Dozens of Chadian U.N. Peacekeepers Desert Mali Posts
Dozens of Chadian troops from the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali have deserted their posts in a dispute over pay and conditions, military sources and the soldiers themselves told AFP on Thursday.
The soldiers, who are armed, left their station in the northern town of Aguelhoc on Tuesday night, some complaining that they hadn't been paid for up to four months, several sources told AFP.
"There are dozens of us, more than 100... We left our base in Aguelhoc with our weapons to demand payment of our bonuses and salary owed," said a Chadian soldier contacted by telephone.
It is not clear where the group are headed, but the soldier told AFP on condition of anonymity that they had reached the town of Anefis, some 220 kilometers (135 miles) further south.
A defense ministry official said the authorities were "aware of the situation" and that "senior Chadian military officials arrived in N'Djamena to help resolve the situation".
The desertion was confirmed by an African source in the U.N.'s MINUSMA force who put their number at "a few dozen".
"Everything is being done to find a solution," he said.
A senior MINUSMA official in Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, told AFP "a compromise is being worked out", without elaborating.
Around 160 troops from the Chadian contingent deserted their posts in Tessalit, 100km north of Aguelhoc, in September last year, voicing the same grievances.
The 2,000 Chadian soldiers of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) -- MINUSMA's predecessor -- were at the forefront of a French-led military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over northern Mali in the chaos following a coup.
Chad lost around 50 men in the initial battles, with the heaviest fighting taking place in the northeastern Ifoghas mountains.
A string of brazen attacks have left 31 peacekeepers dead in northern Mali since MINUSMA was deployed in July last year, with Niger and Chad suffering heavy losses.
Ten Chadian peacekeepers were killed by roadside bombs in the Kidal region in September and October, prompting the government in N'Djamena to complain to the U.N. that the Chadian contingent of MINUSMA were suffering discrimination.