Cameron's mixed signals befuddle Britons

Mr Cameron "is gearing up for what I would call sort of a counter-terrorism-light approach," said Rem Korteweg, a senior research fellow at the CER. "And the 'light' part means that there's going to be support given to the [African] mission and that will be in the form of special forces that help the mission to achieve its objectives and providing surveillance capabilities. But it will really shy away from boots on the ground."" alt="<--break->" src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif" data-mce-src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif">

Mr Korteweg believes a strategy that focuses on offering transport planes and surveillance capabilities to the French in Mali should be enough for now because both fill an important need. However, Britain will face huge challenges if the Mali conflict spreads to other parts of Africa, in particular Nigeria, where Britain has extensive interests. "In the longer term, Nigeria is definitely in the minds of people in [Mr Cameron’s office]," he added.