Canadian troops started to take up their positions in the world’s most dangerous peacekeeping mission on Sunday, as a dozen Forces members flew into an isolated United Nations’ base to begin work on Canada’s year-long commitment to help bring peace and stability to this strife-riven African nation.

The sun beat down on the tarmac as defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance led the small contingent out of the Hercules transport plane that had carried them into the country and were met by a German convoy covered in the red dust that seems to be everywhere.

Vance and the 12-member advance team, whose task will be to lay the groundwork for the eventual arrival of the eight helicopters and 250 military members who comprise Canada’s mission in Mali, were scheduled to arrive the day before.

But a horrific dust storm, pictures of which showed a scene straight out of a movie, had forced Vance and the others to remain in Mali’s capital, Bamako, the previous night. It’s testament to one of the unpredictabilities of this mission — the weather.

Asked his first impression upon landing, a master warrant officer from Quebec who previously served in Afghanistan and Bosnia and who will act here as the camp sergeant major, replied: “It’s very hot. It’s very, very hot.”

But Nick, who like most others could only identified by his first name due to security reasons, was also clearly excited about the prospect of getting on with the mission after months of training — and nearly 10 years after he last deployed into Afghanistan.

“When the ramp of the Herc goes down on the tarmac, that’s a very, very good feeling,” he said. “It’s hot, you can feel it here in the desert. But that feeling is great.”

The arrival of the advance team marked the culmination of years of promises by the Trudeau Liberals, which initially pledged in the 2015 election to take a leadership role in UN peacekeeping missions if elected to power.

But with memories of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda still fresh in many minds, the peacekeeping commitment has been politically divisive while some have questioned whether there is even a peace to keep in Mali.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Vance said both the UN and Canada have learned a great deal since the previous peacekeeping debacles of the 1990s, both in terms of reviews and lived experience in Afghanistan.

“There was a time in the ’90s when we went on operations and we adopted their rules of engagement. We do not that with this mission. We’ve learned,” Vance said.

“We understand a lot more than we did in the ’90s about the nature of theatre support to ensure command and control, communications, intelligence, logistics and engineering are put in place to the extent necessary to support a mission.”

Yet he was also candid in his assessment that, yes, the situation in Mali could get worse. But that is why the UN is in the country and why Canada is supporting the UN — to keep that from happening, which many say would unleash a Pandora’s box in the region.

The reality is that the Canadian mission was not expected to start until next year, when the government and military were expecting Canada to replace a contingent of Jordanian helicopters in Gao.

But when Jordan was unable, for reasons that are still unclear, to send their aircraft to replace the existing German helicopter contingent, which has been providing medical evacuations and transport, the UN turned to Canada in March.

Two large Chinook transport helicopters and four smaller Griffon escorts, along with one spare of each in case of break downs, are due to arrive next month and replace the Germans, who have been flying here for more than a year.

The Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali — or Minusma, as the UN mission is known — has been criticized both for not doing enough to bring peace and stability to the country, and because of its dangers.

More than 100 peacekeepers have died since Minusma was established in 2013, but the reality is that cost has been borne by developing countries such as Chad, rather than more advanced Western forces like Germany and Canada.

Indeed, the Canadians will spend the next 12 months in what is known as Camp Castor, a German-run base that is actually separate from the so-called “super camp” that houses most of peacekeepers in what is known as Sector East.

The camp is a collection of buildings, most of them low-slung and reinforced to protect against mortar attacks, bounded by concrete barriers and dusty roads along which the occasional armoured vehicle passes bearing the famous “UN” on its side.

The Canadians will fly primarily medical evacuation missions — at least one Chinook and two Griffons must on standby at the expansive nearby helipad at all times — but Vance said they could also be called upon to do other tasks.

Those could include providing medical assistance to a joint counter-terrorism force established by Mali and four of its neighbours to fight Islamist jihadists and others, Vance said, as well as the actual defending of Malian civilians.

But it could also mean protecting convoys and giving fire support to fellow peacekeepers who find themselves in trouble, though Vance said those would only launched in extremis — if absolutely no other option was available.

