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Александр Стукалин
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Инженер-109
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Дата
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15.01.2013 18:19:55
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Рубрики
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ВВС;
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нет, передают, что увеличат до 2500, а пока, мол, 750...
PARIS, Jan 15, 2013 (AFP) -France is planning to triple the size of its force in Mali to a total of 2,500 troops, defence sources said Tuesday in the clearest sign yet that Paris is preparing for a drawn-out campaign in its former colony.
"There will be a gradual build-up to a figure of 2,500," a source close to Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a revelation that points to French forces playing a far bigger -- and inevitably far longer -- role in the campaign against Islamist groups in northern Mali than previously indicated.
President Francois Hollande said earlier on Tuesday that there were currently 750 French soldiers in the former colony but acknowledged that this figure would increase.
The plan to deploy a force of up to 2,500 men is at odds with suggestions by government ministers that the involvement of French ground troops would be limited to protecting Mali's capital, Bamako...