OTTAWA—The “nine line” sent the Canadian military team in Mali into action.

A United Nations supply convoy in northern Mali had hit an improvised explosive device (IED) and that emergency call for a medical evacuation was relayed to Canadians on standby at an airbase in Gao, Mali.

“It’s just nine items you get that tell you the location of a medevac, the type of injuries, the nationality. We received a nine line that day,” said Col. Chris McKenna, who heads Canada’s Mali mission, known as Operation Presence.

“The crews on standby that day are recalled. We have a really set pattern of what everyone has to do for the launch,” he told the Star in an interview Thursday.

Within about 30 minutes of the call, the aircraft — a hulking twin-rotor Chinook and two smaller Griffons that serve as armed escorts — arrived at the scene, about 100 kilometres north of Gao. The Griffons circled the area, checking for possible threats before the Chinook touched down.

“The Chinook will land, the force protection team sets a cordon, medevac medical team rushes out, grabs the patient, conducts a quick handover, pulls patient back inside and they start working on them,” McKenna said.

This incident had left two UN civilian contractors badly injured. “It was a terrible IED incident,” McKenna said.

“The interventions that we had in the back of that Chinook, I would characterize them as critical to preserve life,” he said. “They both had massive lower limb injuries and head injuries.”

The medical team carries six units of blood and in this incident, McKenna believes that played a part in saving the two men.

“We stabilized both patients. One of them was resuscitated a number of times,” McKenna said, adding that the two men were brought to the UN hospital at the airfield.

“They did survive.”

That Nov. 1 mission was the most serious of the five medical evacuations involving a total of six patients done by the Canadians since they began operations in Mali in mid-August. They are there with the United Nations mission that is in the country to quell the violence blamed on Islamic State fighters and rival ethnic forces.

Based in Gao, three CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters and five CH-146 Griffon helicopters supported by some 250 personnel are on standby around-the-clock to provide medical evacuation for members of the United Nations mission and civilians who are wounded or injured.

But that’s not their only role. The helicopters have also been moving troops, UN civilian personnel and equipment around the region, a critical role when the risk of improvised explosives has made going by road treacherous.

A Hercules transport aircraft based in Dakar, Senegal provides logistical support, flying personnel and equipment onwards to the base in Gao.

Mali is the deadliest of the UN operations underway. By the end of November, a total 106 soldiers have been killed through “malicious” acts. Another 64 have died due to accidents and illness.

A report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in September said the security situation had deteriorated “significantly” with attacks on Malian and international forces along with increases in kidnappings, targeted assassinations and allegations of sexual and gender-based violence.

Attacks on Malian defence and security forces killed 19 soldiers and injured 24. The quarterly report also saw the highest number of civilian casualties since the start of the UN mission, with 287 civilians killed, including 14 women and 10 children. Another 38 were injured and 67 abducted.

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The Chinooks and the Griffons are heavily armed but McKenna said that the Canadians have not yet had to fire their weapons in self-defence, likely because they present a daunting target.

“I would characterize us as a relatively hard target. We are very well armed and we present difficult package to engage,” he said. “I don’t have major concerns about the safety of my crews because we’re armed and trained and equipped.”

A drought and worsening security situation has made life perilous for many in the country. The report said that 5.2 million people were in need of aid and protection, up from 3.8 million people in 2017.

“While needs continue to increase, humanitarian funding has decreased, preventing a timely, at-scale and appropriate response,” Guterres wrote in the report.

Lt.-Gen. Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden has taken over as force commander of the UN mission. His updated campaign plan for the next 18 to 24 months could see the focus of the UN peace support efforts shift to the central part of the country, a change that could influence where the Canadians operate.

“There’s been an uptick of violence in that area (and) not a lot of UN forces available in that area to react,” McKenna said.

“This is a very difficult place for anyone ... ultimately, this is not a military end state. It has to be a political solution that military forces enable,” McKenna said.

The yearlong Mali mission was announced in March as part of the Liberals’ election pledge to bolster Canada’s involvement in UN peace operations. Another part of that commitment, detailed at a peacekeeping summit more than a year ago, is expected to roll out next year when Canada deploys a Hercules aircraft to Entebbe to assist with transport.

Two other key initiatives remain in the works — a quick-response force (QRF) of up to 200 personnel deployed and training and leadership support to one or two as-yet-unidentified countries that want to boost the number of women they deploy on UN peacekeeping missions.

“The QRF, we’re working hard to find the best spot for it and where a Canadian-quality QRF would go,” Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence, told the Star in a year-end interview.

Two spots in Africa and one in the Middle East are under consideration, he said.

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