That could put Canadian helicopters and troops in harm’s way, but one senior UN official told The Canadian Press that the Germans “never fired a shot in anger,” and that there is no significant threat to helicopters from the ground.

The bigger threat is the weather and desert, which have been blamed for the crash of one German and one Dutch helicopter over the years, and which was in clear evidence — at least the heat — on Sunday when the troops arrived.

There is also the ever-present danger of poisonous scorpions, snakes and spiders around the camp, particularly at night, as well as malaria-carrying mosquitos.

The one of the main questions is whether Canada — and the UN — can make a difference in Mali, where poverty is everywhere and various factions are locked in bloody struggles for land, smuggling routes and ideology.

For Vance, the focus is on making sure the Canadian contribution accomplishes its mission by providing the UN — and by extension the Malian state — with the support that it needs until the situation begins to improve.

“I’m confident that we’re contemplating and doing the right things as an international community,” he said.

“I’m confident that our helicopter contribution to Mali will be first class and offer the mission exactly what it needs. And I suspect that all of that combined will help Mali resist any downward trends associated with those actors that would try and attack the state.”

Despite the challenges facing the Canadians, the UN and Mali as a whole, Capt. Megan of Kingston, Ont., is unwavering in her assessment of the situation: “I think the Canadians are part of an important thing here.”

Isis leaders are sneaking battle-hardened jihadis from Syria into Nigeria to train terrorists there for possible attacks in Britain, like reported by politicsngr.com.

Fanatics from the West African state are also being sent to the Middle East for training in a chilling “exchange programme”.

Insiders fear strong links between Nigeria and the UK will make it easier for IS to send its killers here to bring more death and destruction.

Now more than 150 British troops are conducting counter-terror training with Nigerian forces in an attempt to stem the bloody tide — and stop IS taking hold in the region.

At one training mission in the northern city of Kaduna, a senior Nigerian Air Force commander revealed how his country’s jihadi groups were learning from IS after swearing allegiance to its black flag.

Group Captain Isaac Subi, 46, who has been fighting terrorism across Africa since 1991, said: “They come and train their fighters here and some of our insurgents too are granted access to their training in Yemen and Syria, acquiring those skills and they come back and teach others.

Their poisonous influence has already ended in horror attacks on British streets.

Fusilier Lee Rigby was stabbed to death in 2013 in London by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, both of Nigerian descent.

It is feared IS will exploit regular flights between Lagos and London to export more evil to the UK.

Group Captain Subi said the lack of secure borders across Africa also makes it easy to spread the bloodshed.

He added: “There are hundreds of fighters. It’s a virus that spreads across our borders. Their action leaves trails of blood and tears and sorrow.”

Over the past four years, more than 20,000 people have been killed in Nigeria, mainly in the north east where a population of 900,000 is now dominated by up to 3,000 terrorists.

Another two million have fled the bloodshed. Captured men are made to fight for the fanatics and seized women are forced into marriages.

But one terror tactic unique to Nigeria is the barbaric use of children as young as five to carry out suicide bomb attacks.

Brigadier Charles Calder, Britain’s defence adviser in Nigerian capital Abuja, said of the IS threat there: “In time, unchecked it could present a threat to both UK interests and conceivably the UK mainland.”

Brig Calder said sending small, hand-picked teams out to military training hubs across the country was the best way to prevent Nigeria collapsing.

Brits have so far trained 35,000 military personnel there and commanders say these are now performing better on the frontline.

The 2014 abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by terror group Boko Haram sparked an upsurge in UK military involvement there.

In 2016, a faction split from Boko Haram, swore allegiance to IS and rebranded itself Islamic State in West Africa.

Eight Kenyan security personnel were killed in an attack by al-Shabab fighters in northeastern Wajir County. The area has been a frequent site of attacks by militants crossing the border from Somalia, like reported by voanews.com.

The security personnel were on patrol when they were attacked near the town of Bojigaras.

Authorities said the car the security officers were traveling in ran over an improvised explosive device. After the explosion, al-Shabab fighters opened fire.

