The Finnish Defence Forces are preparing to send specialised doctors to the MINUSMA Operation. The first deployment will begin working in the area of operation in February 2017.
Sweden has requested that Finland support the medical services in Mali's MINUSMA Operation by sending Finnish specialists. The group of Finnish and Swedish specialists will constitute a group of eight people at most.
Finnish doctors will be working with their Swedish colleagues in Timbuktu, central Mali. At any given time, 1-3 Finns will be operating in the airea for about two months. As requested by Sweden, the Finnish doctors are specialised in injuries caused by shooting and explosives.
Cooperation in military crisis management furthers Sweden's and Finland's defence cooperation. Taking part in a demanding crisis management operation will bring new skills in field medicine to the Defence Forces. It will also provide valuable experience in what personnel and materiel such an operation requires.
According to the decision taken by the president of the republic on 9 May 2015, Finland's maximum strength in the MINUSMA Operation is to be 20 soldiers. The group of specialists now being deployed is within this limit.
MINUSMA is a UN-led crisis management operation in Mali. The operation's priority is to support the legal government of Mali to achieve and maintain a secure operating environment so that the country can be rebuilt. Finland has participated in the operation since it was founded in 2013.
