a region where Canadian deployments to Rwanda and Somalia have had difficulties and where the UN’s current peacemaking operations have been so rife with allegations of grave sexual misconduct, incompetence and cowardice, they can only be described as a total disaster.
Once the Canadians’ destination is revealed in September, Vance, who is a famously straight shooter, is likely to begin making it clear to the troops and the public what lies ahead.
Among the unspoken military concerns is that this is an open-ended mission and little or no help can be expected from the Americans. That may sound great to some Canadians. But if things go south, as they might, nobody except perhaps the French, who are already badly stretched by combat operations in Africa and the Middle East and in dealing with the terrorist threat at home, may have our backs.
One of the reasons Canadian forces would prefer to go to Mali may be because that is where the French have the most troops and the most robust military capability. It is also where Germany and the Netherlands have quietly sent about 1,000 troops over the past year, although those countries do not see their contributions as part of a bid for a Security Council seat.
Like the French, the Canadian military needs to be careful about becoming overstretched. As African operations involving about 600 ramp up, it must also sustain about 800 troops in Kuwait and the Kurdish part of Iraq. It will soon send about 450 combat troops on a new NATO mission to Latvia to to try to contain Russia’s irredentist impulses on its western borders.
With only five C-17 heavylift aircraft and oceans between these disparate missions and Canada, getting the logistics right will be job No. 1. Much of the planning will fall to Maj.-Gen. Chuck Lamarre.
The logistician responsible for the massive undertaking of bringing all Canada’s equipment back from Kandahar, he is now Vance’s director of staff and his right arm on operations.
Given that the Trudeau government intends to keep Canadian Forces in Africa for many years and that those troops will require scores of heavy armoured personnel carriers, weapons, a field hospital and helicopters, something to look for soon may be an announcement Canada intends to establish a regional logistics hub, most likely in the Senegalese port of Dakar. It would be something akin to the ones that already exist in Kuwait and Cologne.
Identifying personnel and assembling the tens of thousands of nuts and bolts required to deploy to a part of the world where infrastructure is almost totally lacking will take time and patience. That will give Canadians the opportunity to ponder whether the African mission is an altruistic endeavour to do good in a deeply troubled part of the world or a grand bid to enhance Canada’s chances of winning the Security Council seat.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Truck attack in France ups the ante for Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Mali
By: Matthew Fisher, National Post
Canada’s impending peacemaking mission to Africa took on a more urgent tone Thursday night when a Tunisian man drove a truck through crowds enjoying Bastille Day fireworks on Nice’s palm-lined waterfront.
French President Francois Hollande immediately announced that France’s already overstretched armed forces would mobilize 10,000 troops and every member of the army reserves to guard French streets, border crossings and airports.
France needs Canada’s help — and Canada will answer the call. The army and air force will be heavily involved in Africa and no unit more so than the French-speaking brigade built around the Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos.
As Postmedia first reported on July 6, the Trudeau government intends to send troops to French West Africa. Mali is their most likely destination, but the Central African Republic and a couple of other nearby countries are in the mix, too.
Ottawa and Paris have been talking for some time about where Canadian soldiers would fit into one of France’s multiple troop deployments there. No date has been set for the mission. The Dutch and the Germans have already been helping France with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). That is because even before the murderous attack in Nice, the Hollande government was having difficulty sustaining the tempo of its African missions as well as operations against the Islamic State in the Middle East and against terrorists on French soil. It is why the RCAF has already spent a lot of time in Africa, using its C-17 Globemasters to provide essential logistical support for French forces.
Canada’s Defence Minister, Harjit Sajjan, had intended to travel to French West Africa next month to help hammer out the details of Canada’s mission there. After France’s latest terror attack, and the call-up of forces to defend France, that trip may have to be moved up.
Related
Canadian Army headed to mission in Africa ‘very soon’: top general
Leonid Bershidsky: Why terrorists keep succeeding in France
Nice attack victims: American, German, Swiss and Ukrainian tourists among those killed by driver
This will not be a benign peacekeeping mission with cold beer on beaches in Cyprus crowded with European tourists. French West Africa has become a terrifying place, with Islamic terrorists flooding south across the Sahara from the chaos of Libya to cause mayhem, anarchy and despair in half a dozen impoverished countries.
Then Defence minister Bill Graham and Gen. Rick Hillier, who was then Canada’s top soldier, went across the country during 2005 and early 2006 to prepare Canadians for the likelihood of casualties in an impending combat mission in southern Afghanistan. That mission resulted in the deaths of 158 soldiers and a large number of victims of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sajjan and Gen. John Vance must in the same way now prepare Canadians for the dangerous slog ahead in Africa. The two men were just together in eastern Europe working out how and when Canadian combat troops would take command of a NATO battalion that will deploy to Latvia.
These warriors know each other well and are well suited to the task. Sajjan served three tours in Afghanistan where he was an army intelligence operative working deep in Taliban heartland. Vance twice commanded Task Force Kandahar, developing an effective anti-insurgency strategy that was much admired by Canada’s allies.
The African mission that is shaping up is not at all the one that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau envisaged when he pledged during last fall’s federal campaign to return the country to traditional peacekeeping. There will be nothing traditional about Canada’s deployment of up to 1,000 troops to the Bulge of Africa.
Canada’s blue berets will not stand there between opposing forces who seek peace. Jihadists control much of the north of the country where, as in Afghanistan, tours will be made worse by hellish temperatures in the high forties and even the fifties.
