Canada beefs up African pledge

Army regular forces to train troops in Niger

The Canadian Army will send regular troops to Niger in the next few months to help train soldiers there.

Officers recently visited the country to do a tactical reconnaissance.

A small team of Canadian special forces soldiers is already training Niger’s military personnel.

They will continue that role in the fall and work with Canadian Army staff as they prepare to hand over responsibility for training to the regular forces.

After Christmas, the mission will fall under the purview of the army, Canadian military sources told Postmedia. It will deal with what is expected to become a larger training mission overseen by the Canadian Joint Operations Command, headquartered in Ottawa.

The special forces have been teaching basic military skills, first aid, marksmanship, communications and reconnaissance techniques.

The long-term commitment is part of the push by the Liberal government to play more of a role in Africa as well as contributing to “capacity building.”

The government said Friday it would free up 600 Canadian military personnel for possible deployment on United Nations peace operations. It did not say where these missions might be.

While the Niger training mission is not a UN operation, it contributes to security in a region that is struggling to combat extremist Islamic groups.

Members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment from the Canadian Forces Base in Petawawa, Ont., have been training troops from Niger for several years. They were originally picked because they could mount such a mission more quickly and required fewer resources.

However, now that the training regime is established, the work can be handled by regular troops from the army and expanded if needed.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan had confirmed the change was in the works.

Last year, Canadian special forces involved in the training were pulled out of Diffa after a battle broke out between government forces and Boko Haram jihadists.

The Canadians were training with Niger soldiers on the outskirts of the town when the Islamists attacked downtown. They were not involved in combat.

On Friday, Sajjan warned the government’s embrace of UN peace support operations and other missions could have consequences.

“The missions in Africa are risky but it’s important we take part in this work,” he said.

Ottawa will announce later where troops are going as part of the UN missions.

“This is about wanting to have an impact on conflict areas,” he added.

Sajjan wrapped up a factfinding mission to Africa in mid-August, visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Stu Hendin, an Ottawabased lawyer who has helped train African Union peacekeepers, said Canada will have to pick and choose how it contributes.

For instance, medical capabilities are critically needed, said Hendin, whose training of African military personnel included courses in human rights and the law of armed conflict.

“It has to be based on needs, not wants,” he said.

“When I was there, everyone had a giant list of what they wanted but that didn’t necessarily mean that was what was needed.”

Canada’s future commitment to the UN will include police officers and, possibly, military transport planes and engineering equipment, officials said Friday.

Ottawa has also been considering participating in the UN operation in Mali. About 10,000 soldiers are trying to stabilize the country, while armed groups, including Islamic insurgents, carry out sporadic attacks.

The Mali mission is considered among the most dangerous now being conducted by the UN. Five Togolese soldiers were killed in May in an ambush, while in July, two Dutch peacekeepers died in a training accident.

In June, the UN Security Council decided 2,500 troops more are needed in Mali. In 2013, the Royal Canadian Air Force provided transport support to a French military operation there.

Mali was considered stable until early 2012 when tribesmen seeking an independent country combined forces with Islamic militants to take control of the northern half of the country.