“[Al-Shabab] started shooting at them and killed all of them, only to leave one who was still alive,” said Issa Ahmed Abdi, a member of the Wajir county assembly, “but when we were bringing him to Wajir referral hospital, he succumbed to the injuries on the way.”

Authorities said the militants fled toward the Somalia border.

Locals had expressed concern about an impending attack, and the information was passed along to security forces, but to no avail, according to Ahmed Abdi.

“It could have been prevented, because the public have actually given firsthand information that these elements were there and that these elements themselves said they are going to do an action that the people will regret,” he said.

Northeastern Kenya has been the site of some of al-Shabab’s most deadly attacks. In December 2014, the group killed 38 non-Muslims at a quarry in Mandera.

In April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College, killing 148 people and injuring more than 100.

This is the second al-Shabab attack in the county this year; in February, militants killed three people at Qarsa Primary School.

Al-Shabab has targeted Kenya in retaliation for the country’s involvement in AMISOM, the African Union force in Somalia that backs the federal government.

Issoufa Mahama is worried. To take his livestock out into the pasture beyond the village, he explains, is to roll the dice.

“We can’t take the cattle out into the bush any more,” he says. “It’s because of Boko Haram. If you go out, they will take your herd”, like reported by dailymail.co.uk

Mahama, like other farmers in Cameroon’s far north, is one of many unseen victims of Boko Haram, whose jihad in Nigeria has spilled over into neighbouring Cameroon and other countries.

According to a study conducted by Cameroon’s ministry of livestock, between 2012 and 2016, Boko Haram killed at least 135 farmers, forced the closure of 21 cattle markets and stole 48,000 farm animals and around 4,000 chickens.

The group inflicted direct losses of 55 billion CFA francs (83.8 million euros, $97 million), plunging many families who were already living on the edge deeper into poverty.

In recent months, attacks and thefts seem to have have receded, but in many places the jihadists maintain an empire of fear.

Many farmers in the village of Meme keep their cattle within the village boundaries for safety — but fodder is desperately short.

“The animals are hungry. They have nothing to eat,” said Mahama, contemplating two scrawny cattle and a few goats chewing on a handful of millet stalks he has thrown on the ground.

Before Boko Haram started its rampage, he says, he had 30 cattle. Now he has nine. Two have died in the past fortnight, probably due to lack of food and sickness, he says.

– Vigilantes –

Mathieu Dara, a livestock specialist at the Veterinary Zootechnical Centre in Mora, says many farm animals in areas hit by Boko Haram have had no access to medical treatment or vaccines for the past two years because of the security problems, and food is scarce.

“Lots of animals have died because of a lack of (veterinary) care,” he said.

At the entrance to Meme village, members of a local vigilante group, armed with old guns, have taken up position filtering those those who come in.

Three years ago, at least 19 people were killed in a twin suicide bomb attack at Meme’s market. Earlier this month, in the village of Mangave Foya Djalingo about 10 kilometres (six miles) away, Boko Haram killed six civilians.

In the Meme region of the same name as the village, 18,700 of the local population of 88,700 have been displaced by the violence, many of them fleeing with their livestock, according to the Lamido, as the local community chief is known.

Mahama says he has 38 people to care for, if displaced people are added to relatives in his charge.

Previously, everyone was able to have three meals a day, “but now, there are days when there’s nothing to eat,” he said.

– Rainfall –

Thieving and attacks by the jihadists add to the risks of a lifestyle already complicated by the weather.

“It’s not easy to find grass for the cattle because in this part of the world we only have rain for four months of the year,” said fellow cattle farmer Boukar Maloum.

The village’s meagre pastures have already been stripped of green grass. At the entrance to Maloum’s smallholding, two of his cattle go backwards and forwards, searching for something to eat.

Water, too, is scarce — farmers have to go “up to three kilometres” (two miles) for the precious substance, in heat that reaches 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), said Maloum.

Previously, the farmers were allowed by grain growers to cut the stalks of millet for free, using them as cheap fodder, after the cereal had been harvested.

Now, though, the stalks have to be paid for, said Maloum — adding to the pressure on poor households.

