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Tactical Supply Wing of the Royal Air Force gets a Fuel Truck into position

At least 250 soldiers are expected to join the UN peacekeeping force helping France to contain the deadly jihadi threat in the Sahel region of Africa. Drawn from the Light Dragoons and 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, the contingent currently includes six female soldiers, attached to medical, logistical and military police sections. But a new UN directive for peacekeeping operations lays down quotas for the number of female soldiers deployed.

And last night senior officers expressed their frustration as they face having to include at least another 12 female soldiers for next year’s deployment while planning for what is anticipated to be a ”highly kinetic” operation - a euphemism for active warfare. Only yesterday French troops killed 33 “terrorists” in Mali, President Emmanuel Macron said. Under Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy targets, 15 per cent of military observers and staff officers must be women by next year, while the figure for female "boots on the ground" is 7.5 per cent. It means the British Army will have to field at least 18 female soldiers in order to comply. Those targets will rise to 25 percent and 15 per cent by 2028. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said: “This is not just a question of numbers, but effectiveness in fulfilling mandates.” The UN has said it believes women are better able to win local hearts and minds and Britain has already opened up all branches of the Armed Forces, including front line battle roles, to female recruits.


Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP

Britain’s Armed Forces have already opened up all branches, including front line battle roles, to female recruits. The move, first announced by former defence secretary Gavin Williamson last year, was aimed at showing that the British military is an equal opportunity employer and recognised an opportunity to boost its ranks as it struggles to keep to recruitment targets. But last night senior planners involved with preparing for the mission expressed their fury. “The British Army embraces gender equality. We feel it’s the right thing, and a good thing,” said one senior officer. “But equality cuts both ways. This is about our ability, as planners, to choose the most appropriate soldiers for the task at hand, be they men or women. “It’s true that we are joining a UN peacekeeping operation, and not France’s parallel mission. However, we anticipate that this will be a highly kinetic operation. “Hearts and minds are extremely important, but there is a real chance that they will become secondary to other considerations. “Frankly, to be forced to comply with a tick-boxing request which doesn't address the immediate realities of the challenges we face is ludicrous.” The effort to contain the creation of another Islamic caliphate in lawless Mali has made slow progress.

United Nations Peacekeeping Forces


France, which operates alongside troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, has already lost 41 of its own soldiers in the seven years since it was asked by Mali to lend military support. In 2014, its mission broadened to tackling attempts at the creation of another Islamic caliphate in the greater Sahel, the desert border that divides Middle Eastern North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa, Britain has already contributed two “heavy lift” Chinook helicopters to transport front line troops to that mission. The UN’s 15,000-strong parallel operation, Minusma (Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali), is already its most dangerous peacekeeping mission globally, with 206 fatalities since 2013. In January its headquarters in Aguelhok , Eastern Mali, was attacked by militants loyal to al Qaeda, killing 11 Chadian peacekeepers. In April UN forces repelled an attack on its its “supercamp” at Timbuktu Airport by Islamist JIN supporters, which killed two Chadian peacekeepers and injured ten others. Operation Newcombe will see UK troops arrive in Mali - a country twice the size of France - in the New Year to be based in Gao, an area already paralysed by IEDs. They will form a long-range reconnaissance task group, specifically chosen for their ability to operate in small teams and in violent, contested areas of the country. In November troops completed their pre-deployment training in readiness for the mission, but senior officers are quietly concerned that the UK is sleep walking into another intervention mission that will explode into full on conflict.

Chantelle Taylor wants personnel choice left to Army chiefs