Officials mum on not funding Mali force
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs and Defence officials defended Canada’s role in Mali and the surrounding region Thursday while warning military action alone won’t defeat the threat posed by Islamic militants.
“There is a tendency to see military kinetic action as the silver bullet on the Islamic threat,” Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance told the Commons’ foreign affairs committee. “In fact, kinetic action does not address the root causes.”
Officials refused to say why Canada is one of the few Western nations not helping fund a UN-sanctioned, African-led force that will take over from French forces currently fighting in northern Mali in the coming months.
Thursday’s committee hearing was the first time parliamentarians have been briefed in public about Mali, where French and Malian troops are battling Islamist forces in the northern half of the West African country.
Canada’s main contribution has been making a C-17 military heavy-transport plane available to France until Feb. 15 to help move French troops and equipment into Mali.
Vance said more than 350 tonnes of French armoured vehicles, medical supplies and ammunition, as well as an unreported number of troops, have been moved since Jan. 17.
The C-17 is being used to transport French units and not African forces, Vance said, and National Defence has estimated the cost of deploying the plane for a month will be about $18.6 million.
An unknown number of special forces soldiers are also in the country; Vance said they are tasked with protecting Canadian diplomatic staff and other government assets, and will not be used to defend Canadian mining operations or other commercial interests.
Canada has committed $13 million in humanitarian aid, and is helping train Niger armed forces while Canadian police officers are working with counterparts in the region.
Yet the officials refused to explain why Canada is not providing financial support for the Africaled International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA), the UN-sanctioned mission to prevent the Islamists from turning northern Mali into a base of operations.
Instead, Foreign Affairs assistant deputy minister Kerry Buck said while some countries are supporting military action in Mali, “we are continuing on the humanitarian front.”
“The government will continue to reflect on the contributions that Canada can and will make,” Buck said, adding that Canada “is doing its part” in “a complex crisis with a lot of causes.”