Earlier this month, the Cameroonian government and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched a campaign to vaccinate a million sheep and goats against a contagious disease called ovine rinderpest.

The immunisation has been welcomed by the farmers in Meme, although some say there are more pressing needs.

“It’s a good thing to vaccinate our goats and sheep, but if they’ve got nothing to eat, they’ll die,” Mahama says bluntly.

Video shows Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez caring for French aid worker Sophie Petronin, like reported by thenational.ae

Al Qaeda’s Mali branch released a proof-of-life video on Wednesday showing footage of two female hostages abducted in separate incidents and held for more than a year, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

The video, which was released on Telegram by the Mali-based Al Qaeda affiliate known by its acronym JNIM, shows Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez caring for French aid worker Sophie Petronin, according to the US-based group that monitors jihadist communications.

Ms Petronin was kidnapped in late 2016 in Gao, Mali. Ms Narvaez was seized near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso in February last year.

In the video, which Ms Petronin indicates was recorded on June 7, the two women address the camera.

Ms Petronin speaks out to her son, after allegedly hearing a message from him, according to a transcript of the video by SITE Intelligence Group. She expresses a wish to reunite with her family, and addresses the French government saying she fears being sacrificed.

Ms Narvaez addresses Pope Francis, thanking him for his interest in her case and asking him to help intervene to help the ailing Ms Petronin.

In January, the Mali insurgency released a video of Ms Narvaez with an extremist member narrating an appeal for the payment for her release. The last video of Ms Petronin was released in July last year alongside five other foreign hostages. Ms Narvaez was also in that video, which came shortly before France’s president visited Mali.

A number of hostages in Mali have been held for years. The extremists have made a fortune in the past decade abducting foreigners in the vast Sahel region and demanding enormous ransoms for their release.

A Swede, Johan Gustafsson, was freed in June last year after being held by Islamic extremists in Mali for six years. South African Stephen McGown, also held for six years, was released in late July last year. Both governments said they did not pay ransoms.

A French-led intervention drove out Islamic extremists from strongholds in northern Mali in 2013, but the extremists have continued targeting peacekeepers and other forces.

Al Qaeda and ISIS-linked extremists have pushed into central Mali, and also stage attacks in Niger and Burkina Faso.

In March last year, the extremist groups Ansar Dine, Al Mourabitoun and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb declared that they had merged to form JNIM. The group has also claimed responsibility for attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

A recently created G5 Sahel Force aims to have 5,000 troops from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Chad countering extremist groups linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda in the Sahel region.

Ten Islamic militants were “neutralized” in troubled central Mali after clashes with the military, Defense Minister Tiena Coulibaly said in a statement, like reported by thedefensepost.com.

The Malian military “neutralized 10 terrorists, recovered weapons, explosive devices and other war materials,” after fighting in Karakinde in the Mopti region, Coulibaly said.

He asked locals “to continue backing defence and security forces in the fight against terrorism in all its forms.”

The Malian army has recently regularly spoken about the ‘neutralization of terrorists’ in the region but rights groups have raised the alarm, saying they were extra-judicial killings.

On May 19, the army said three Malian soldiers and 12 “terrorists” were killed in fighting at an army camp in the town of Boulikessi near the border with Burkina Faso. Locals alleged the dead were all civilians, and the army later put out a new statement that spoke of 12 “people” killed.

A military source told AFP in May that Malian troops under command of the G5 Sahel force were at the center of the incident.

Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, exploiting a Taureg separatist uprising. France began a military intervention the next year that evolved into the current Operation Barkhane deployment with a mandate for counter-terror operations across the Sahel region.

Tensions and violence have intensified in the troubled area over the past three years with clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers from the Bambara and Dogon ethnic groups who accuse the pastoralists of colluding with jihadists.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger agreed last year to set up the 5,000-strong G5 Sahel joint counter-terrorism force that aims to train 5,000 troops to work alongside French troops and United Nations peacekeepers with the Minusma stabilization mission.

Refocused Minusma mission
Last week U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for Minusma to “reprioritize its action to focus on political tasks.

