Senior US diplomat John Negroponte arrived in Mali’s ancient northern city of Timbuktu on Wednesday where the US military is training the Malian army in anti-terror tactics, authorities said.
The US deputy secretary of state was due to spend several hours in the city before travelling to the capital, Bamako, according to a government official.
He was scheduled to pay a visit to a Timbuktu city mosque and hold talks with local administrative officials.
The US army has been training the Malian military in counter-terrorism strategies for five years under the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorist Partnership (TSCTP).
The desert north of Mali, vast and difficult to monitor, is an important point of passage for traffickers, especially of weapons, and for militant groups active in the Sahara, such as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now known as Al-Qaeda’s branch in northern Africa,
On Thursday, Negroponte is set to meet Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, as well as local civil society leaders, according to a presidential source.
He is also expected to attend an inter-governmental forum gathering representatives from 120 countries to discuss the promotion and strengthening of democracy in the world.
Mali is the final stop of Negroponte’s four-nation African tour which has taken him to Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
RSS 2.0