11/17/2013 20:31 GMT
BAMAKO, November 17, 2013 (AFP) - French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday his government would begin training and equipping Malian police to support their fight against terrorism in the country's rebel-infested desert north.
He made the announcement after meeting Mali's president and prime minister on a two-day visit as part of a wider regional tour focused on security, as France begins to wrap up a military operation in its former colony to oust Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
"We will ensure that our relationship... is translated very quickly into action, in terms of support and equipment for the police to deal with security problems," Valls told reporters in Bamako.
Logistical support would include the provision of protective gear, weapons and vehicles, he said, adding that training would be provided first.
"There is an urgency here in Mali to rebuild the rule of law and our cooperation will also continue in the field of intelligence," he added.
French troops entered Mali in January to halt an advance on Bamako by several armed Islamist groups and allied Tuareg rebels.
Elections in August saw Ibrahim Boubacar Keita become the country's first post-conflict president but militant attacks have resumed in northern Mali where extremist groups are based.
France still has 3,200 troops in its former colony but wants to reduce the figure to 1,000 by the end of January.
A United Nations peacekeeping force meant to replace the French soldiers is expected to eventually reach 12,640 troops and police. At the end of July it had just over 6,000 but Nigerian and some Chadian troops have since withdrawn.
Valls was on the third leg of a four-nation west African tour which has seen him in Senegal and Ivory Coast since Friday.
He flew to Nouakchott later Sunday where he met Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and signed an agreement with the government on sharing intelligence to strengthen cooperation on fighting terrorism.
Like the agreement with Mali, the arrangement will include training for police, provision of some equipment and a focus on the drug trade.
The mainly-Muslim republic, a former French colony on the west coast of the Sahara desert, is seen by Western leaders as strategically important in the fight against Al-Qaeda-linked groups within its own borders, in neighbouring Mali and across Africa's Sahel region.
"I told Mr Aziz how we regard with admiration his commitment and that of Mauritania to the security of the Sahel, and the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking," Valls told reporters.
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