In a report to the Security Council, Guterres said he intended to explore how the mission could broaden its political role in support of a peace process between the government and Tuareg-led rebels. A Minusma review conducted this year found that a 2015 peace agreement “had not resulted in enough meaningful progress on the ground,” Guterres said.

Guterres said that the 12,500-strong international force faced a dilemma “between the need to reform and reconstitute the Malian defense and security forces while simultaneously supporting existing forces in addressing the current instability.”

He voiced alarm about the declining humanitarian and security situation.

The U.N. Children’s Fund Unicef said in April that more than 50,000 people are still displaced by violence across Mali.

At least four Somali soldiers were killed in an attack by al-Shabab on a military base in Teed village, about 30 kilometers northwest of Hudur town in Bakol region in southern Somalia, officials said to xinhuanet.com.

Mohamed Moalim Ahmed, Mayor of Hudur town, said that al-Shabab fighters had launched heavy attack on the base but the forces managed to push them back.

“They (al-Shabab) have attacked us, but our forces fought back and repulsed them. We are now in control of the base,” Moalim said.

The local official noted that they inflicted casualties on the al-Shabab side, but did not know the number of their losses. Residents in nearby villages told Xinhua that they heard huge exchange of gunfire in the area.

“The two sides have exchanged huge gunfire and engaged a gun battle lasted for hours,” Yusuf Eney, a resident told Xinhua.

The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had seized the village of Teed, a claim which officials have denied.

Independent sources said the militants briefly took control of the military base before they were overpowered by the soldiers.

The al Qaeda terrorist group in North Africa last month issued a threat to attack Western companies, and U.S. security officials are taking the threat seriously, like reported by freebeacon.com.

The May 8 statement by the group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb indicated that attack planning against French and other Western companies is advanced and that strikes could be carried out during the Islamic holiday month of Ramadan that ends June 14.

The warning of pending terrorist attacks comes as the world’s attention largely is focused on Singapore and the upcoming summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Meanwhile, al Qaeda terrorists in Somalia conducted a second attack on a military base in the southern part of the country, detonating a car bomb outside the base late Saturday.

Al Shabab stated on its website, Calamada.com, the attack killed 50 Somali soldiers.

The base is the same location where an Army Special Forces commando was killed in an attack Friday. Four other U.S. troops were wounded. The commandos were part of a training mission for Somalian and Kenyan troops.

The Pentagon on Saturday identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Alexander W. Conrad, 26, of Chandler, Arizona, who was killed from “enemy indirect fire.”

The North Africa al Qaeda affiliate, known by its acronym AQIM, stated that the coming attacks would take place across the region, ranging from Libya to Mauritania.

The statement said jihad, or holy war, includes “striking enemies in the source of their economies.”

The group accused western companies, especially French firms, of controlling 85 percent of the fortunes of Muslims.

“This statement comes to reject all the Western companies and institutions, especially the French, that are active in the Islamic Maghreb (from Libya to Mauritania) and the Sahel countries, and to notify them that they are a legitimate target for the Mujahideen,” the statement said.

The statement also warned Muslims “not to approach these companies and institutions” to avoid being injured in the attacks.

A State Department security report issued June 8 said all Western companies are at risk of attack, including those in AQIM target group—natural resources, mining, and state-owned and government supported businesses.

“U.S. private-sector organizations with operations and personnel in North and West Africa, especially those in Maghreb and Sahel countries, should evaluate their security measures and consider taking additional precautions as the last part of the Ramadan season starts and in light of AQIM’s recent threat,” the report by the State Department-led Overseas Security Advisory Council said.

The heightened terror threat is expected to continue after Ramadan.

AQIM merged with three other terrorist groups from Mali in March 2017 to form the al Qaeda affiliate Group in Support of Islam and Muslim, known as JNIM.

The merger has produced an increase in both numbers and sophistication of attacks in West African cities against hotels and establishments used by foreigners.

The group’s activities have included two strikes on a resort and restaurant used by westerners in Mali, and a more recent attack this year on the French Embassy and Burkina Faso army headquarters in Burkina Faso capital.

