Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
The United States is stepping up military assistance to Mali, to help the country fight armed militants including al Qaeda which are active in the northern part of the West African nation.
Speaking at a ceremony in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Mali, Gillian Milovanovic said her country would donate vehicles and communications equipment worth $4.5 million.
“The equipment will allow Malian soldiers to move around more easily, to coordinate their movements, and to bring supplies despite the long distances and difficult terrain which characterises the north of Mali," Milovanovic said, AFP reported.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operates across a vast stretch of the Sahara, through Mauritania, Mali and Niger, where huge distances and hazardous terrain make policing the region extremely difficult.
AQIM said it killed 28 soldiers there in July, a month after killing a British hostage.
The killing of the Briton, who had been kidnapped on the border between Mali and Niger in January, marked a violent change from the group's previous tactic of taking hostages and demanding ransoms.
