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| Senegal to send 2,100 troops to join Saudi-led alliance |
| 2015-05-06 |
| Senegal will send 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia as part of an international coalition combating Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, the West African nation's foreign minister said on Monday. Senegalese President Macky Sall said, after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia last month, he was considering a request to deploy troops in the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi, a Shi'ite Muslim group allied to Iran. "The international coalition is aiming to protect and secure the holy sites of Islam, Medina and Mecca," Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye told parliament. "The president...has decided to respond favourably to this request by deploying a contingent of 2,100 men in the holy land of Saudi Arabia," he said. Senegal deployed troops to Saudi Arabia as part of the US-led alliance during the Gulf War against Iraq, when 92 of its soldiers were killed in the crash of a Saudi transport plane in 1991. |
| Posted by:Steve White |