European Union foreign ministers on Thursday formally agreed to send a training mission for Mali's army, as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that the chaos in the country was a risk for all of Europe, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The training mission is expected to comprise some 200 training troops and a protection force of several hundred others. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the mission could be up and running sometime in February.
France's General François Lecointre is expected to be appointed to head the mission, EU diplomats have said.
On his way into a special meeting of foreign ministers called in response to the French intervention in Mali last week, Mr. Fabius urged his colleagues to make an "ultrarapid" decision on the training mission and to step up efforts to provide financial and other aid to Mali.
"We must clearly understand that even if France has been a precursor [in Mali], all European countries are threatened by terrorism," he said.
France has dispatched close to 1,000 troops to Mali and conducted airstrikes to flush Islamist rebels from a town in central Mali, as al Qaeda militants controlling much of the country's north hunkered down and warned of a long conflict ahead.
There has been some criticism in France of the limited European response, although a number of EU countries, including the U.K. and Belgium, have offered logistical and other types of support to help the French.
Read more of this report from The Wall Street Journal.