One high profile attack by the group came in 2015 against the Radisson Blu hotel attack Bamako, Mail when the group took 170 hostages and killed 20 of them in a mass shooting.

The State Department security report said the latest threat, while not unprecedented, is notable for the timing during Ramadan, the warning to Muslims to avoid western businesses, and past attacks by AQIM on businesses.

Among the companies targeted in the past were the French construction company Sogea-Satom in Mali in 2017; a rocket attack in 2016 against the joint BP-Norwegian Statoil oil plant in Algeria; and a 2015 kidnapping of a Romanian security guard at a mine in northern Burkina Faso.

The security report also said the emphasis on attacking private sector entities suggests attacks are likely.

“Companies in natural resource exploitation have frequently been targeted for blame by a variety of armed elements throughout Africa,” the report said.

“Given AQIM’s focus on past economic exploitation by Western and African governments through international companies, Western and/or African state-owned or state-supported entities could be at elevated risk.”

In addition to targets in the oil and gas sector, other potential targets include natural resource industries, such as timber, minerals, precious gems, and agriculture.

Banking and financial institutions also could be targeted by AQIM, based on the group’s reference in the May 8 statement to African rulers’ inflated bank accounts.

Other potential targets include humanitarian and faith-based organizations and academic institutions.

The report said U.S. private sector companies have cut back their presence in many countries in North Africa in response to the increase in terror attacks, particularly in Mali, Libya, and parts of Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Algeria.

Those that remain have stepped up security measures.

“In light of AQIM’s threat, consider taking additional security measures around the facilities of Western and African companies and/or areas where foreign and local companies are clustered, such as business districts in major cities,” the report said.

Kidnappings could be carried out by AQIM in addition to shooting attacks.

“Since 2013, there have been several abductions of Westerners from rural areas in West Africa in which victims have ended up in terrorist hands,” the report said.

Regarding attacks in Somalia, the Africa Command said in a statement Saturday the casualties were the result of an enemy attack in Jubaland, Somalia. In addition to the one soldier killed and four U.S. wounded, one unidentified foreign solider was wounded.

Around 500 American commandos are in Somalia training some 800 troops of the Somali National Security Forces and Kenyan Defense Forces at the base.

The U.S. forces are working to counter the terrorist threat posed by al Qaeda, al-Shabab, and the Islamic State.

“Our strategy in East Africa is to build partner capacity to ensure that violent extremist organizations, who wish harm in the region, wish harm on the European continent, and ultimately wish to harm the United States, are contained,” said Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, Africa Command commander.

“Simply put, we’re working to prevent atrocious acts before they come to fruition.”

The threat of AQIM attacks and the al-Shabaab attacks come amid stepped up U.S. attacks in the region.

In Somalia, a U.S. airstrike in northern Somalia killed 27 al-Shabaab terrorists on June 5 in training camps and safe havens. The raid took place 26 miles southwest of Bosaso, a Somalia on the Gulf of Aden.

“U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect U.S. citizens and to disable terrorist threats,” the command said.

On May 31, another U.S. airstrike killed 12 al-Shabaab terrorists in an area south of Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Further west, U.S. military forces conducted a missile strike on Wednesday against a Libyan town, killing four terrorists of the Islamic State.

At least three persons were killed and four others injured when a Boko Haram suicide bomber struck in Maiduguri very early on Monday morning, security and resident sources have confirmed according to saharareporters.com.

The blast occurred at popular Baga Road area, precisely at Barka Da Zuwa junctions in Maiduguri about 01:35 hours when a male suicide bomber blew himself up and killed two civilians while injuring four.

“Another male suicide bomb today 11-06-2018 at about 0135 hrs in baga road at Barka Da Zuwa junction in Maiduguri,” said Modu Baba, a resident, in a text message to Saharareporters

“Three persons dead, including the suicide bomber, while four others were injured.”

Security sources also confirmed that there was blast in Baga Road area but they didn’t state the casualty toll.

It would be recalled that two days ago, a lone bomber killed self at the crowded post office area in heart of Maiduguri city.