German and France plan to send 90 soldiers to Mali to assist local forces in the fight against terrorism, a spokeswoman for the countries' joint military brigade told dpa on Sunday. Troops from the Franco-German Brigade are to help train soldiers and police in Mali. The deployment, which comes less than two years after bilateral troops were first sent to Mali, comes amid fresh terrorist attacks in the country, and security has been heightened as a result, the spokeswoman said. French and German personnel are to arrive in Mali in the coming week and will be stationed there until the end of May 2016, she added. The move is part of a military training mission organized by the European Union and is backed by several member states. The Franco-German Brigade consists of 5,500 soldiers from each country and has previously been involved in missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, as well as in French-led operations on the African continent. Germany also decided on Thursday to send 650 of its own soldiers to the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in Mali.
