African Union decides to enlarge military contingent in Mali - Margelov
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - The African Union will enlarge its military contingent stationed in northern Mali, Russian Presidential Representative for Cooperation with Africa Mikhail Margelov told Interfax on Monday. He was speaking on the phone from Ethiopia, which had played host to an African Union summit.
"The main result of this summit is the decision to enlarge the African military contingent in northern Mali. It has become clear in the course of hostilities that al-Qaeda forces operating in the Islamic Maghreb are bigger and trained and armed better than suspected," Margelov said.
The summit elected the new African Union Chairman, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. South African President Jacob Zuma heads the organization's administration.
"I believe that the joint work of the leaders of two principal countries of the continent - Ethiopia and South Africa - may build up the international role of the African Union," Margelov said.
He said that Russia had been actively interacting with African Union entities. Moscow contributed $2 million to the African Union's Peace Fund. Some $700,000 were assigned for negotiations in Mali and $1 million for African police forces in Somalia.
Margelov, Chair of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, met with Pan-African Parliament leaders on the summit sidelines. The sides agreed on cooperation.
He also discussed inter-Sudanese settlement with the South Sudan president. "A hope was expressed that Sudan and South Sudan would reach consent on disputable issues by the middle of this year. The crash of a UN mission helicopter and deaths of Russian pilots were also on the agenda. I said that Russia expected a more active and objective probe into the incident," the presidential envoy said.
The interlocutors also discussed economic cooperation and the South Sudanese president informed the envoy that his country was ready to cooperate with Russian companies.
Margelov had a meeting with Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Dramane Ouattara to speak about bilateral relations. The national administration expressed the interest in broad participation of Russian companies in projects in all economic sectors.
"I handed over a message from the Russian chief of state to the president of the Republic of Congo. I also met with South African President Jacob Zuma, the Ugandan president and the heads of Tanzania, Nigeria and some other African states," Margelov said.
Preparations for a BRICS summit due in Durban in March were a separate item on the summit agenda.
