February 3rd that the British Daily Telegraph website published a report entitled “British Forces in Mali under the command of a Chinese officer and completed its first patrol in the United Nations mission” on February 1.
As part of the United Nations force, it was deployed in Mali, Africa to combat religious extreme violence. The 300 British soldiers will be led by a Chinese commander. The full text is excerpted as follows:
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Robinson, commander of the British Army’s “Light Dragoon Regiment”, said that Chinese peacekeeping forces provided a hospital to the United Nations mission and was responsible for protecting the camps stationed in British troops.
Robinson said: “I work for a Chinese commander who is the commander of the military region.
He is a very professional person and I like to work with him very much.
The British Royal Navy carried out anti-piracy operations with the Chinese navy near the Horn of Africa, but this is believed to be the first time that a British army has been commanded by a Chinese officer.
The British Task Force in Mali, consisting mainly of the Light Dragoon Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Angry Regiment, has just successfully completed its first patrol in this West African country.
About 200 British soldiers patrolled on 60 combat vehicles specially designed to cope with harsh desert conditions.
In the initial deployment operation, the British army’s distance into the local rural areas was only 30 miles (about 48 kilometers, this website note), but it was beyond the reach of the Malian authorities.
The unit’s future patrol plan will go further.
Robinson said that the United Nations peacekeeping force has been stationed there for eight years, but the British patrol is the first peacekeeper some Malians met.
