Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK troops are deployed in Mali; what plans they have to reconsider the (1) deployment of the UK Task Group in Mali, and (2) UK forces contributing through the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mal; and what assessment they have made of the threat posed by extremists in (a) Mali, and (b) across the Sahel, in particular the Islamic State of the Greater Sahel.

Of the c.14,500 personnel that make up the UN Peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the UK deploys 300 troops. Separately, we also deploy four Chinook helicopters with around 100 troops providing logistical support to the French counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane. We have been part of Operation BARKHANE since July 2018. As the French mission in Mali concludes, so will the UK's contribution to it. We are reviewing our deployment to the UN Peacekeeping mission MINUSMA. The Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean has expressed concern about the increasing restrictions on UN Peacekeeping and international forces in Mali, and has urged all partners to continue working together to protect and support a better future for the Malian people.