Mr. Chair, as the member well knows, we have been supporting capacity-building for the African Standby Force, which is part of the African Union, since 2006. That was in line with the G8 commitment, but our contribution was actually larger on a per capita basis. AFISMA will be based on the principles established for the African Standby Force and the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, Standby Force, in which Canada has also invested, not over years but over decades.
This is important because investments today, through a trust fund or any other means, into AFISMA are not the crucial element. The crucial element is the institutional capacity of ECOWAS, of the AU, and indeed of the Malian army. We have played a role over the long term in investing in those.
Other hon. members have asked if there is a plan. There is a Security Council resolution that is about as explicit as I have ever seen for an operation of this sort. It also points to the Malian authorities, ECOWAS and the AU as the bodies that must articulate the plan. We want to support their plan and indeed France wants to support their plan.
It is not complete. Some of the African forces are very capable. They began deploying in Bamako on January 21. Give them time to spool up, to deploy to the north with the help of many allies, including France, which has the technical airlift capacity inside the country, and we will see what they can do, as they have performed effectively in Sierra Leone, in Liberia and on other ECOWAS missions.
The bottom line is that our investment here is long term, large scale and institutional. When we have had the opportunity to invest, it has taken place in accordance with our democratic principles and to ensure that human rights are upheld and abuses avoided.