Joint military brigade

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have agreed to create a joint brigade to check the movement of light firearms in their countries, secure people and goods at border points and provide humanitarian aid to the needy, Mali's military press director, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, told IRIN on Tuesday. "The primary mission will be humanitarian," Lt-Col Coulibaly said. A company at brigade headquarters - with communications, health and logistics units - will execute the humanitarian mission by providing food, health and emergency services to needy populations in the three countries, Coulibaly said. Three other combat companies would support the humanitarian company as needed and ensure security in the Luptako Le Gourma border point, which is shared by the three countries. "The peoples in this area rear animals and need to be secure," he added. Military chiefs from the three countries met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the operations of the new brigade. The chiefs, meeting in the Malian capital, Bamako, were expected to define the broad mission and operational orders of the 500-member brigade, whose units will be based in Labbezanga, Mali; Maretei, Burkina Faso; and Yatakala, Niger, Coulibaly said. Radio Mali reported on Monday that the unit would have a joint command staff with an overall commander rotated through the three countries. It quoted the Malian defence minister as saying the creation of the brigade was a testimony to the determination of the three countries to turn their common border area into a haven of peace and inter-army cooperation. "Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga further expressed the wish that this initiative will be emulated in other parts of the continent," Radio Mali reported.