Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Manitoba

Manitoba Conservative MP questions move to send troops to Mali

The Conservative defence critic is questioning the Trudeau government's decision to send peacekeeping troops to the troubled West African nation of Mali.

Government source said Friday aviation task force will go to Mali as part of UN peacekeeping mission

The Canadian Press ·
Conservative MP James Bezan stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, June 19, 2017. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

A Manitoba MP and Conservative defence critic is questioning the Trudeau government's decision to send peacekeeping troops to the troubled West African nation of Mali.

A government source confirmed Friday that Canada will send an aviation task force to Mali as part of a UN peacekeeping mission and that an official announcement will be made Monday.

But Selkirk-Interlake MP and defence critic James Bezan says the move raises more questions than answers and wonders if the mission is in the national interest — or the Liberals'.

He says the situation in Mali is dangerous, and the Conservatives are hesitant about putting Canadian troops in harms way under UN command with no answers of how this is in Canada's national interest.

UN peacekeepers on Sept. 27 carry the coffins of the three United Nations soldiers from Bangladesh, who were killed by an explosive device in northern Mali. Dozens of fighters from the UN missions have have been killed in the country since 2013. (Moustapha Diallo/Reuters)

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted soldiers to overthrow the country's president.

Insurgents remain active and the UN has seen its multinational peacekeeping force in the region suffer more than 150 fatalities since its mission began in 2013.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|

Related Stories