U.S. trains Mali to fight terrorism in oil region

U.S. Special Forces are teaching Malian soldiers how to fight terrorism in the country’s northern desert, a region potentially rich in oil but seen by U.S. military officials as a sanctuary for Islamic militants.

More than 300 Malian soldiers in the Saharan towns of Timbuktu and Gao and the capital Bamako will practice parachuting into the desert, marksmanship, operating under fire and other activities over the next 50 days, officials said.

At least six international firms have won rights to search for oil under Mali’s vast desert as the impoverished West African nation seeks to match neighbours Algeria, Mauritania and Niger by striking crude.

AlertNet