UK forces join 56 other countries in Minusma peacekeeping mission
Britain has begun a three-year deployment of 300 troops to the west African country of Mali as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, entering a region beset by an increasingly dangerous violent Islamist insurgency.
The UK forces are deploying to Gao, in the east of the country, where militants have repeatedly attacked French, European and local armed forces, including a deadly 2017 suicide attack on a military base that killed more than 50 Malians.
