Danish troops to leave Mali after call from country’s rulers

By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s foreign minister says the country will pull its small military force out of northern Mali after the West African country’s transitional government said no permission had been given for them to deploy there. The government in Bamako, under coup leader Col. Assimi Goita, on Wednesday told Denmark to withdraw its 90-person contingent that arrived in Mali just a week earlier for a one-year deployment under a European counterterrorism operation. Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod announced the pullout Thursday, following a briefing of parliament’s foreign policy committee. The minister didn’t provide a timeline.