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'To Respond Effectively': Expert on Objectives of Rapid Intervention Force Created by Mali

© Photo Facebook / Présidence de la République du MaliMali's President Assimi Goita
Mali's President Assimi Goita - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 19.04.2024
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Earlier, Mali's head of the transitional government, Colonel Assimi Goita, issued a decree on creation of the Armed Forces Rapid Intervention Force (FIRA) to combat terrorism.
The objective of the Armed Forces Rapid Intervention Force created by the Malian Armed Forces is "to respond effectively," Ibrahim Namaiwa, a Nigerian political scientist, told Sputnik Africa.

"In the fight against terrorism and transnational banditry, we were confronted with a number of realities for which we were often not sufficiently prepared," he said.

This is because the terrorists "operated in other theaters of war" and "got used to this kind of tactical fighting," he explained. When confronting them, the regular army sometimes struggles to find "adequate responses."
Goita's decision to create an Army Rapid Intervention Force (FIRA) "will produce satisfactory results on the ground," he affirmed.
Le ministre burkinabé de la Défense, le colonel major Kassoum Coulibaly (au centre), sourit lors de la réunion des ministres de l'Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), à Ouagadougou, le 15 février 2024, alors qu'il était assis avec le colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, ministre d'État, Ministre de l'Administration territoriale et de la Décentralisation, porte-parole du gouvernement du Mali et le général Salifou Mody, ministre d'État, ministre de la Défense nationale du Niger. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 07.03.2024
Sub-Saharan Africa
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Announce Creation of Joint Force to Fight Terrorism
The member countries of the Alliance of Sahel States have a "real will to put an end to terrorism." Their efforts are bearing fruit, unlike those of the G5 Sahel or the Western contingents, the expert noted.
The latter suffered a "clear failure", which "contributed to the intensification of the phenomenon of terrorism," the political scientist pointed out. As for the Western forces, the fight against terrorism was not their objective, Namaiwa argued.
"They were engaged in other activities, manoeuvres, plundering, exploiting the resources of the Sahel countries," he explained.
In January, Burkina Faso's Interim President, Ibrahim Traore, ordered to set up the Special Rapid Intervention Brigade, a large inter-army operational unit, to fight terrorism, according to local media reports.
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