Finland Times

Helsinki, February 16 – Finland will send maximum 12 soldiers in the proposed military training mission in Mali as the government decided

to contribute soldiers to the mission, officials said.

The President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy at a meeting Friday discussed the matter and decided in principal to Finland’s participation in the mission.

The European Union military training mission aiming at training and advice to the Malian troopers is expected to begin in April.

The meeting also discussed continuation of Finland's participation in the EUTM Somalia training mission for contributing training to Somali

security forces. When the security situation in Mogadishu so allows, the intention is to gradually move the training from its current location in Uganda to the Somalian territory. Finland has participated in the training mission since 2010 and will continue to deploy a maximum of 10 soldiers until May 2015.