EU ministers to review Mali support mission

EU foreign and defence ministers will review on 19 November the outlines of a soon-to-be launched mission to Mali to implement security sector reform and military training.

Though the timing of the mission's launch remains to be determined, there is widespread support across the 27 member states to do this – and soon, say EU officials.

"We have to do something about the situation in Mali. Its army is in shambles and must be put under civilian control," a senior EU official stated in Brussels on 15 November. "We don't yet know when [the mission] will deploy, but quite a few member states are pushing to do this sooner rather than later."

The Malian state's slide into near dissolution during the past two years has seized the international community's attention. The country's vast northern region is fractured by a volatile mixture of insurgent groups, terrorist cells, arms and drug-runners, and disgruntled tribes, all of which are beyond the government's control. Meanwhile, a military coup in March 2012 threw the government into chaos, and subsequently led to a collapse of the army itself.

The international community is now helping orchestrate elections and the transition to a new government.