The African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) is an

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political union, political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an ...

(ECOWAS) organized military mission sent to support the government of ECOWAS member nation

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

against Islamist rebels in the

Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

. The mission was authorized with

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

Resolution 2085, passed on 20 December 2012, which "authorizes the deployment of an African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) for an initial period of one year." Initially, the mission was to begin in September 2013, but after an unexpected advance by the rebel forces in early January 2013 and the subsequent

French intervention This is a list of wars involving France and its predecessor states. It is an incomplete list of French and proto-French wars and battles from the foundation of Frankish Kingdom, Francia by Clovis I, the Merovingian dynasty, Merovingian king who uni ...

, ECOWAS decided to immediately deploy the AFISMA forces. On 17 January, Nigeria began deploying air and ground forces to Mali. The Nigerian deployment was followed by the arrival of a 160-man contingent from

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

the following week. The first commander of AFISMA is Nigerian Major General

Abdulkadir Shehu Alhaji Abdulkadir Shehu was acting Administrator of Delta State, Nigeria between November and December 1993 immediately after General Sani Abacha had assumed power from the civilian government. Shehu was Delta State Commissioner of Police, and fil ...

. Meanwhile, the heads of state and government of ECOWAS have endorsed Major General Shehu of Nigeria as Force Commander and Brigadier General Yaye Garba of Niger as Deputy Force Commander. On January 31, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

estimated that there were about 1,400 AFISMA troops from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Chad on the ground in Mali. The following forces have been committed to AFISMA: *

Casualties

65 soldiers have been killed during the mission: 34 Chadians, 28 Nigerians, 2 Togolese and 1 Burkinabé.

References

{{Reflist 2013 in Mali Economic Community of West African States Peacekeeping missions and operations involving the African Union Military operations involving Nigeria Military operations involving South Africa Mali War

Casualties

See also

References