British troops will not be deployed alongside French forces fighting rebels with links to al-Qaeda who are attempting to overthrow Mali’s government, Defence Minister Andrew Robathan said.
The UK will send two C-17 transport planes to Mali and RAF ground crew may be stationed on the ground in the west African country briefly to service the aircraft, Mr Robathan told the Commons.
But he said British involvement in the operations should only last a week, telling MPs the Ministry of Defence had made no plans to commit further resources to the war-torn state.
Mr Robathan’s comments came after Britain deployed the first of two C-17 aircraft to support French efforts to halt an advance by the rebels as they continue to fight the country’s government.
But after landing in France to pick up supplies and troops, it was grounded after suffering a minor technical fault, an MoD spokesman said.
Mr Robathan said: “Over the weekend we responded very swiftly from requests from the French for logistical assistance by making available two C-17 transport aircraft.
“I would say that the rebel forces who have links to al-Qaeda are likely to carry out worse abuses than anything that has been seen before.
“Our offer of giving of C-17 aircraft was as a result of a request from the French specifically for their support... I would say at the moment we have absolutely no plans to deploy any ground forces to Mali.”
He added: “We are only sending our C-17s in to the remote Bamako, the capital. The reason we are sending our C-17s is that because they are an asset which the French cannot replicate, they have to charter such aircraft. I do not believe we are putting in any substantial ground crew but I am sure some people will be on the ground briefly.
“This is a deployment with a very limited timescale at the moment, although it could increase. The timescale is for one week at the moment.”
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said Labour supported the Government’s decision to support the French military. He added: “The situation in Mali is grave with al-Qaeda controlling huge swathes of the country. Unchecked this could become a real threat to the UK.”