Canadian C-17 completes first cargo drop to Mali in support of France

OTTAWA – Canada’s C-17 heavy-lift military transport plane has touched down on Malian soil for the first time today carrying a French military armoured vehicle among other things.

The aircraft departed Le Tube, France, and landed in Bamako, Mali’s capital, arriving at 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET).

Jay Paxton, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, says that along with the armoured vehicle, it was also carrying equipment and 900 kilograms of batteries.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered France the plane for one week, but French President Francois Hollande has asked him to consider extending the mission.

The Harper government hasn’t made any decisions on an extension.

The C-17 airlift is part of a broader international effort to equip French and African forces for an assault on the al-Qaida-linked militants that currently occupy Mali’s north.