Mali: Nigerian troops begin pullout

Nigeria will begin withdrawing some of its 1,200 troops in Mali on Wednesday and redeploy them in security operations at home, the military has said.

Nigeria has been planning the withdrawal mainly due to the need for more soldiers to fight its own homegrown Islamist insurgency.

“The troops are mainly those not accommodated in the structures of the newly formed United Nations … mission in Mail,” Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade said in a statement. “They are to join the ongoing internal security operations.”

Reuters reports that he did not specify how many troops would be withdrawn, saying only that an “input of sizable men and materials (will) … continue in the UN Mission,” including a Nigeria-run military hospital.

Voters in Mali’s presidential election turned out in large numbers peacefully on Sunday, eager for a fresh start after a March 2012 coup allowed separatist and al Qaeda-linked rebels to seize the desert north last year.

Vote counting has been disputed and the result is likely to cause tensions.