Only a few weeks ago China gave a hero’s funeral to one of its dead from Mali. In all, 21 blue berets have died there recently.
There will be a jumble of unfamiliar terrorist groups to reckon with, too. Groups in and near Mali that may be added to the Canadian lexicon include the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, which has been at war with fellow Tauregs from Ansar Dine, which imposes strict Sharia law, and Ansar Dine’s offshoot, the Islamic Movement of Azawad. Another part of this sinister tableau is a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which styles itself the Movement of Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
Casting a pall over everything is the Islamic State. It has established a strong presence just to the north of Mali and is directly connected to or the inspiration for so many of the recent attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and Lebanon. A further complication is that the UN estimates there are 475,000 internally displaced people.
And that is the good news. The Central African Republic, which lies further inland, and where Muslims are at war with Christians, has it own list of terrorist groups and is generally regarded as even more hazardous for peacekeepers than Mali.
Sending troops in harm’s way will not be the only reckoning for the Trudeau government. Everything that Canada is doing or will be doing militarily in the Middle East, eastern Europe and to help the French in Africa will cost big money.
Whether the prime minister likes it or not, the terrorist attacks in Nice and so many horrors elsewhere are going to demand an increase in defence spending.
Canada’s impending peacemaking mission to Africa took on a more urgent tone Thursday night when a Tunisian man drove a truck through crowds enjoying Bastille Day fireworks on Nice’s palm-lined waterfront.
French President Francois Hollande immediately announced that France’s already overstretched armed forces would mobilize 10,000 troops and every member of the army reserves to guard French streets, border crossings and airports.
France needs Canada’s help — and Canada will answer the call. The army and air force will be heavily involved in Africa and no unit more so than the French-speaking brigade built around the Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos.
As Postmedia first reported on July 6, the Trudeau government intends to send troops to French West Africa. Mali is their most likely destination, but the Central African Republic and a couple of other nearby countries are in the mix, too.
Ottawa and Paris have been talking for some time about where Canadian soldiers would fit into one of France’s multiple troop deployments there. No date has been set for the mission. The Dutch and the Germans have already been helping France with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). That is because even before the murderous attack in Nice, the Hollande government was having difficulty sustaining the tempo of its African missions as well as operations against the Islamic State in the Middle East and against terrorists on French soil. It is why the RCAF has already spent a lot of time in Africa, using its C-17 Globemasters to provide essential logistical support for French forces.
Canada’s Defence Minister, Harjit Sajjan, had intended to travel to French West Africa next month to help hammer out the details of Canada’s mission there. After France’s latest terror attack, and the call-up of forces to defend France, that trip may have to be moved up.
Related
Canadian Army headed to mission in Africa ‘very soon’: top general
Leonid Bershidsky: Why terrorists keep succeeding in France
Nice attack victims: American, German, Swiss and Ukrainian tourists among those killed by driver
This will not be a benign peacekeeping mission with cold beer on beaches in Cyprus crowded with European tourists. French West Africa has become a terrifying place, with Islamic terrorists flooding south across the Sahara from the chaos of Libya to cause mayhem, anarchy and despair in half a dozen impoverished countries.
Then Defence minister Bill Graham and Gen. Rick Hillier, who was then Canada’s top soldier, went across the country during 2005 and early 2006 to prepare Canadians for the likelihood of casualties in an impending combat mission in southern Afghanistan. That mission resulted in the deaths of 158 soldiers and a large number of victims of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sajjan and Gen. John Vance must in the same way now prepare Canadians for the dangerous slog ahead in Africa. The two men were just together in eastern Europe working out how and when Canadian combat troops would take command of a NATO battalion that will deploy to Latvia.
These warriors know each other well and are well suited to the task. Sajjan served three tours in Afghanistan where he was an army intelligence operative working deep in Taliban heartland. Vance twice commanded Task Force Kandahar, developing an effective anti-insurgency strategy that was much admired by Canada’s allies.
The African mission that is shaping up is not at all the one that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau envisaged when he pledged during last fall’s federal campaign to return the country to traditional peacekeeping. There will be nothing traditional about Canada’s deployment of up to 1,000 troops to the Bulge of Africa.
Canada’s blue berets will not stand there between opposing forces who seek peace. Jihadists control much of the north of the country where, as in Afghanistan, tours will be made worse by hellish temperatures in the high forties and even the fifties.
Only a few weeks ago China gave a hero’s funeral to one of its dead from Mali. In all, 21 blue berets have died there recently.
There will be a jumble of unfamiliar terrorist groups to reckon with, too. Groups in and near Mali that may be added to the Canadian lexicon include the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, which has been at war with fellow Tauregs from Ansar Dine, which imposes strict Sharia law, and Ansar Dine’s offshoot, the Islamic Movement of Azawad. Another part of this sinister tableau is a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which styles itself the Movement of Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
Casting a pall over everything is the Islamic State. It has established a strong presence just to the north of Mali and is directly connected to or the inspiration for so many of the recent attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and Lebanon. A further complication is that the UN estimates there are 475,000 internally displaced people.
And that is the good news. The Central African Republic, which lies further inland, and where Muslims are at war with Christians, has it own list of terrorist groups and is generally regarded as even more hazardous for peacekeepers than Mali.
Sending troops in harm’s way will not be the only reckoning for the Trudeau government. Everything that Canada is doing or will be doing militarily in the Middle East, eastern Europe and to help the French in Africa will cost big money.
Whether the prime minister likes it or not, the terrorist attacks in Nice and so many horrors elsewhere are going to demand an increase in defence spending.
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