Mauritania to send 1,800 troops to Mali

Sources have told Arab Today that Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will send 1,800 troops to Mali as part of a planned UN force. The move comes as an attempt to keep the peace in the West African nation after a French-led offensive that has ousted Islamist rebels from the desert north. The Mauritanian prime minister and leader of army met with Mali's transitional president Dioncounda Traore on Wednesday to discuss recent developments in North Mali. The officials also discussed ways the troops will be deployed and how they will move inside the Mali territory. Mauritania, an Islamic republic which borders Mali to the west, has one of the most effective armies in the region, with experience of battling Islamist fighters in desert terrain but has so far remained aloof from the Malian conflict.