Minister of Defence completes a second fact-finding trip to Africa

Last week Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan completed a second fact-finding trip to Africa, as the Government of Canada recently announced its commitment to send up to 600 Canadian Armed Forces members for deployment on UN peace support operations.

From November 5th to 8th, Minister Sajjan met Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Senegalese President Macky Sall as well as several ministers from both countries, senior government officials, foreign ambassadors, and representatives from the United Nations.

For the Minister, this was an opportunity to advance Canada’s defence relationship with Mali and Senegal and discuss how our troops could support peace and stability in the region.

“As Canada continues to assess how we can make the most noteworthy contribution to international peace and security, we continue to carefully examine the security situation in Africa. These visits, along with those of my cabinet colleagues, are invaluable in providing us with the information we need about the region and the challenges it is facing from a peace and security standpoint,” said Defence Minister Sajjan.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Dion, as well as the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, also both visited African nations in the past month – respectively Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia as well as Mali, Senegal, and Burkina Faso.